Joji Obara

, born Kim Sung-jong (born 10 August 1952) is a Korean-Japanese serial rapist who raped between 150 and 400 women between 1992 and 2000. He had a fetish for white women. Obara was charged with the drugging, rape and murder of Englishwoman Lucie Blackman; the rape and manslaughter of Australian woman Carita Ridgway; and the rape of eight other women. During his youth, Obara's father worked his way from a scrap collector to the immensely wealthy owner of a string of properties and pachinko parlors. virtually guaranteeing his acceptance into the university.

Two years later, following his father's death in Hong Kong, Obara inherited property in Osaka and Tokyo.

Crimes Obara was a habitual drug user who was reported to have a fetish for white women. Obara recorded his attacks on videotape, at least 400 of which were recovered by police, giving them cause to believe that he might have raped anywhere from 150 to 400 women. Police found extensive journals in which Obara made reference to "conquest play", after drugging them with chloroform.

Carita Ridgway Carita Simone Ridgway (3 March 1970 29 February 1992) was an Australian model from Claremont, Western Australia, who was working in Tokyo's Ginza area as a bar hostess to earn money for acting school. he took an unconscious Ridgway to the hospital claiming that she was suffering from shellfish-related food poisoning. Ridgway died after life support was stopped at her family's request; her body was cremated and repatriated to Australia.

Lucie Blackman Lucie Jane Blackman (1 September 1978 1 July 2000) was an Englishwoman from Sevenoaks, Kent, who worked as a bar hostess in Tokyo. Blackman had previously worked as a flight attendant for British Airways and went to Japan to see the world and earn money to repay her debts. Newspapers started publicizing Blackman's disappearance on 13 July, when British prime minister Tony Blair mentioned the case during an official visit to Japan, where he met with Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori. An information hotline was staffed by British immigrants, and an anonymous businessman funded a reward of £100,000. It was also around this time that police made the connection between cases via Obara. The body had been cut into ten pieces and put inside separate bags, her head shaved and encased in concrete. The body was too decomposed to show the cause of death.

Trial In October 2000, Obara was charged with the drugging, rape and murder of Blackman, as well as the manslaughter of Ridgway and the rape of eight other women. Evidence supporting his guilt of rape included the approximately 400 videos shot by Obara, which showed him raping women (including one with Ridgway). Some of the money was used to establish the Lucie Blackman Trust (later called LBT Global), a charity providing safety advice for British people overseas, and assistance for families of British people missing, or murdered, abroad. The judge stated that in deciding on the sentence he did not attach much importance to Obara's payment of "consolation money" to a number of his victims.

Former prosecutor Takeshi Tsuchimoto criticised the decision to acquit Obara for the murder of Blackman by pointing to the conviction of Masumi Hayashi due to circumstantial evidence. The public prosecutor, however, appealed the Blackman-related verdicts, as crucial forensic evidence had not been heard at the original trial, and on March 25, 2008, an appeal trial commenced in the Tokyo High Court. The court found Obara guilty on the counts of abduction, dismemberment and disposal of Blackman's body on December 16, 2008.

The Japanese judicial system received criticism for its handling of the case. It is believed that police did not take Blackman's disappearance seriously "because Lucie was working illegally in a job from which women often flee without notice." As a result, the discovery of the body came too late to determine the cause of death. The verdict, by a panel of three judges, cited the lack of forensic evidence as a reason for acquittal. People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate of Lucie Blackman a February 2011 book by Richard Lloyd Parry. On February 24, 2019, Casefile True Crime Podcast aired an episode revisiting the case. RedHanded Podcast: Episode 9, "The Beast With The Human Face" Asian Madness Podcast: Episode92, “Deadly Obsessions” Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case (Netflix, 2023) Evidence Locker True Crime Podcast: 11. Japan | The Hostess Murders (Carita Ridgway and Lucie Blackman (Joji Obara)