Glico Morinaga case facts for kids

The Glico Morinaga case was a famous extortion case in Japan between 1984 and 1985. It involved threats and demands for money from big Japanese candy companies like Ezaki Glico and Morinaga. The case lasted for 17 months. It started with the kidnapping of the president of Glico. It ended with the last message from the main suspect, a person or group known as "The Monster with 21 Faces". This mystery remains unsolved even today.

The Monster's Threats to Glico

The "Monster with 21 Faces" sent a letter to the police on April 8, 1984. They made fun of the police for not being able to catch them.

To the police fools,

Are you all stupid? What the hell are you doing with all that manpower? If you're professionals then come on, catch us! We'll give you a hint since you're so handicapped: there are none of us among Ezaki's relatives, there are none of us among the Nishinomiya police, there are none of us among the Flood Prevention Corps. The car I bought was gray, and the food I bought was from Daei. If you want more information, ask us for it in the newspapers. After telling you all this, you should be able to catch us. If you can't, then you're just tax leeches. Shall we kidnap the head of the prefectural police, too?

Even after the Glico president escaped, the threats continued. On April 10, cars at the Glico headquarters were set on fire. Then, on April 16, a container with hydrochloric acid and a threatening letter were found.

On May 10, Glico started getting letters from "The Monster with 21 Faces". This name came from a villain in detective novels. The Monster claimed they had put potassium cyanide soda in Glico candies. Glico had to remove its products from stores. This cost the company over $21 million. About 450 part-time workers lost their jobs.

The Monster then threatened to put the poisoned products back in stores. A security camera caught a man placing Glico chocolate on a shelf. He was wearing a Yomiuri Giants baseball cap. A photo from this camera was shared with the public.

The Monster with 21 Faces also sent letters to the media. They made fun of the police for not catching them. One letter, written in hiragana and Osaka dialect, said:

Dear dumb police officers. Don't tell a lie. All crimes begin with a lie as we say in Japan. Don't you know that?

Another letter from the gang was received on April 23, 1984. It was sent to newspapers and the Koshien police station. It read:

"To police fools. You shouldn’t lie. If you lie, you steal. I also sent this to the Koshien police. Why are you lying. Don’t hide things. Why are you complaining? You guys are having such a hard time, so I will give you a hint. I entered the factory from the side staff entrance. The typewriter we used is PAN-writer. The plastic container used was a piece of street garbage.

Monster with 21 faces"

Eventually, the Monster stopped bothering Glico. On June 26, they sent a letter saying, "We Forgive Glico!". But then, the Monster started threatening other food companies. These included Morinaga, Marudai Ham, and House Foods Corporation.

Morinaga Company Under Threat

On November 1, 1984, a threatening letter arrived at the home of Morinaga Dairy's vice president, Mitsuo Yamada. This was part of many letters sent to Japanese food companies by the "Monster with 21 Faces".

To President, you saw our power didn’t you? If you disobey us we will destroy your company. You will get killed. Decide whether you want to give us money or do you want to see your company destroyed? Tell us in the Mainichi Newspaper on either the 5th or 6th of November. Use the missing persons. Use these words in the reply: Jiro, Morinaga, Mother, Police, Bad friend, Money, Meal. As we said before we want two hundred million yen.

Monster with 21 faces"

On November 6, Morinaga replied to the criminals. They placed a missing persons advertisement in the Mainichi Newspapers.

"Dear Jiro, Bad friend disappeared. Come back. Warm meal is waiting. Mother Chiyoko."

Two letters were sent to House Foods on November 7, 1984. On the same day, Morinaga & Company had to cut its production by 90%. This was because their food products had been poisoned by the criminal group.

The Mysterious Fox-Eyed Man

Police almost caught the person believed to be the leader of the "Monster with 21 Faces". On June 28, the "Monster" agreed to stop bothering Marudai if they got 50 million yen. This is about US$210,000. The "Monster" told a Marudai employee to throw the money onto a train heading to Kyoto when a white flag was shown.

A police investigator pretended to be a Marudai employee. He followed the "Monster's" instructions. He saw a suspicious man watching him on the train. The man was described as large and strong. He wore sunglasses and had short, permed hair. His eyes were like those of a fox.

The white flag was not shown. So, the undercover policeman and the "Fox-Eyed Man" both got off the train at Kyoto station. The investigator waited on a bench, and the "Fox-Eyed Man" kept watching him. The investigator then went back to Osaka. The "Fox-Eyed Man" got on another train car. When the investigator got off at Takatsuki station, the "Fox-Eyed Man" got on a Kyoto-bound train. Another undercover investigator followed him from Kyoto, but the "Fox-Eyed Man" managed to get away.

The Incident in Shiga Prefecture

Police had another chance to catch the "Fox-Eyed Man" on November 14. The "Monster" group tried to get 100 million yen (about US$410,000) from House Food Corporation. This was another secret deal. At a rest stop on the Meishin Expressway, near Otsu, investigators saw the Fox-Eyed Man again. He was wearing a golf cap and dark glasses. But he escaped capture once more.

The money delivery van the police were following kept going towards the drop point. They were supposed to drop the money in a can under a white cloth. When the van reached the spot, the white cloth was there, but the can was missing. The police team was told to leave. They thought the "Monster" was just testing how the police would react.

However, an hour earlier, a patrol car from the local Shiga prefecture police saw a station wagon. Its engine was running, but its headlights were off. The station wagon was less than 50 meters from a white cloth on a fence. The police officer did not know about the secret money drop. He drove up to the station wagon and shone his flashlight on the driver. He saw a thin-cheeked man in his forties. He wore a golf cap over his eyes and had a wireless receiver with headphones. The driver was surprised by the policeman and sped off. The police car chased him, but the station wagon got away.

The station wagon was later found empty near the Kusatsu Station. It had been stolen earlier in Nagaokakyo in Kyoto prefecture. Inside the car, police found a radio that could listen to police conversations. It was listening to police from six prefectures, including Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe. A vacuum cleaner was also found, but it did not lead to any clues about the "Monster" group.

After threatening House Foods, the "Monster" then targeted Fujiya in December 1984. In January 1985, police showed a facial composite of the "Fox-Eyed Man" to the public. In August 1985, the police superintendent of Shiga Prefecture, Yamamoto, died. This happened after continued harassment by the "Monster with 21 Faces" and the failure to catch the "Fox-Eyed Man".

The Final Message and What Happened Next

Five days after Superintendent Yamamoto's death, on August 12, the "Monster with 21 Faces" sent its last message to the media:

Yamamoto of Shiga Prefecture Police died. How stupid of him! We've got no friends or secret hiding place in Shiga. It's Yoshino or Shikata who should have died. What have they been doing for as long as one year and five months? Don't let bad guys like us get away with it. There are many more fools who want to copy us. No-career Yamamoto died like a man. So we decided to give our condolence. We decided to forget about torturing food-making companies. If anyone blackmails any of the food-making companies, it's not us but someone copying us. We are bad guys. That means we've got more to do other than bullying companies. It's fun to lead a bad man's life. Monster with 21 Faces.

After this message, no one heard from the Monster with 21 Faces again. The time limit for solving the kidnapping of Ezaki ran out in March 1994. The time limits for the poisoned food products ran out in October 1999 and February 2000. This means no one can be charged for these crimes anymore.

Main Suspects in the Case

After the police released the identikit in January 1985, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police quickly thought the culprit might be Manabu Miyazaki. He was called Mr. "M" or Material Witness "M". Miyazaki was suspected because a tape from 1976, supporting a local union in a dispute with Glico, sounded similar to the "Monster's" messages.

There were also many times between 1975 and 1976 when information was secretly shared about Glico. These were also thought to be Miyazaki's doing. They showed that Glico was dumping waste into the river. Miyazaki was also suspected of being involved when a union leader resigned due to money problems. This happened when Glico Ham and Glico Nutritional Foods merged. Also, his father was the boss of a local Yakuza group. Miyazaki himself looked a lot like the "Fox-Eyed Man".

For months, people thought Miyazaki was the "Fox-Eyed Man". But the Tokyo Metropolitan Police checked his alibis (where he said he was at the time of the crimes) and cleared him. He was not involved. Because of this attention, Miyazaki became a social commentator. He wrote a book about his experiences called Toppamono.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police also thought that different Yakuza groups might have been involved in the Glico-Morinaga case. The blackmail campaign ended around the time of the Yama-ichi war. This was a gang war between the Yamaguchi-gumi and the Ichiwa-kai.

Also, the Japanese National Public Safety Commission looked into extreme left-wing and right-wing groups as possible suspects.

The Case in Popular Culture

In 2002, a character called the Laughing Man in the show Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex was inspired by the Glico-Morinaga case.