0:00

Let's go. All right. Shall

0:02

we begin the podcast? Are you ready? I am ready. Very good.

0:04

Excellent. That's what I like to hear. That's what I like to

0:06

hear. Keep it that way. Hey, you. And

0:08

welcome. My name is Mike, folks. And today we're

0:11

heading off to we're actually heading off to a

0:13

country we haven't done on the podcast yet. No,

0:15

I'm doing the videos. I've done

0:17

in real life. Definitely. And I struggled a little

0:19

bit with some of the names. Yeah. So bear,

0:21

bear, bear with us, folks. We're heading off to

0:23

Japan for this whole episode. So I'm going to

0:26

butcher the shit out of it. Look forward to

0:28

that. But before we get into Keith, how are

0:30

you? It's been a week since we spoke

0:32

because. Well, it's been a week since

0:34

people have heard us spoke. Let's put it that way. OK.

0:36

Yeah. How are you? Good. Yeah. Not not too bad. And,

0:39

you know, the usual working away. Oh, I had

0:41

a bit of a I won't

0:43

say spooky incident, but definitely a scary incident.

0:45

The haunted house strikes back. Not

0:48

maybe it could be. You could

0:50

say it's haunting, but I don't

0:52

think so. Well, you've already had

0:54

baseball bats, baseball balls, baseball balls.

0:57

Sorry. Murdered people in your attic.

0:59

Yeah. Ghost voices, ghost handprints, moths

1:01

flying into your mouth. Shitload

1:03

of shit, my friend. Few things have happened,

1:06

but on this occasion. Deserved? Yes. Oh, absolutely.

1:08

Once this has been building up my whole

1:10

life, I completely deserve everything. I got moths

1:12

are coming out to roost. I

1:14

am the mothman. But yeah, so

1:16

I was upstairs. I was I

1:18

was having a shower. My bathroom's on the second floor.

1:20

This is a this is relevant to the story. This isn't

1:23

me bragging that I have a bathroom on the second

1:25

floor. Look at fucking Mr.

1:27

Mr. Big balls over here with his bathroom

1:29

on the second floor. And like us first,

1:31

everyone else has. Yeah. But so

1:33

my bathroom on the second floor and I was having

1:35

a shower as you do. No normal. Wash

1:37

my hair. But then I turned around and it was a goddamn

1:40

cat. I don't own a cat.

1:42

There was a cat in the bathroom staring

1:44

at me. It was just like black cat

1:46

with like these bright green eyes. What the

1:48

shit? Just on the windowsill, just staring at

1:50

me. It was outside the window. No, no.

1:52

In the window. It came into my bathroom.

1:54

It was at the edge. So my my

1:56

shower was like it's one of those bath

1:58

shower things. Yeah. So I was standing in

2:01

the bath and then looked at the end, we were like

2:03

this little space at the end, and it was at the

2:05

end of the bath. Wow. Just sitting there. Staring

2:07

at you and your car. Like a goddamn creep. Yeah. Wow.

2:11

Yeah, it was a... That is freaky. It was

2:13

really weird. Like I said, I don't know when a cat,

2:15

don't know where a cat came from. Cat should get it

2:17

off. Yeah, man. He should get off, I'm watching you watch.

2:19

But I see the cat everywhere now, so I think he's

2:21

just waiting for me to strip down again. Yeah, I know.

2:23

I'm out for another show. Linking his shop. You know? When's

2:26

the next show? Yeah. And

2:28

Pussy wants to see your cock. Ooh. All

2:32

right, very good. So Navy got black cats attracted to

2:34

your ass. They're another bad sign. That

2:37

is true. That is true, yeah. What, you're not meant to

2:39

cross black cat? You're definitely meant to have a black

2:41

cat watching you shower, I know that. Yeah,

2:43

I guess. I don't know. I don't know what

2:45

the old thingy is, but it just doesn't

2:47

bode well for you, I feel. I feel like you just

2:49

cut your losses. I don't know. It's not so much in

2:51

the house. Ah, come on. I

2:54

just... Okay, so... Yes.

3:03

All right, let's get into today's story, folks.

3:05

Hope you're looking forward to it. Today, we

3:07

are talking, and it's a doozy, about

3:09

the monster with 21 faces. Now,

3:14

who the monster is, we do not know.

3:16

This is still a mystery to this day.

3:18

And this story happened in the 80s, mid

3:21

80s. It's a mysterious

3:23

person or group which wreaked havoc

3:26

in the confectionery industry of Japan.

3:29

Which, when you put it like that, sounds

3:31

very fucking stupid. Yes. But

3:33

the real story is actually pretty shocking, genuinely. It's

3:35

like a really, it's full of, this story is

3:37

full of twists and turns. There is

3:39

deaths in it, there is poison in

3:42

it, there is kidnapping, it's wild. How's

3:44

it all? It truly does, it truly does.

3:47

So, yeah, I'm actually really eager to dig into

3:49

this one, because it's definitely, I love these mystery

3:51

ones, because there's so many directions that you go,

3:53

there's so many things to talk about. And especially

3:56

the unsolved ones. I have a couple

3:58

of theories, which I'm gonna throw in at the end. So

4:00

you will definitely will give it our best shot. Yeah,

4:02

maybe we can solve it today Oh,

4:04

I think we will I'm gonna call the Japanese

4:07

government say hey listen Can

4:09

each you a motherfucker? Read it

4:11

you nailed. Yeah exactly and you know if we

4:13

don't let's just say he was grandpa Joe from

4:16

Charlie and the chock-a-bocker fuckers at it again with

4:18

coke nails man. He deserves to buy me bars

4:20

Hey, what what a scumbag. He's on my list

4:24

him bigfoot and Charles

4:26

Dickens try yeah you and Charles Dickens man fucking I

4:28

cannot well Alright,

4:31

let's give it off. I'm just

4:33

getting mad just thinking alright So

4:35

this story takes us to the 18th

4:37

of March 1984

4:40

when two masked men using

4:43

a stolen key broke

4:45

into a house in the

4:47

Shinomiya Which I'm sure I

4:49

butchered but Nishinomiya Nishinomiya Right

4:52

I keep saying it till I get alright It's a

4:54

city or it's just inside the city of Kobe in

4:56

Southwest Japan the house these two

4:59

masked men broke into Was belonging

5:01

to a man named Katsuhisa Izaki

5:03

and his family the

5:05

key had been stolen from Katsuhisa's 70

5:08

year old mother Yoshi's house which was next door

5:10

to his own Yoshi had

5:12

been tied up with her own telephone

5:14

line by the invaders, but she was

5:16

physically unharmed now the home These

5:18

two men were breaking into it was more

5:20

of an estate with Katsuhisa's house and his

5:23

mother's house belonging You know to the same

5:25

property all surrounded by the same wall so

5:27

by breaking into Yoshi's home They'd already

5:30

technically broken into Katsuhisa's home too But

5:32

they just use the emergency key Yoshi

5:34

had to get easy access to their

5:37

real target and avoid the houses security

5:41

These two men were armed with

5:43

a pistol and a rifle and

5:45

had on white ski masks After

5:47

gaining access they set about trying to

5:50

find Katsuhisa But first ran

5:52

into his 35 year old wife Mikiko

5:54

and his seven year old daughter Mariko

5:58

as the two men tied up Mikiko and Mariko Mikiko

6:01

desperately tried to reason with the men. She

6:03

thought this was a robbery. She offered them

6:05

whatever money they wanted. The only thing

6:07

was, this was not a robbery. They

6:10

didn't want Katsuhi's money. They

6:12

wanted the man himself. They

6:15

told her that money meant nothing to them

6:17

and to keep quiet. They

6:19

then proceeded to cut the telephone line

6:22

just as they had with Katsuhi's mother

6:24

Yoshi. They then resumed searching

6:26

the rest of the house. And it

6:28

was a big old house, but it

6:30

didn't take too long for the men

6:32

to stumble across Katsuhi's, who was completely

6:34

oblivious to the terror his wife and

6:36

daughter were currently experiencing. They found

6:39

Katsuhi's in the bathroom where he was bathing

6:41

alone. And with his two other children, 11

6:43

year old Etsuro and 4 year old

6:46

Yukiko sleeping completely undisturbed in their bedrooms.

6:49

Katsuhi's was then dragged completely

6:51

naked from his bathroom, out

6:53

of the house and then

6:55

bundled into a waiting van.

6:58

This wasn't a straight up robbery. Money

7:00

was the objective, but they

7:02

just wanted a whole lot more than what

7:04

the family could have had on hand. So

7:07

you can probably guess where this was going.

7:10

I feel if someone's trying to kidnap me while I was

7:12

naked in the bath, you obviously

7:14

haven't got anything. So I think my defense would

7:16

be just to try and get hired as quick

7:18

as possible. That's why I wear the cock and

7:20

ball ring, which we discussed in the last episode.

7:23

I'm always hired. I

7:25

feel I just make everyone in the room just

7:27

so uncomfortable. I know, dude. You gotta say a

7:29

hoard. All the time. I walk, I sleep hard.

7:32

Someone tries to think they can beat me down.

7:34

You're creating a barrier. I'm creating a big fucking

7:36

hard barrier with my dick. That's it. Take off

7:38

my pants. You're gonna fight me now? And they're

7:40

like, this is awkward. I'm out of here. Yeah,

7:42

I know. The only problem is if they stay,

7:44

you got a whole new problem. Oh yeah. I'm like, oh wait,

7:46

actually I have to use this. I didn't think that's right. So

7:50

who the hell would Katsuhitsa Izaki and

7:52

why was he currently being bundled into

7:54

the back of a van? Why did

7:56

two masked men with guns and ski

7:58

masks break into his... how steal a

8:00

key, tie up his whole family, and then steal him

8:02

away while he was in the nip. Well,

8:05

it's precisely who he is that got

8:07

him into this predicament. Katsuhisa

8:10

Izzaki was the president of

8:12

a company called Izzaki Glico.

8:14

In its earliest days, the company

8:16

produced caramel sweets or candies made

8:18

with glycogen, hence the eventual inclusion

8:20

of Glico in the title. Nowadays

8:23

Glico is probably best known for its pokey,

8:25

range of sweets, which Keith have ever had

8:27

a pokey? I have not. They sell them

8:30

everywhere. They're very, this is like a long,

8:32

thick biscuit dip, one half is different chocolate.

8:34

Mmm, that sounds good. I used to be

8:36

a chocolate there. You did? Oh,

8:39

I totally forgot that you're, yes. Hey,

8:41

okay, Keith has freed up. I feel like every episode we

8:43

should release is a little bit more, because I feel like

8:45

the audience probably knows a lot about me. Because I've been

8:47

online for like, six or seven years at this point. They

8:50

don't know anything about you. Other than you

8:52

have a family, you have a haunted house, and

8:54

you have a normal day job outside of

8:56

a podcast. Normal corporate job. You've

8:58

got a normie job. I do, yeah. And one

9:00

of those old nine to five stability, something I

9:02

do not have. But you also

9:04

were a chocolateeer. I was, yeah. I was

9:06

back there for two years. Two years? Two

9:08

years? Two years? Two years?

9:11

Wow, okay. So Keith, any funny stories about chocolate?

9:13

How, how's, you know, the vibes

9:15

at home were curious. How is chocolate made? What's

9:18

the process behind making chocolate and selling chocolate?

9:20

What's your favorite type of chocolate to sell?

9:25

I'm being a great interviewer. It's just

9:27

derailed this whole fucker. All

9:30

right, let's get back to it. But Keith is

9:32

a chocolateeer. Keith, what's your favorite type of chocolate?

9:34

Ooh, it's definitely dark. Okay, great. It's

9:36

the darkest part. In its earliest days. Okay,

9:41

anyways, basically they made pockies. I'm sure a lot

9:43

of people out there know what pockies are. Pockies,

9:45

macadas, I think they're also called. You see them

9:47

in a lot of stores, specifically Asian stores. They're

9:49

delicious. If you haven't tried them, you see them,

9:52

give them a go. So,

9:56

as I keep like a pretty big company

9:58

making chocolates that are sold around the world,

10:00

making their president, Katsuhisa, worth

10:02

a lot of money. So

10:04

he owned a chocolate factory, so this

10:06

may have actually been Grandpa Joe. Ooooooh.

10:10

Yeah, this is coming back, I know. Right?

10:13

Well, that's Terry one. That's Terry one.

10:15

Alright, chalk him up to another one.

10:17

Within 24 hours, an investigation into the

10:19

kidnapping and whereabouts of Katsuhisa was already

10:21

underway, when a ransom note was found

10:23

in a phone booth not far from

10:26

where he was taken. Initially,

10:28

at least, the police had been operating

10:30

on the assumption that the kidnapping was

10:32

likely being done for personal reasons, as

10:34

whoever had taken Katsuhisa seemed to know

10:36

things about him that only people close

10:38

to him would know, like, for example,

10:40

that his mother had a key to

10:42

the house that would help circumvent the

10:45

Izzaki's security system. How did they

10:47

know to break into his mother's house before his

10:49

actual house? They must have been watching them, or

10:51

it was someone very close. Once

10:53

the note was discovered, however, their focus

10:55

shifted. Police knew

10:58

it was a genuine note, because news

11:00

of the kidnapping had been suppressed, so

11:02

as not to spur the kidnappers into

11:05

a panic and killing their hostage. That

11:08

meant that up until that moment, only

11:10

a few select people even knew it

11:12

had happened. The note demanded 1 billion

11:15

yen, which, equivalent now to

11:17

roughly 10 million dollars, and

11:19

220 pounds

11:21

in gold bullion for

11:23

Katsuhisa to be returned unharmed. Now that's

11:26

no small chunk of change. The police

11:28

had absolutely no idea who they were

11:30

looking for, and were essentially going off

11:33

guesses. Just the fact

11:35

that the kidnappers were demanding a ransom

11:37

opened up the scope of the investigation

11:39

to include pretty much anyone involved with

11:41

Katsuhisa or Izzaki Gleyko. That's

11:44

a lot of people. Katsuhisa was

11:46

being held in a warehouse on

11:48

the Ibaraki docks and remained there

11:50

for three days, after which he

11:53

would indeed return home to his

11:55

family completely unscathed. But let

11:57

me be clear, it wasn't because the ransom was

11:59

paid. And it certainly wasn't due

12:01

to the kidnappers having a sudden change of heart

12:04

either. In the end, Katsubisa himself

12:06

and his shurigal free from his bindings, where

12:08

he's being held, and he made a run

12:10

for it. So

12:19

by the evening of the 21st of March,

12:21

Katsubisa was back with his family. And

12:23

even when he was safely back home

12:25

talking to investigators about the kidnapping and

12:27

the ransom, they were still nowhere near

12:29

close to finding out who had actually

12:31

taken him, who was behind this entire

12:33

plot. And unfortunately, Katsubisa wasn't

12:36

able to tell them much at all. He'd

12:38

been kept isolated in the warehouse he fled from,

12:41

and his captors had gone to great

12:43

lengths to keep their identities from slipping.

12:46

They kept a bag over his head, they

12:49

dressed him in the same nondescript clothing, and

12:51

he was shoeless for the entire duration of

12:53

his stay at Hotel Kidnap. He

12:56

also told detectives that he'd been fed juice

12:58

and crackers throughout his stay, and he'd also

13:00

been told they'd kidnapped his 7 year old

13:02

daughter, Mariko. Now obviously they just told him

13:04

that they didn't kidnap Mariko, but they lied

13:06

to him so that he wouldn't freak out

13:08

too much. Which now when you think

13:10

about it, he's like wriggled free and ran for safety. What

13:23

most he was able to do was point the police back

13:25

to the warehouse where he had been kept. Even

13:28

after looking into the ownership of the warehouse

13:30

and dozens of people connected to it, each

13:33

tread led them to another dead end.

13:35

This guy's a ghost! He

13:38

also told them that he believed the guns

13:40

they used were fake, something the police already

13:42

suspected. Of course, in a country

13:44

like Japan where gun ownership is extremely rare, it

13:46

would have been easy and an extreme moment of

13:48

stress to mistake them for the real thing or

13:50

simply not wanting to take the risk they were

13:53

real. So the

13:55

kidnapping plot didn't go anywhere, but

13:57

they didn't know who was behind it. And

14:00

so, it kinda just sorta

14:02

ended. Alright, thanks for- no, I'm gonna

14:05

give it a guess. There's a lot more to this story. Just

14:07

as things seemed to be settling down and

14:09

returning to normality, it was a cold case,

14:13

it seemed to be just dead

14:15

ends all around, the situation escalated

14:18

in the most bizarre ways no

14:20

one could ever have expected. What

14:23

had been up to now, about a

14:25

seemingly well planned but one-off targeted attack

14:28

aimed at extorting funds, that just flopped

14:30

and went nowhere because he managed to

14:32

escape, but then shit got wild. After

14:35

spending considerable resources on trying to

14:37

track down those responsible, police struggled

14:39

to ever get their investigation out

14:41

of first gear. Then,

14:43

after not even a month had passed

14:46

since Katsuisa was kidnapped and he escaped,

14:48

the real target of the criminals was

14:50

revealed. On April 10th,

14:53

1984, several cars parked at

14:55

Azaki Glico's headquarters were set on

14:57

fire, with a second fire at

14:59

another property belonging to the company,

15:02

weeks later. The arson

15:04

attacks could have easily been waved

15:06

away as unrelated if it wasn't

15:08

for the events before and after.

15:11

Really, the arson was the second part

15:13

of a series of attacks on the

15:16

company, Azaki Glico, itself. It

15:18

really was quite surprising to have the Japanese

15:20

police so stumped at this time, with no

15:22

idea on how to get this investigation off

15:24

the ground. So in

15:26

1983, the Japanese police solved 97.1% of murders and

15:28

53.3% of tests. That's

15:34

crazy! Those numbers are insanely high. Really, really high. So when

15:36

you compare that to the US for the same year in

15:38

1983, they solved 73.5% of murders and only

15:40

17.3% of tests. Wow.

15:45

So it kind of gives you an idea of how effective the

15:48

Japanese police were, and the monster with 21

15:50

faces were, they were just better. They were just

15:52

better, that's it. On April 16th,

15:54

a note, along with a plastic container full

15:56

of clear fluid, was discovered at a building

15:58

belonging to the company. to is actually glycol.

16:01

The mysterious fluid, it turned out, was

16:03

actually hydrochloric acid, something that should not

16:05

have been anywhere near the place it

16:07

was found and incredibly dangerous to have

16:09

simply been left. The note

16:12

was addressed to glycol, and

16:14

in it, the writer demanded a payment

16:16

in order to end the series of

16:18

attacks that they were claiming responsibility for.

16:21

Eight days prior, another similar note

16:23

was sent to the media and

16:25

the police who were investigating Katsuhi's

16:27

kidnapping. The note seemed to exist

16:30

solely to poke at the police's lack of

16:32

success in picking up anyone related to the

16:34

kidnapping. The note read, To

16:36

Japanese police fools, are you stupid? There

16:38

are so many of you, what on

16:40

earth are you doing? If you are

16:43

real pros, try catching me. There's

16:45

too much handicap, so I'll give you a hint.

16:48

There's no fellows in the Izaki's

16:50

relatives, there's no fellows in Nishinomiya

16:52

police, there's no fellows in flood

16:54

fighting core. Karaai use is

16:56

great, food was bought at Dai'i, which is

16:58

a Japanese supermarket. If you want a new

17:01

info, beg for it in the newspaper. After

17:04

telling you all of this, you should be able

17:06

to catch me. If you don't, you were tax

17:08

thieves. Should I kidnap the head

17:10

director of the Perfectual Police? The

17:12

note was signed off with the

17:14

phrase, Kaijin Nijuchi Menso, which

17:17

is usually translated to, The

17:19

Monster with 21 Faces. Though

17:22

it actually more accurately translates

17:24

to The Phantom, or Masked Men

17:26

with 21 Faces. The phrase is

17:28

pretty notorious

17:31

in Japan thanks to this case,

17:33

but it was actually stolen from

17:35

pop culture. The name is a

17:37

reference to a shape-shifting criminal in a detective

17:39

novel written in 1936. Despite the insane amount

17:44

of clues given, and even the very existence

17:46

of the note itself, authorities were

17:48

pretty much clueless as to who was behind

17:50

the Tourette's, and who exactly The Monster with

17:52

21 Faces was or were. That

18:00

it wasn't incompetence, but organized crime

18:02

and police corruption that really held the

18:04

investigation back. We'll get to that later,

18:07

but I think it's worth I mentioned so you keep in

18:09

mind. Now little did the authorities

18:11

know at the time, but this was just

18:13

the first in a whole chain of letters.

18:16

More letters were being sent to the

18:18

police, but also some went to the

18:20

media, others to the company, exactly glyco

18:22

themselves. Beginning on May

18:24

10th, 1984, most of the letters

18:26

were simply taunts, usually being sarcastic.

18:29

Some far more threatening, but

18:31

each letter always signed off with the

18:33

monster with 21 faces. The

18:35

notes were simply seen as frustrating at

18:37

first until they took a sinister turn.

18:41

Notes sent to glyco and the media

18:43

announced that the monster had placed boxes

18:45

of glyco candies laced with cyanide on

18:48

store shelves and demanded money in return

18:50

for their attacks on the company, ceasing.

18:53

Of course cyanide poisoning threats serious business

18:55

and glyco had no choice but to

18:58

act quickly. Whether or not the

19:00

threats were true, that's irrelevant, just as with

19:02

bomb threats, even if a hoax is suspected,

19:04

so gets the whole business. Glyco

19:07

was forced to pull over 21 million

19:09

dollars worth of its products off the

19:11

shelves. Now, glyco, very

19:14

successful company, as we mentioned, but

19:16

even they would be feeling that kind of loss for

19:18

a long time to come, and it was all just

19:20

to find out whether or not the threats were a

19:22

bluff. They didn't know, but the

19:24

impact rocked the company, and glyco actually had

19:26

to lay off hundreds of employees at the

19:29

end to pay for this. Their stock

19:31

prices fell through the floor, the company announced a loss

19:33

of more than 130 million dollars, because

19:36

not only do you have to take all these

19:38

candies off the shelves, people are gonna stop buying

19:40

your shit if they're here to lace with cyanide.

19:42

And the biggest kick in the nuggets

19:44

came, when they tested the products they

19:46

pulled off the shelves, zero cyanide in

19:49

any of them. It was simply a

19:51

bluff, and it worked very well, almost

19:53

destroyed the company. The latest correspondence

19:55

from the monster told Glyco that they

19:57

could end the threats for a payment.

20:00

of 1.3 million,

20:02

which is a hell lot less than they demanded

20:05

in the first place. But

20:07

after losing so much, you know, through the Tourette's

20:09

and all that, it must have seemed like a

20:11

pretty good deal to stop all this. True.

20:13

I really, I love these cases where the

20:16

criminal taunts the police, and they always have

20:18

such cool names as well. Like

20:20

the Zodiac Killer, Jack the Ripper,

20:22

or Saucy Jack. Yeah, Saucy Jack. Even the

20:24

Axemen of New Orleans, which we covered before

20:27

in the podcast, who nicely took the time

20:29

to write to police from the depths of

20:31

hell. But yeah, it's

20:33

such an interesting area of criminology where

20:36

the killers can't resist playing the classic game

20:38

of like cat and mouse. Yeah. Whether it's

20:40

like writing letters to the law enforcement or

20:42

leaving subtle hints at crime scenes, crafting maps

20:45

and guiding authorities to locations

20:47

of bodies or just making unsettling phone

20:49

calls. And I know that

20:51

usually the serial killers who exhibit this

20:53

type of behaviour, they're generally like above

20:55

average intelligence and typically fall into the

20:57

category of organised killer. They

20:59

closely monitor the crimes in the media, assist

21:01

the police investigation and in some instances, they

21:04

reach out to law enforcement through calls or

21:06

letters providing information related to the murders. I

21:08

think in this case, even though the monster between

21:11

them faces had not yet claimed the lives of

21:13

anyone, I think it still just underscores like the

21:15

level of intelligence they were operating at. Yeah. They

21:18

were organised, they were, but then I guess the same thing

21:20

as well. I know they kind of feel also a little bit

21:22

unorganized as well. Yeah. So it's

21:24

a bit strange. Yeah. Well, we'll get to it later. Yeah,

21:26

kind of the story really goes off rails. So

21:29

meanwhile, the monster with a shitload of faces was

21:31

still in contact with the police teasing them about

21:33

their failures. Given that the

21:35

letter writers clearly had information that was not

21:37

public and only the perpetrator behind the crimes

21:39

could have possibly had, there was no doubt

21:41

that the same people were behind both the

21:43

letters and the crimes. One

21:46

letter even made fun of the police for

21:48

attempting an undercover operation to try and catch

21:50

the monster, which gave even more credit to

21:52

the idea that someone or even multiple people

21:55

on the inside were feeding them information. On

21:58

April 23rd, the gang... sent a

22:00

taunting letter to the Koshian police station,

22:02

along with two copies to newspapers. The

22:05

note read, 2 police fools, you

22:07

shouldn't lie, if you lie, you steal.

22:10

I also sent this to the Koshian

22:12

police. Why are you lying? Don't

22:14

hide things. Why are you complaining?

22:16

You guys are having such a hard time

22:18

so I will give you a hint. I

22:20

entered the factory from the side staff entrance.

22:23

The typewriter we used was a

22:25

pan writer. The plastic container used

22:27

was a piece of street garbage.

22:29

That's the second time they've used police fools. I don't

22:32

know why, but I just feel the word fools. It

22:34

just cuts that bit deeper. It's

22:36

obviously not as bad as other

22:39

derogatory words, but if you call someone a

22:41

fool, they'll be like, ah, you

22:43

fools. Then

22:45

suddenly came another twist. With

22:48

glycol seemingly on its knees, thanks to

22:50

the threats of poisoned candy and kidnapped

22:53

executives, on June 26th, 1984, the

22:55

monster sent another note to

22:57

a Japanese media outlet. This

23:00

one had a very different tone to previous letters

23:02

though. It wasn't addressed to glycol or the police.

23:04

It was addressed to our fans

23:06

around Japan. The

23:08

note appeared to be a peace deal.

23:10

Regardless of the money demanded not being

23:12

paid, the monster had decided that the

23:14

company had suffered enough. The

23:17

president of glycol has already gone around with

23:19

his head hanging down long enough. We

23:21

would like to forgive him. In

23:24

addition to acknowledging their overwhelming victory, the

23:26

writer went on to announce that they'd

23:28

become bored with the situation and had

23:30

decided to have a little holiday in

23:32

Europe as, quote, Japan has become too

23:34

hot and humid. They

23:37

then ironically went on to endorse

23:39

pokey, like those most successful product.

23:41

They even true in one of

23:43

the product slogans, calling it the

23:45

traveler's friend. The letter

23:47

ended with a cheerful yet ominous

23:49

goodbye. See you

23:51

in January. It

24:00

brought the company to its knees at

24:02

first, you know, saying it left cyanide

24:04

in candy. Well, first of all, it

24:06

kidnapped one of the executives. Then it

24:08

claimed to have put cyanide in candies

24:10

all around. Then it left hydrochloric frickin'

24:12

acid in a container outside one of

24:14

their factories. They almost destroyed the company.

24:17

Millions and hundreds of millions of dollars, you

24:19

know, removed from the company. They had to

24:21

lay off hundreds of employees. And

24:24

then they were like, "'Say it?' That's a

24:26

bit like, quote, Keith, "'Say it?' "'Say it?' That's

24:28

like, up to that point, they just seemed so

24:30

organized. And it was just like this crime syndicate,

24:32

it was just these, like, really, really smart, smart

24:34

people. But then after that, it was just, I

24:36

don't know, where do we go from here? Yeah.

24:38

How old are they? Sure. I wonder, were they

24:41

just for controls? Like, they, you know, they're just

24:43

a... This is me doing my

24:45

Joker impression, you know. Just

24:47

introduce... Wait, no. What has he said again?

24:50

Introduce a little anarchy. Fuck, okay, I can't... That was

24:52

pretty good. No, you didn't. Yeah, it wasn't good. But

24:54

you know what I mean? Some men

24:56

want to watch the world burn. Yeah. Exactly. Maybe

24:58

that's probably better. Some men just want to watch...

25:01

You know, that's it. Michael Caine's video... My name is

25:03

Michael Caine. It's a bit easier. There you go. Um,

25:06

yeah, maybe that's... That was it. They just wanted

25:08

to just f-shit up. I don't know. He's used

25:10

to chaos, and I am here first. Yes, I

25:13

am, yeah. Take down the corporations. I

25:15

was born, like, I kind of feel like I... I'm

25:17

rooting for them. Because, like, it's against these big...

25:19

Like, no one's dying at the moment. And it's

25:21

against these big corporations, and, like, absolutely fantastic. But

25:23

then also at the same stage, like, they're probably

25:25

gonna get the bailout, and the people are gonna

25:27

end up hurting most of this. The average Joes,

25:29

who, uh, just trying to, you know, put a

25:32

bit of food on the table, work their 9-5,

25:34

and they get laid off. Yeah. They're the real

25:36

victims of this whole thing. It's very possible

25:38

that whoever was behind letters really was just in

25:40

it for the sports and enjoyed the trail of

25:42

the chase. Now, if anything,

25:44

the next company to feel the heat from

25:46

the monster perhaps suffered even more than Glico

25:49

did. See, once they were done

25:51

with Glico, the monster shifted

25:53

its focus to one of their competitors, Morinaga.

25:57

Morinaga, or Morinaga and Company Limited,

25:59

is... There's another Japanese-based confectionary company

26:01

who export their candies and sweets around

26:03

the world, and just like Izaakik Leko,

26:06

they were long established, founded in 1899.

26:10

Remember, see you in January?

26:12

Yeah, that's not really what happened.

26:15

It seems the monster didn't really like Izaanda

26:17

Europe at all. Or they cut

26:19

it short, because they didn't wait until

26:22

January of 1985. In

26:25

October of 1984, a letter

26:27

was sent to several Osaka-based

26:29

news agencies, and was

26:31

addressed to Moms of the Nation.

26:34

This letter, unlike the early letters

26:37

to Leko, got right down to

26:39

making very specific treats. The

26:41

monster said that they had placed

26:44

20 more Naga candies on store

26:46

shelves that were contaminated with potassium

26:48

cyanide. The threat again led

26:50

to a huge police operation to check more

26:52

Naga products for tampering. This

26:55

time, though, the threat wasn't empty like

26:57

it was before. In

26:59

all, more than a dozen contaminated

27:01

more Naga products were discovered in

27:03

the operation. These items

27:05

included some of more Naga's most popular

27:08

products, Choco Balls and Angel Pie. The

27:11

contaminated products each had an additional label

27:13

placed on them that read, Danger

27:15

Cyanide, and really did contain

27:17

lethal amounts of cyanide. At

27:20

least they gave people a warning. It

27:38

was also around this time that police came

27:40

the closest they ever had to catching a

27:42

member of the monster, one of the 21

27:44

faces per chance. They were

27:47

given surveillance footage taken at a convenience

27:49

store on the 7th of October of

27:52

a man wearing a suit and a Yamiuri

27:54

Giant Spaceball cap. Now on

27:56

first inspection of the surveillance footage, it

27:58

appears just like someone inspecting candy

28:00

from the store shelves. When

28:02

looking closer, he wasn't taking candy

28:05

from the shelf, he was putting it

28:07

onto the shelf. Not only that, the

28:10

candy in question was Glico Candy, that was

28:12

still under the recall order at the time

28:14

and shouldn't have been on the shelves at

28:16

all. Now this guy is

28:18

a bit of a legend in Japan known

28:21

as the Video Man, not the coolest name

28:23

but infamous nonetheless. The police wasted

28:25

a little time in circulating a still of the

28:27

man taken from the tape and hoped that someone

28:29

would recognize him. And then hopefully

28:31

they would have a major break that could lead them

28:33

to the rest of the gang. They

28:35

released the image on the 15th and the

28:38

phone did ring but each and every

28:40

call went nowhere. No one knew who this

28:42

guy was. The video man is not a

28:44

good name, maybe he had a sidekick, audio

28:46

boy. The

28:55

letter revealing the presence of the poisoned

28:57

candy was followed up on November 1st

28:59

with a letter delivered to the Tokyo

29:02

home of Morinaga's vice president, Mitsuo Yamada.

29:05

To the president, you saw

29:07

a repair didn't you? If you disobey

29:09

us, we will destroy your company, you

29:11

will get killed. Decide whether

29:13

you want to give us money or do you

29:15

want to see your company destroyed? Tell

29:18

us in the Meinichi newspaper on either

29:20

the 5th or 6th of

29:22

November. Use the missing persons, use

29:26

these words in their reply. Jiro,

29:29

Morinaga, mother, police, bad

29:31

friend, money, meal. As

29:33

we said before we want 200 million

29:35

yen, monster with 21 faces.

29:38

Five days later on the 6th of

29:41

November, the company printed its response in

29:43

the newspaper the monster had demanded, replying

29:45

with, Dear Jiro, bad friend disappeared, come

29:48

back, warm meal is waiting, mother,

29:50

Chiyoko. During

29:52

this time, Morinaga and Glico weren't

29:55

the only targets of the monster.

29:58

They were also using similar threats of poisoned

30:00

food goods to extort other companies

30:02

including House Foods Company and Maroudai

30:04

Ham, with Maroudai even getting to

30:06

the point of arranging a handover of the

30:08

demanded cash. See, this company,

30:10

Maroudai Ham, received letters while the Glyco

30:13

saga was still in motion and

30:15

the same day that Glyco were forgiven,

30:17

the Monster also offered to end their

30:20

threats towards Maroudai Ham too, except they

30:22

would have to pay about $250,000. Maroudai,

30:26

knowing what prolonged engagement with the Monster

30:28

had cost other companies, likely saw this

30:30

as a bit of a bargain and

30:32

actually agreed to pay that amount. Maroudai

30:35

was then presented with instructions on how

30:37

to deliver the money using the Osaka

30:39

to Kyoto train. On

30:41

June 28th, 1984, authorities

30:44

set up the operation with an

30:46

undercover officer playing the role of

30:48

a Maroudai employee and boarding the

30:50

specific train to Kyoto. He

30:52

was to keep his eyes open and look out

30:54

for a white flag which would signal the man

30:57

to throw the money and it

30:59

would be collected by a representative of

31:01

the Monster. While on the

31:03

train, the officer noticed the man seemed to be

31:06

watching him. Now it could have just been

31:08

paranoia, but something about this man stood out and

31:10

he just seemed to be off. Was

31:13

he one of the Monster's with 21 faces? He

31:16

noticed that the man was very similar in appearance

31:18

to the video man. He was a snucky fellow

31:20

with short hair and glasses. His

31:23

most obvious characteristic though that really stood out

31:25

to the officer were his eyes.

31:32

Here marked that the man had Fox

31:34

eyes and that's how the man became

31:36

known in the story, the Fox-eyed man.

31:39

Whether or not he and the video man

31:41

were the same person or if the Fox-eyed

31:43

man was ever even involved is that's up

31:45

for debate. What we do know is

31:48

that the Fox-eyed man kept close to the

31:50

officer for the entire journey always being in

31:52

view of him. He waited for

31:55

the signal flag to throw the money but it never

31:57

came. The officer then decided he would just wait and

31:59

take the train back to Osaka when he

32:01

arrived in Kyoto, he noticed something. The

32:04

fox eyed man was waiting for the exact

32:07

same train. Once

32:09

they arrived back in Osaka, the undercover

32:11

officer sent another detective to follow the

32:13

fox eyed man, but he managed to

32:15

lose him while on yet another train.

32:18

The entire thing was very suspicious and the

32:20

fox eyed man became the main suspect of

32:22

the investigation, however every resource the police had

32:24

thrown at identifying him went nowhere.

32:28

Everything was dead end after dead end after dead

32:30

end. In November of

32:32

1984, House Food Corps was the main

32:34

target of the monster and like Marudai,

32:37

also agreed to pay a fee to stop their products

32:39

from being next on the poisoned

32:41

list. Once they were

32:43

given detailed instructions and told to take a

32:45

company van and drop the money off at

32:47

a public trash bin in Atsu, a big

32:50

city in Japan's Shiga Prefecture. Once

32:52

more they were told they'd know the place

32:54

by a white cloth draped over the bin,

32:56

but when they got to the location,

32:59

the cloth was on the ground, a sign

33:01

that the deal was off. Police

33:04

began to focus on the crowds and one

33:06

officer actually thought he'd spotted the very same

33:08

fox eyed man, but just

33:10

as before, they weren't able to

33:12

capture him. A description of

33:14

the car, it's believed he fled in,

33:16

was put out and it was later

33:18

found abandoned, found to have been reported

33:20

stolen days before. No matter how close

33:22

the police got to getting some sort

33:25

of resolution, finding some sort of suspect,

33:27

it seems like they were always just

33:29

one step behind. Even

33:38

when they were finally able to put a name

33:41

to the suspect, it didn't take long for them

33:43

to be cleared and the police left right back

33:45

at square one. Minabu Miyazaki

33:47

was first pointed out to police as

33:50

being a fit for the sketch of

33:52

the fox eyed man. Police

33:54

had released the sketch of the fox

33:56

eyed man when they couldn't catch him.

33:58

Now Minabu was already known to the

34:00

police. and was an admitted criminal with

34:02

Lynx, true his father, to Yakuza gangs.

34:05

He'd also had a run-in with Gaviko almost

34:07

10 years before when he got into legal

34:09

disputes with him. Unfortunately, Manabu also

34:11

happened to have a bunch of alibis for

34:13

key incidents. He wasn't on those trains or

34:16

at least had very good alibis for not

34:18

being on them and was pretty much ruled

34:20

out for being involved. To this

34:22

date though, he's the only person named

34:24

and seriously considered. That

34:26

is, despite having over a

34:28

hundred thousand police officers involved

34:31

in this case, investigating nearly

34:33

40,000 different suspects

34:35

and nearly 90,000 tips from

34:37

the public. Crazy numbers. Morinaga

34:40

would continue to be sent threats and

34:42

even hinted that the monster had contaminated

34:44

more products, but this time they

34:46

had not labeled the items with warnings. Over

34:49

the course of the year, Morinaga suffered a

34:51

60% drop in sales,

34:53

losing millions of dollars. And

34:56

just like Glico, they had to axe hundreds of

34:58

workers from their factories, the government of Japan even

35:00

had to step in to keep the company from

35:02

going under altogether. At one

35:05

point, they even had a letter containing

35:07

literal sign-nights sent to their officers, just

35:09

as if the monster just wanted to

35:11

say, Hey, pay attention. Of

35:13

all the organizations the monster targeted,

35:15

Morinaga probably suffered the most, but

35:17

I'd say the police were

35:20

the second organization that suffered the most. Shred

35:23

the entire blackmail scandal. Of the

35:25

four companies, the four confectionery companies

35:27

the monster with twenty faces targeted,

35:30

the police were under constant and immense

35:32

pressure. It was that extreme

35:34

pressure that ended up sort of

35:37

ending the entire ordeal. But

35:39

it was very, very tragic. What happened?

35:43

Up until now, the monster had managed to

35:45

bring in several huge companies to their knees

35:47

and without the government propping them up, they

35:49

likely would have collapsed. They

35:51

had managed it all without spilling a drop

35:54

of blood. No one ever consumed, or like

35:56

he even intended to consume, the poisoned products.

35:58

Over the first several. months of

36:00

1985, more companies manufacturing food

36:03

and confectionery continued to receive

36:05

trets from the monster. Each

36:07

tret was written in the same Osaka

36:10

dialect as the others, each

36:12

seemed to have been written on the same typewriter.

36:15

One company even received phone calls, thought to

36:17

be from the group. The calls

36:19

were made by what sounded to be a

36:21

woman and a child. This

36:23

is the entire, this is the most bizarre shit I've

36:25

ever heard in my life, like a woman and a

36:27

child making calls for the monster. Audio boy. I know,

36:30

oh my god, video man, audio, video,

36:33

video lady. Even

36:35

though the earlier forgiveness letter to Glyco had

36:38

mentioned the group having a 4 year

36:40

old in their mix, and that the child

36:42

missing eating Glyco sweets was one of the

36:44

main reasons for not wanting to continue

36:46

their harassment, it still came as

36:48

a huge surprise. You know, the mention of a

36:50

child previously, they thought it was a joke. Turns

36:53

out it might have been true after all.

36:55

One of the monsters with 21 faces was

36:57

a kid, maybe. Nothing

36:59

quite reached the extremes of the poisoned

37:02

Morinaga candies again, but the public demand

37:04

for action was huge, and bearing the

37:06

brunt of it, was the 59 year

37:09

old police superintendent of Shiga

37:11

Prefecture, Shoji Yamamoto.

37:14

Yamamoto's officers had been responsible for the

37:16

failed operation to catch the blackmailers in

37:19

the van drop off. As

37:21

a result, Yamamoto, despite a sincere

37:23

public apology, was forced to step

37:26

aside and reassigned to a new role. Sadly,

37:29

being proud of his role, the apparent

37:31

demotion affected him deeply, and

37:33

led to Yamamoto taking his own life,

37:36

and he did so in one of the worst

37:38

ways imaginable. On August 7th,

37:41

1985, Yamamoto walked out into

37:43

his garden, poured a

37:46

container of kerosene over himself, and

37:48

without a second thought, he took out

37:50

a lighter, and he set himself on fire. Suddenly,

37:55

there was a very real human face

37:57

on the entire incident. Days

37:59

later, on August 12th,

38:01

1985, likely spurred by the sudden

38:03

tragic turn out events, the

38:06

monster sent their final letter. Yamamoto

38:09

of Shiga Prefecture Police died.

38:13

How stupid of him. We've got

38:15

no friends or secret hiding place in

38:17

Shiga. It's Yoshino or

38:19

Shikara who should have died. What

38:21

have they been doing for as long as one year

38:23

and five months? Don't let

38:26

bad guys like us get away with it. There

38:28

are many more fools who want to copy us. No

38:31

career Yamamoto died like a man. So

38:34

we decided to give our condolences. We

38:37

decided to forget about torturing food

38:39

making companies. If anyone

38:41

blackmails any of the food making companies,

38:43

it's not us but someone copying us.

38:46

We are bad guys. That means

38:48

we've got more to do other than bullying

38:50

companies. It's fun to lead a bad

38:53

man's life. Monster

38:55

with 21 faces. So edgy. Mmm,

38:58

real edgidoids. Though it

39:00

seemed to show little sympathy to Yamamoto,

39:02

maybe they knew, you know, it's time

39:04

to hang it up, right? Shit's

39:06

getting too real when people are literally killing

39:08

themselves. Surely if they continue

39:11

to push her luck, something would give. But

39:13

whatever the true reason, that was the last

39:15

anyone ever heard from the monster who

39:17

were true to their word and

39:20

they simply went away. Interestingly,

39:23

to this day, no one knows who

39:26

they are, why they were

39:28

doing this, what actually happened, anything

39:30

about them. But what's interesting is that the

39:33

statute of limitations has actually passed on both

39:35

kidnapping and blackmailing. So if,

39:37

you know, the monster with 21 faces actually came forward and said,

39:39

hey, yeah, it's me. That was me.

39:42

The authorities couldn't do anything, you know,

39:45

it's passed. So yeah, this

39:47

is a case where the bad guys really did win. They

39:50

got away with it. There are a couple

39:52

of theories. Oh, key theory time.

39:54

Yes, it's time because I mean, it's this

39:56

is a wild story. So many questions, so

39:59

few answers. So I have three theories.

40:01

Two, good. But I think the last one, I think

40:04

it could be. Okay, say, give me

40:06

your bad theories first. Okay, bad theories

40:08

first, okay. So what everyone thinks is

40:10

one of the most compelling theory revolves

40:12

around Manabu Miyazaki, the Fox-eyed man. The

40:14

Fox-eyed man, okay. So he's believed to

40:17

be somehow connected to or at least

40:19

a member of this syndicate. So

40:21

you mentioned the Fox-eyed man, he

40:23

drew attention to police during both the attempted

40:26

money drop-off. Yeah, on the train. Yeah, and

40:28

the public trash can incident in a pursuit.

40:30

Yes, exactly. He spotted a boat sink. He

40:33

was spotted twice. So what's interesting is when

40:35

the police released a sketch of the Fox-eyed

40:37

man to the public, Miyazaki's own mother was

40:39

convinced that it was him. Also,

40:42

as you said, it's not like he had

40:44

a clean history. He was the son of

40:46

a Yakuza boss and was a known criminal

40:48

who had organized anti-police actions in college and

40:51

already had been arrested several times prior

40:53

to this. Yeah. But the best part

40:55

of his is once the statute of

40:58

limitations for the amount of

41:00

21 faces was expired, Miyazaki, he published

41:02

a memoir detailing his life of crime.

41:05

The book's cover featured the police sketch that

41:07

they released during the search for the

41:09

Fox-eyed man. Ooh, that's good. It's such

41:11

a fuck you to police like. Yeah.

41:15

He did confess to a number of crimes in the

41:17

book. However, he didn't make any mention or involvement to

41:19

the 21 things. Well, you

41:21

were absolutely right. That's a big fuck you to beat.

41:23

This is me. Like, it's actually brilliant

41:25

that he didn't mention it. It's like, yeah, it's

41:27

kind of subtle. The whole elephant in the room,

41:30

he's like, fuck you. And so, and the best

41:32

thing is the book actually did really well. It

41:34

went down to earn over 100 million yen. Wow.

41:37

It's like he eventually got his money. Yeah. I

41:39

mean, it sounds like he's organizing all these things.

41:41

He's probably an anarchist, anti-police, anti-government as a member

41:43

of the Yakuza. He would have no problem kidnapping

41:46

and blackmailing people. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that's

41:48

theory number one. Interesting. Which is the worst one,

41:50

but still good. It's a, yeah, it's a good

41:52

idea. I know it's not bad. Not bad. I

41:55

think I really, the fact that he put the

41:57

sketch though, as the cover of his biography. It's

41:59

so great. Yeah, I love that.

42:01

It's subtle but it's also like a real

42:03

F you. Yeah, like three. It is me.

42:06

Yeah. Yeah Yeah, so theory number two So

42:08

another theory is that it was an inside

42:10

job and Katuwisha Zaki

42:12

was in on from the start so this

42:15

theory gained a lot of traction at the

42:17

beginning of all this because and it appears

42:19

to stem primarily from the disbelief that Izaq

42:22

was able to escape from his captors, which

42:24

right I do somewhat agree with and

42:26

we mentioned earlier Apparently these kidnappers were they like they

42:28

were extremely well organized. Yeah, they left ropes a little

42:31

bit You know just a little loose again Yeah, they

42:33

were the wriggle out of his restraints and just walk

42:35

out of the warehouse Yeah, whether I went chasing him

42:37

so it just seems a bit too easy I

42:40

agree with that I hear that and some people

42:42

also found it suspicious that Glico's candy

42:44

was only threatened with being poisoned while

42:46

his competitor More than I got was

42:48

actually actually with cyanide Yeah

42:50

But however like there has been no evidence to

42:52

back this up and if Zaki was in on

42:54

it It like it really did blow up in

42:56

the face because all of the Glico products ended

42:58

up being pulled from the shelves Forcing the company

43:00

to shut down production temporarily and lay off two

43:02

thirds of the part on employees So it didn't

43:04

really work out great from yeah, it might have

43:06

started off the inside job and just got out

43:08

of hand, right? Well, it always does seem like

43:10

it was inside job though. It's just yeah, just

43:12

simply because they were always one step ahead Yeah,

43:15

I definitely think it was probably an inside job, but

43:17

I would lean more towards it being a police There's

43:20

somebody in it. Well, I hope maybe he would friends

43:22

in the police You know, it could literally be in

43:24

the name of the monster between the faces It could

43:26

have been a whole syndicate of people from all area

43:28

Yeah, big guy conspiracy could have been could have been

43:30

to take down the candy companies. Yeah, that's good Teary

43:33

number three and this is a good one

43:35

Okay, so this is my favorite theory and

43:37

I hope it's true because it's such a

43:39

good revenge story. Mm-hmm Okay, I'm locked in

43:42

right so we're going to rewind back 30

43:44

years from when 21 faces sent their

43:47

initial letter back to the year So

43:51

during June 1955 a number of infants in Western

43:53

Japan Experiencing

43:56

an uncommon illness categorized by

43:58

symptoms like diarrhea constipation,

44:00

vomiting, swollen abdomen, and the

44:02

darkening of skin color. The

44:04

common factor among these infants was

44:07

their consumption of powdered milk, eventually

44:09

identified as the Morinaga milk brand,

44:11

the same Morinaga that also makes

44:14

candy. So it was

44:16

found that the stabilizing agent in

44:18

Morinaga milk somehow contained the poison

44:20

arsenic. Tragically, by

44:23

June 1956, over 12,000

44:25

infants had been injured and 138

44:27

had died. 138

44:30

babies died. Jesus,

44:32

that's crazy. Huge numbers. That's

44:34

insane. It was nuts. So

44:37

after much legal debate, Morinaga did eventually

44:39

reach a settlement, much deserved dismay, with

44:41

the families of the affected infants. Settlements

44:43

would be fucking bollocks. 138 babies dead

44:45

and... 12,000

44:48

sick or harmed. The

44:50

company should have been burnt. Gone. Even

44:53

though some of them had reached

44:55

settlements, the damage had already been done. Like

44:57

arsenic is a neurotoxin, so

44:59

it's a poison that left many of

45:02

the survivors with chronic health problems their

45:04

entire lives. Wow. So by

45:06

the time the monster with 21 faces

45:08

began its terror across Japan, the victims

45:10

of the milk poisoning incident would have

45:12

been almost dirty. Yeah, and perhaps ready

45:14

to seek revenge on the company that

45:16

destroyed their work. Some

45:19

skeptics of this series say, why did

45:21

21 faces target the entire industry? Instead

45:23

of just Morinaga. Yeah. After

45:26

that I'd say, because they were trying to bring down

45:28

the whole goddamn system. Yeah. Yeah.

45:31

If we're just going to one, they run for all.

45:33

Exactly. I'm bringing the whole goddamn thing down. Yeah. But

45:36

one thing I feel also gives this theory a bit

45:38

more merit is something you mentioned

45:40

earlier. So when companies start receiving letters and

45:42

calls, one company received a call from, which

45:45

sounded to be a mother and child. Yes.

45:48

And I feel this might have been a little

45:50

bit of a nod to the milk poisoning 30

45:52

years earlier. Yes. And they

45:54

also actually lace Morinaga's candy with cyanide in

45:56

October 1984. And they

45:58

sent a letter to the media. was addressed to the

46:01

moms of the nation. Mm-hmm. It was addressed

46:03

to the moms of the nation, to moms

46:05

who had lost their children. Exactly. So, in

46:07

order to let them know, so, I don't

46:09

know, I feel, I think that's a good

46:11

theory. I like that one. I think that's

46:13

good. Very, very good. Great revenge, sorry. It

46:15

wasn't about the money. It was about destroying the entire

46:18

system. They didn't go after Morinaga first,

46:20

they went after them all, but Morinaga definitely suffered the most.

46:23

They brought that one to its heels for sure,

46:25

or to its knees for sure. Right, exactly. Boys

46:28

in 12,000 infants and killed 138 of them. Yeah. Oh

46:31

man, that's good. I kinda gotta, I wanna, I

46:33

wanna re-crew this case again now, with that theory

46:35

in mind. No, right, yeah, good. I kinda feel like

46:37

doing a deep dive, oh man, that's good. Oh,

46:40

that's really, really good. All right,

46:42

well, that was great. Well done. Fair

46:45

play to you, Keith. Good theories there at the

46:47

end. But here,

46:49

listen, folks, listeners at home,

46:52

please, you know, check this

46:54

out, give it a go. Mm-hmm. And

46:56

faces, maybe you can come up with

46:58

some theories yourself about who they, them,

47:01

he, she, whatever

47:03

they were. Oh, theory

47:05

number four, Grandpa Joe. Grandpa Joe, obviously, yeah.

47:07

That was a game, he did. I

47:09

feel not in theory, he did. Okay, all right,

47:11

problem solved. All right, interesting story. And

47:14

here, listen, we shall, Sinead will leave it there

47:16

for tonight. Thank you so much for listening. If

47:19

you'd like some more of that chapter, please check out the

47:21

That Chapter YouTube channel, Tuesdays and

47:24

Fridays for new videos, and

47:26

the That Chapter podcast, which

47:28

is live every week. Probably

47:31

Mondays, I think. Ooh, you saw it on Mondays. Monday

47:33

mornings on the way to work. Monday mornings on the

47:35

way to work, you will get some new Mike and

47:37

Keith in your ears. But yeah, here,

47:39

listen, until then, please take care of each other and

47:41

yourselves. Keith. Yes.

47:44

Sign off if you want to, or do whatever you want. I

47:46

don't care. Eh, I don't know, I

47:48

just, if a big corporation does you wrong, just

47:50

buy your time. Yeah. You'll get your

47:52

revenge eventually. Get your revenge eventually. I'll make a great story.

47:55

Maybe we'll read about you in a couple of years. Exactly,

47:57

sounds good. You might be on a future episode, episode one,

47:59

that is another. That's our podcast. Alright, thanks

48:01

for listening. Bye-bye. You guys have been

48:03

great. Thanks. We're

48:10

one of those old 9-5 stability, something I

48:12

do not ask. Yeah, we're for OnlyFans. Yes,

48:14

exactly. But not the one you think of.

48:16

We just sell fans. Yes. Ceiling fans and

48:18

someone calls up and they're like, have you

48:21

got air conditioning? Like, no, OnlyFans. That's

48:23

it, yeah. Anyway.