Japan’s Poisoning Painter
A tortured soul or despicable criminal?
Sadamichi Hirasawa was born in Tokyo in 1892. At a young age, he was already determined to become a painter and joined the art club as a result. By twenty-two, his career took off with one of his paintings winning a prize at a national exhibition. The imperial art committee exhibited his different works sixteen consecutive times afterwards.
But good times never last.
After World War II, Hirasawa’s work lost popularity and began to fade into obscurity. The painter had a family to support but could no longer do so with his passion in post-war Japan. The end of the war only marked the beginning of his personal tragedy.
Deadly heist
On the 26th of January, 1948, a middle-aged man claiming to be a municipal official entered a branch of the Imperial Bank of Tokyo. With an armband and calling card as proof, he stated that his business was to immunize the employees against dysentery, by order of the US occupation.
He instructed the sixteen employees to take a pill and quickly administered several drops of liquid along with its consumption…
