The true crime film “Disappeared in Tokyo: The Lucie Blackman Affair” is currently a hit on Netflix. This terrible case of a murdered young Englishwoman may change your vision of Japan forever.
Please note, this article evokes the Lucie Blackman case and addresses the issue of crimes and violence of a sexual nature. If you do not wish to discover the content, do not continue reading.
True to its editorial line, Netflix has just released a new true crime, Disappeared in Tokyo: The Lucie Blackman Affair. The film directed by Hyoe Yamamoto returns to the terrible case of Lucie Blackman, this 21-year-old Englishwoman who disappeared overnight.
Lucie lived in Tokyo and worked as a hostess in a bar, a job really specific to Japan but quite common there. It does not fall within the scope of prostitution, it essentially consists of hostesses keeping men (usually wealthy) company and making them consume as much alcohol as possible.
Overnight, no one has heard from Lucie. Neither his father, nor his colleagues, nor his owner. An investigation is opened and its media coverage attracts the attention of the Japanese authorities who put dozens of people on the case. A fairly rare fact in Japan, which is not used to pushing investigations for crimes or misdemeanors committed against people who do not have Japanese nationality.
Without showing anything really shocking, we can say that Missing in Tokyo: The Lucie Blackman Affair is one of the most sordid true crimes we have seen in recent times. It reveals one of the darkest facets of the human soul.
The dark side of Japan
Above all, it sheds a completely different light on Japan, whose postcard image suggests that it is one of the safest places in the world. Because Japan is widely regarded as a country where people are well-mannered and generally protected.
This image changes completely when we learn in detail the tragic fate of Lucie Blackman as well as that of the other young women who were victims of sexual abuse by one and the same individual, Joji Obara, a man wealthy who succeeded in real estate.
The dismembered body of Lucie Blackman was found in a cave in a small village outside Tokyo. And Joji Obara was eventually charged with drugging, raping and murdering her after his victim’s body was found seven months after she disappeared.
He was eventually confused by local police who noticed an unusual series of purchases that linked him to Lucie’s disappearance and murder.
Obara had purchased a chainsaw, cement and a portable tent in the days following Lucie’s death. The police were also able to establish proof that he had indeed met Lucie several days before her murder in the bar where she worked, which helped gather enough evidence to link him to her death.
During a search, police found more than 400 VHS tapes in one of Obara’s properties. On each of them, the investigators discovered with horror and amazement a different victim. All were drugged and sexually abused by this man who is now, and for the rest of his life, behind bars.