TOKYO – When a fugitive for nearly 50 years, Satoshi Kirishima, emerged suddenly, it caused a sensation.

But what was also remarkable was how, a few days after his surprise emergence of his own volition, the police caught yakuza member Shigeyuki Kin, who had spent three years on the run.

Usually, as a case gets older, it is harder to trace fugitives as the investigation is scaled back and societal interest wanes, experts said.

However, renewed attention paid to “most wanted posters” after Kirishima came out of hiding had resulted in anonymous tip-offs that in turn led to the arrest of Kin, who was wanted for the shooting of a gang leader in 2020.

Kirishima, meanwhile, was an alleged member of the radical leftist East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front, which was behind a series of deadly bombings in Tokyo between 1974 and 1975.

His appearance out of the blue led to a media frenzy, with fugitive posters that included his photograph – a black-and-white one of a youthful, smiling man with shoulder-length hair and dark-rimmed glasses – splashed widely on different media platforms.

It helped that Kin’s mugshot was next to Kirishima’s on the National Police Agency notices.

“There can be said to have been a large impact, given the massive social response (to Kirishima’s appearance),” former police officer Yu Inamura told The Straits Times on Feb 8, noting that everyone in Japan would have come across these posters, however subconsciously.

An investigative source told online media AERA dot. that Kin’s arrest was “strongly related” to wide news coverage about Kirishima, adding: “The majority of wanted suspects are apprehended through reports by ordinary citizens.”

The chain of events unfurled from Jan 25, when a 70-year-old man claiming to be Kirishima checked himself into hospital.

Suffering from terminal stomach cancer and knowing that the game was up, the man said he wanted to die under his own name and not that of his adopted alias of Hiroshi Uchida. He died four days later, and was cremated on Feb 7.

While police have yet to officially confirm his identity, DNA tests suggest that the man was, indeed, Kirishima.

Kyushu University Professor Koji Tabuchi, a published author on criminal procedure law, told ST that investigations of long-term unresolved cases are scaled back, but will not be fully suspended until the expiry of statute of limitations.

While the statute of limitations in Japan is up to 30 years for serious crimes, this can be suspended, as it was in Kirishima’s case, because some suspects remain on the run overseas.

“However, as a case gets older, the number of police officers involved decreases, and general societal interest in the case wanes. Thus, it becomes harder to obtain the necessary information to find the fugitives,” he said.

Mr Inamura, who now heads the Japan Counter-Intelligence Association consultancy, concurred, saying: “As time passes, the amount of investigation that can be done becomes limited as the initial manpower is dialled down.”

He added: “While the police thoroughly gather information in the wake of an incident, it would be unrealistic to constantly maintain the tempo and deploy a large number of personnel for old cases, considering aspects such as effectiveness and a finite amount of resources.”

Japan had 260,980 police officers as at April 2023, official data shows, fanned out across 1,149 police stations and another 11,300 police boxes or substations across the country.

Fugitives also tend to slip off the radar by living under aliases and disguises, and taking extra care not to form deep relationships with those around them.

As time passes, they will look increasingly different from their mugshots in police posters. Kirishima is a case in point – grainy news photographs show a sun-weathered man sporting a crew cut and a moustache.

Despite the increasing digitisation of society and a growing number of security cameras, Mr Inamura said he did not believe that it would be impossible to live without leaving any traces.

“One can lead a normal social life, while thoroughly avoiding situations that require them to present their identification,” he noted.

In Kirishima’s case, while he had sought medical treatment, he had paid for it out of pocket without relying on national health insurance that would have required identification.

He had also been employed as a construction worker for decades by a company that was negligent in identity checks and paid his wages in cash without making employer contributions to the national pension.

While Kirishima was careful not to be photographed and drew a line at romance, claiming to acquaintances that he “was not the type to make others happy”, he led a healthy social life.

He was a regular at his neighbourhood bar in Fujisawa, about 1½ hours south of Tokyo, where he had a passion for live music and was affectionately known as Ucchi.

“The fact that he was able to live for nearly 50 years under a pseudonym may be a sign of how life in urban areas has become increasingly anonymous,” Dr Tabuchi noted. “Japanese people, in general, keep to themselves and do not pry into the lives of others.”

As for Kin, he is said to have relied on his yakuza links to slip under the radar.

While he was wanted for the Nagano prefecture shooting in September 2020, he was arrested in an apartment in Sendai, seven hours away by car, on Feb 1 in an overnight raid. Kin did not resist arrest.

“There will be no let-up in our investigations and search for fugitives,” National Police Agency chief Yasuhiro Tsuyuki vowed at a news conference, stressing that no detail was too minute and urging citizens to report even the slightest suspicions.

Japan’s most wanted fugitives

There are 12 fugitives on Japan’s most wanted list, five of whom have a bounty placed on them. They are:

Hiroshi Kogure, 54, 26 years on the run

The 170cm-tall suspect is wanted for the murder of three people at their home in Takasaki in Gunma Prefecture, central Japan, on Jan 14, 1998. Police are offering up to three million yen (S$27,000) for information on his whereabouts.

Katsuyuki Obara, 43, 15 years on the run

The 170cm-tall suspect is wanted for the murder of 17-year-old girl Kozue Sato, whose corpse was found in a river in the mountains of Miyako in Iwate Prefecture on July 1, 2008. Police, who believe Obara tried to fake his own suicide, are offering up to three million yen for information.

Keiei Uechi, 67, 18 years on the run

The 168cm-tall suspect is wanted for the murder of the vice-manager of a bar in Tokyo’s Mitaka city on Nov 24, 2005. Police are offering up to three million yen for information.

Shinichi Mitate, 44, 11 years on the run

The 167cm-tall suspect is a gang ringleader who is wanted for the assault and murder, using a metal bat and with the help of accomplices, of 31-year-old restaurant manager Ryosuke Fujimoto at a nightclub in Tokyo’s Roppongi district on Sept 2, 2012.

He is the only one among those involved in the killing still at large. Police are offering up to three million yen for information, while a private group is offering another three million yen.

Yoichi Hatta, 27, one year on the run

The 175cm-tall suspect is alleged to have deliberately struck and killed Ikuto Fukutani, 19, in Beppu, Oita Prefecture, in a hit-and-run on June 29, 2022. Police are offering up to three million yen for information, while a private group is offering another five million yen.