Willful Murder (Nihon no atsui hibi bôsatsu: Shimoyama jiken / 日本の熱い日々 謀殺・下山事件)

1981 - Agency for Cultural Affairs Art Festival Entry

A Shochiku Film

A Haiyuza Eiga Hoso Production

In 1949, Japan had already lost WWII and unconditionally surrendered...

to the Allied powers four years prior,

and it was now an occupied state.

At this time, the cold war between the US and the Soviet Union...

had already begun.

The US was faced with the need to quickly fashion Japan...

into an anti-communist stronghold for Asia.

The so-called "Dodge Line" was...

an economic rationalization program handed down to the Japanese government...

for the purpose of reviving and reinforcing capitalism in the country.

As a result, major companies announced a string of layoffs.

Labor unions organized protests against the mass layoffs,

and among the protestors was the 600,000-man strong...

National Railway Labor Union (NRLU), which served as the core of the protests.

Consequently, the 100,000 displaced railway workers...

held the key to the success or failure of the "Dodge Line".

National Railway Labor Union Headquarters

Amid these circumstances, National Railway President Sadanori Shimoyama...

released a list of a first round of layoffs of 30,700 employees on July 4.

On July 5, the NRLU organized a strike...

in opposition to the layoffs.

Willful Murder

Starring

Tatsuya Nakadai, Isao Hashimoto, Akio Miyabe, Yoko Asaji, Ichiro Akatani, Shinji Ogawa, Koji Yakusho, Jiro Kawarazaki

Kei Yamamoto, Shogen Nitta, Yoshisuke Makino, Seiichi Taguchi, Masao Shishikura, Mikijiro Hira, Yasuyuki Kachi, Hiroyuki Yamada, Yoshio Inaba

PRESS CLUB Showa News

Anyhow, troops returning from Siberia are not to be joined...

with their families and will not be allowed on board.

The trains that had been specially arranged for returning troops...

appear to have departed nearly empty. Yes.

Also, 1,000 labor union members came to greet them, and the whole lot of them...

went to the nearby Shitaya Public Hall for a "People's Assembly".

What?! A "People's Assembly"! Yes!

There are around 3,000 people here, so the situation is untenable...

for the police and they are just standing by watching.

Just between you and me, this is less like the return of troops from Siberia...

and more like the invasion of a revolutionary army.

It's impossible to tell what's going to happen, so I will send my article...

after the "People's Assembly" is finished.

There's no way I'll meet the midnight deadline.

What?! It's been pushed back to 02:00?! What happened?!

It's National Railway President Shimoyama... he's missing.

This morning on the way to work, he got out of his car...

after 09:30, went into Mitsukoshi Department Store, and disappeared.

We're going to be here all night. You stay put.

Understood.

At 24:05 on July 6, the body of President Shimoyama was discovered...

under the railway trestle of the Joban Line of Gotano Station,

in the Adachi ward of Tokyo, having been run over by a train.

This was 15 hours after he had disappeared from Mitsukoshi Department Store.

His body was found in five parts:

the head, the torso, the right and left arms, and the right ankle.

His body and his possessions were found scattered...

in a 90-meter area from under the bridge.

The body of President Shimoyama is currently being examined at Tokyo University.

However, railway experts doubt that it was suicide...

and believe that he was probably dead before the train ran him over.

The government is taking a cautious approach...

and will investigate the matter thoroughly.

The results of the autopsy aren't even in,

and the Chief Cabinet Secretary has already announced it as a homicide.

I understand that the government is trying to use this event, but this is pushing it.

I'm impressed that they haven't outright accused the Japanese Communist Party...

or the NRLU of murdering him.

But the general public must certainly have connected it to the railway's huge layoffs.

I'm back.

How did it go?

I met with Dr. Yasojima, who looked at the body.

- He says it's a suicide. - A suicide?

Yep: there was virtually no pooling of the blood.

It's a little early to officially rule it a suicide,

and Shimoyama's death is attracting a lot of attention,

so there's to be a judicial autopsy conducted tomorrow.

Also, the train that ran over Shimoyama originated at Tabata Station,

and stopped at Gotano Station at 24:19 and 30 seconds.

Hello!

24:19 is an awkward time...

The timeline for a suicide would be today, but yesterday for a homicide.

So?

- It's the date of his death. - Mr. Endo!

Yeah, yeah... I got it.

The Tokyo University autopsy has completed and they issued an official announcement.

Hey, the official announcement is in!

The cause of death is unclear, but since absolutely no bleeding occurred...

from the injuries he sustained from being hit by the train,

it was determined that he died beforehand.

He died beforehand.

So the train ran over a dead man.

Then, it was homicide!

Does everyone understand? We're going with homicide as planned.

Cover every base!

Homicide Conclusive Special Taskforce Set Up

Shimoyama's Death Ruled a Homicide

Throat Cut

Shimoyama's Dead Body Hit by Train

Tokyo University's Office of Forensic Medicine

The body had over 300 lacerations and abrasions.

None of them bled, which would be a requisite vital reaction.

"Vital reaction"...

It's unthinkable that...

a living person wouldn't bleed from any of those wounds.

I assume you were thorough in your examination?

As thorough as I've ever been.

It's very clear that he was dead when the train hit him.

Yes, he was definitely hit after he died.

What? Witnesses?

There seems to be a number of witnesses who saw..

a man fitting Shimoyama's description at Gotano Station.

The innkeeper of Sueyoshi Inn, which is in the vicinity of the station,

gave a statement that a gentleman fitting his description...

was relaxing there at around 14:00-17:30.

Detectives on the case...

are said to have confirmed that the man was indeed Shimoyama.

Detectives from the First Division?

All the news outlets are setting up offices around Gotano Station...

and media coverage is all over the place,

but the Sun has decided to report it as a suicide.

A suicide? That's ridiculous.

The information about the witnesses isn't correct.

That's why we're going with it as a homicide.

Still, if it turns out to be suicide, it will be hard for us...

to backpedal on our coverage.

OK, I'll go to Gotano and see what I can find out.

Sueyoshi Inn

I see... His clothes were identical to those that Shimoyama was wearing.

What does it say in the register?

He said he'd rather not.

About his appearance,

did he really resemble the photo in the newspapers?

Yes, his skin was white,

his eyebrows were widely separated, and his face was puffy.

A fellow named Tsuji, who saw him by the train tracks...

said that he was tanned dark, had high cheekbones,

and looked like the foreman of a construction site.

That's not true.

But several other people have come forward with descriptions that differ from yours.

He was here for three hours; he must have smoked a lot of cigarettes.

I don't recall.

He evidently loved cigarettes, so he must have filled an ashtray.

I don't recall.

- Good morning. - Good morning.

- Good morning, Yashiro. - Good morning.

Are you working on a Ph.D.?

The scientific investigation is probably going to crack this case,

so Wajima told me to bone up on it, but all of the books are academic...

and I couldn't understand much. I was up all night.

You're going whole hog on this.

What did the Tokyo Metropolitan Police say?

The First Division says suicide and the Second Division says homicide.

But Chief Yoshikawa of the Second Division is insistent about it being a homicide...

and has the backing of the prosecutor's office.

Why is the First Division so sure it's suicide?

They are stressing the instincts of seasoned detectives at the scene,

as well as the reports from 17 witnesses.

However, they found Shimoyama's necktie, glasses, and mechanical pencil at the scene,

but did not find his cigarette case, lighter, or other cigarette paraphernalia.

It doesn't add up.

Comments by the mistress of the Sueyoshi Inn were uneven and are not entirely credible.

Still, his clothes were the same as Shimoyama's, right down to the necktie...

Wait... it's possible that someone was impersonating him.

An impersonator?

That would explain why he didn't smoke...

and didn't want his name in the hotel register.

He knew that his blood type could be taken from the cigarette butts...

and his handwriting could be analyzed.

It's possible... but it's a bit contrived.

No, the man who stopped at the inn and had a glass of water at around 14:00,

there are no reports of him stopping for water anywhere else.

No one could walk around in this heat for 10 hours without drinking any water.

Would it be possible to impersonate him?

Hand me the chart.

There were 10 witnesses at 18:00,

and none in the following two hours.

So he must've stopped somewhere for dinner.

Someone else could've taken over as the double.

But there must've been an easier way to make it look like a suicide...

like throwing him in the ocean.

No, once the train passed by, his body was sure to be found.

And his body was torn apart and it was a grisly death.

It would lend credence to the public opinion that...

it was leftists that led him to resort to a bloody suicide.

It was done for shock.

So it was perpetrated by right-wing syndicates?

If so,

it would be...

an exceptionally well-planned crime.

Around that time, forensic scientists at Keio and other universities...

started to sharply criticize Tokyo University's findings...

that Shimoyama was run over after he had died.

Did Shimoyama Kill Himself?

If it turns out to be a homicide and the perpetrator is apprehended,

I'll commit seppuku.

There is absolutely no forensic basis for ruling this a homicide.

It can only be explained by incompetence on the part of Tokyo University...

and political scheming on the part of the government.

It absolutely was not a conspiracy.

Reporters like to make hay, but I'm not looking to be second-guessed.