September 5, 2025
TOKYO – The police “underestimated the danger and urgency” of the case in which Asahi Okazaki, 20, was allegedly stalked and killed by her ex-boyfriend in Kawasaki Ward, Kawasaki, the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Headquarters said in a report released on Thursday.
The police examined their handling of the case after Okazaki’s death and issued the report, which pointed out that the police underestimated the case both “while receiving reports from the victim and after she went missing.”
The report concluded that there were systemic and structural problems, leading to a hollowed-out and dysfunctional response system at both the Kawasaki Rinko Police Station, which received the reports from Okazaki, and the prefectural police headquarters.
The report summarized that the inappropriate response resulting from underestimation and dysfunction caused the police to miss opportunities to ensure Okazaki’s safety and delayed the investigation.
At a press conference on Thursday morning, Kaoru Wada, chief of the prefectural police headquarters, said: “We take very seriously that a woman who had been seeking our help was murdered. As a person with ultimate responsibility, I deeply feel the responsibility. I offer my apologies.”
He also revealed that he received a stern verbal warning from the National Police Agency on Thursday.
Okazaki went missing on Dec. 20 last year. The prefectural police found her body under the floor of the home of Hideyuki Shirai, 28, in April. He was arrested on suspicion of abandoning a body in May, and has since been indicted on charges including murder.
The report was compiled by an investigation team headed by the chief of the police administration department at the prefectural police headquarters.
According to the report, Okazaki contacted the police nine times from Dec. 9 to 20 last year. However, officers failed to report details, such as the fact that “someone is loitering around her house,” to the station chief or the prefectural police headquarters’ emergency intervention response division, which handles stalking cases. They also failed to record some of her complaints. Nor did they question Shirai.
The internal investigation team determined these responses were “inappropriate.” They analyzed that there was a preconceived notion among investigators that “the trouble had subsided or been resolved,” partly because the two had got back together in the previous month.
Okazaki went missing from her grandmother’s house, where she had been staying for her safety. A first-floor window was broken, but the police hastily concluded there was little likelihood of foul play, presuming that Okazaki might have left on her own. They did not conduct initial investigations, such as forensic analysis.
After her disappearance, at least nine pieces of information suggested Okazaki might be in danger. Among these is the fact that Shirai admitted to the police on Dec. 26 last year to loitering around Okazaki’s residence and sending her a message saying, “I won’t forgive you.” Nevertheless, an investigation considering the danger was never initiated.
Okazaki’s relatives repeatedly requested an urgent investigation in January. They told the police that she might have been abducted. Dissatisfied with the station’s response, they even consulted the Metropolitan Police Department, which had no jurisdiction in Kawasaki. Despite this, the police station did not reassess its evaluation of the danger or urgency.
The review stressed that “the entire station lacked a sense of urgency.” It also stated that the station chief’s leadership was inadequate. At headquarters, information sharing and coordination were insufficient between the community safety divisions, responsible for protection of victims, and the criminal investigation divisions, responsible for criminal investigations.
As a measure to prevent a recurrence, the prefectural police will introduce a position to oversee both divisions and create a unit dedicated to personal safety cases within the first investigative division.