Yoshio Kodaira

Infobox Serial Killer
name= Yoshio Kodaira


caption=
birthname= Yoshio Kodaira
alias=
birth=birth date|1905|1|28
location=Tochigi, Japan
death=death date and age|1949|10|5|1905|1|28
cause=hanging
victims=8-11 (in only Japan)
country=Japan
states=Tochigi, Tokyo
beginyear=July 2, 1932
endyear=August 6, 1946
apprehended=August 20, 1946
penalty=Deathnihongo|Yoshio Kodaira|小平 義雄|"Kodaira Yoshio"|extra=January 28, 1905 - October 5, 1949 was a Japanese rapist and serial killer. He was also one of the few ex-soldiers who admitted that the Japanese military had committed atrocities before the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Life as a soldier

Kodaira suffered from stuttering during his childhood. He joined the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1923. He participated in the Jinan Incident. He killed six Chinese soldiers in 1928, and raped or murdered many women in China. In Taku Forts, he stuck a sword into the belly of a pregnant woman. [cite web | author= | title=小平義雄連続殺人事件 | publisher=無限回廊 | language=Japanese | url=http://www.alpha-net.ne.jp/users2/knight9/kodaira.htm | date= | accessdate=2007-11-15] The exact number of his victims in China is unknown.

Murders

Kodaira married in 1932 after he returned to Japan. His wife eventually left him because he had a child by another woman. He became angry and attacked his wife's household, killing his father-in-law and injuring six others with an iron rod on July 2, 1932. He was arrested, and was released in 1940.

He is believed to have raped and murdered ten women between May 25, 1945 and August 6, 1946 in Tochigi and Tokyo. After the fifth murder, he committed necrophilia with the corpse. His murder victims included teenagers. He also raped about 30 women in addition to his murder victims.

Arrest, trial and execution

On August 20, 1946, Kodaira was arrested. He denied responsibility for three murders in the court, and the district court tried seven of ten murders on June 18, 1947. One of the victims was never identified. The Supreme Court sentenced him to death on November 16, 1948.

He was executed on October 5, 1949. On his final day, he said Cquote|"I am fortunate to be able to die on such a calm and peaceful day." [cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,853940-2,00.html|title=Peace, It's Wonderful|accessdate=2008-02-09 |author= |date=1949-10-17 |work= |publisher=Time] |30px|30px

He smoked a cigarette "hikari" and remained calm while he was being executed.

Media

Based on his case, David Peace published a novel "Tokyo Year Zero" in 2007. [cite web | author=Steve Finbow | title=A dark dissection of Tokyo at war | publisher=The Japan Times | language=English | url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fb20070812a2.html | date=2007-08-12 | accessdate=2007-11-12]

See also

*Nanking Massacre
*Kiyoshi Okubo
*Sataro Fukiage

References

External links

* [http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200712220062.html Weekend Beat: Tokyo writer returns to the scene of the crime] "Asahi Shimbun", December 22, 2007
*ja icon [http://www.alpha-net.ne.jp/users2/knight9/kodaira.htm Yoshio Kodaira serial murders case]