Sato Airi, a 22yo livestreamer known as Mogami Ai, was murdered in Tokyo during a stream. So why are people feeling sorry for her killer?
On March 11th, 22-year-old Sato Airi – who went online by the name of Mogami Ai (最上あい) – was murdered in broad daylight in Takadanobaba in Shinjuku City, Tokyo. The incident, which happened during her livestream, highlights the continuing dangers for women who become the targets of male rage. However, it’s also revealing a deeper societal sickness as many online are sympathizing, not with the victim, but her killer.
Airi, who lived in Tama City in Tokyo, was a livestreamer on the service WhoWatch (ふわっち; fuwacchi). According to News Post Seven, before the incident, she had over 2,600 followers on the service. (She appears to have over 4,200 now.) However, she appears to have participated in a lot of events on WhoWatch and done fairly well collecting online tips. Another streamer told NHK that she was “a serious hard worker” and had a lot of dedicated fans who were drawn in by her charm and conversational style.
According to TBS NEWS DIG and multiple other sources, Sato was in the middle of a stream titled “A walk around the Yamanote Line” on March 11th and had stopped at Takadanobaba Station on the JR Yamanote. Mid-stream, Sato screamed “Help!” as a man attacked her, stabbing her multiple times. Concerned livestream viewers, who couldn’t see the attack itself, flooded Sato’s chat, wondering what was going on.
Moments later, a man in his 40s wearing a mask looked eerily into the camera. According to viewers, he kicked Sato’s body multiple times as she lay on the ground.
Police rushed to the scene, where they found an unconscious Sato, who’d been stabbed multiple times on her upper body and face. They promptly arrested 42-year-old Takano Kenichi, a resident of Oyama City in Tochigi Prefecture.
Initial reports had confused Sato with another Mogami Ai, a voice actress. Mogami posted a clarification on her X account that included condolences for Sato.
2.5 million yen in loans?
Why did a 42-year-old man take the life of a 22-year-old woman? Sato told cops his motive was revenge for debts not repaid.
Takano, according to NHK and based on court proceedings, reportedly became a fan of Sato’s livestreams in December 2021. (Let’s be clear on this point: at this time, Takano would have been around 38 and Sato, whose birthday is in October according to her WhoWatch profile, would have just turned 18.) He got to know her by frequenting a bar where she worked. Such cross-promotions between bars/concept cafes and streamers are not uncommon in Japan.
Takano reportedly gave Sato a lot in donations (投げ銭; nagesen) via WhoWatch. However, the full details of their financial relationship came into fuller focus due to conversations leaked on social media and later verified by Shueisha Online. Screenshots of conversations on messaging app LINE between Sato and Takano from 2022 – when Sato, mind you, would have been all of 18 or 19 years old (I feel like I need to keep emphasizing this) – showed Sato asking Takano repeatedly to “borrow” money for various reasons.
“I’m really sorry, I forgot my wallet at work yesterday and I don’t have cash on me, I need to borrow a bit. I’ll pay you back tomorrow or the day after once I retrieve it,” she writes in one message.
That wasn’t the last time she asked for money. As time went on, the reasons became increasingly frivolous and suspicious-sounding. In one text, Sato says she was “partially pressured” into buying an expensive bottle of champagne for a colleague’s birthday at a cabaret club where she worked.
In a message to a friend in 2023, Takano claims Sato once asked for money because her sister owed money to her ex-boyfriend and he threatened to force the sister to work “delivery health” (デリヘル; deri-heru) – a form of sex work where sex workers visit clients in their hotels – to pay it back. In another request, he said Sato said she vomited blood and was worried she might have cancer.
Most requests were small – a few 10,000 yen (hundreds of US dollars) at a time. One request, however, was for 1 million yen (USD $6,740). A later lawsuit indicates this money may have been for renting an apartment.
In the end, Takano told a friend he lent Sato over 2.5 million yen ($16,850). He said he’d taken out loans of around one million yen to cover the cost, believing that the (at the time of the above message) 20-year-old livestreamer, cabaret club hostess, and occasional bartender was good for it.
According to NHK News, Takano took Sato to civil court and won a judgment against her in December 2023. Sato, however, didn’t pay – and Takano had no idea how to find her. He consulted police and a lawyer once or twice but didn’t seem to follow up on these consultations.
According to a fan, Sato discussed the case on a livestream once. She admitted that she had borrowed money from a listener, whose comments on LINE had gotten “awful” – so she had blocked him.
The other day, Takano received a notification that she was going live, which included her plan for visiting stops on the Yamanote Line. Instead of continuing to pursue whatever legal recourses he might have had, he grabbed a hunting knife and headed from Tochigi to Tokyo.
“She brought it on herself”
These details have led to an outpouring of sympathy…for Takano, with some online viewing him as a victim of a manipulative woman.
A few online have likened this case to that of “Sugar Baby Riri,” a.k.a. Watanabe Mai, who was recently sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for taking millions from various men. There’s currently no evidence, however, that Sato encouraged a romantic or sexual relationship with this man twice her age. There’s also no evidence Takano pursued such relationships.
Some have also claimed Sato made over 10 million yen ($67.5K) through streaming but refused to pay Takano back. I can find nothing to substantiate this claim.
Another rumor claims that Takano suffered from schizophrenia and carried around a “help mark” denoting him as a disabled person. No press outlets have managed to confirm this. Additionally, it promulgates negative attitudes towards people with schizophrenia – a serious mental illness to be sure, but also a very treatable one with medication. (Sadly, Japan’s record on mental health is rather poor.)
However, it’s effectively set up a narrative that Sato took advantage of a disabled man – which has led to posts like the below, which racked up 38,000 likes before the poster deleted it.
“I feel sorry for the old dude who killed Mogami Ai. Laughing after you tricked a disabled man in his 50s out of 2.5 million yen. [Note: OP may be confusing this with another incident, as they have Takano’s age wrong.] “From his perspective, he probably thought he couldn’t get on with his life except by killing her. She lost in court and ignored an order to repay him. That makes Mogami Ai the aggressor. She brought it on herself.”
The phrase 自業自得 (じごうじとく; bringing something on one’s self – or, in modern parlance, “play stupid games, win stupid prizes”) is appearing often now in searches along with Mogami Ai’s name, as many people seem to agree with the poster (though perhaps not so blatantly).
The dangers for female streamers
Not everyone agrees, though. Another post that went viral laid into the people blaming the obvious victim in this case:
“This incident with the woman Mogami Ai who was stabbed and killed and the male assailant who gave her a lot in donations has people saying not to share your location via your online activity. Maybe don’t stab people? Don’t kill them even if they did you dirty? He kicked her after he’d killed her – he’s 100% in the wrong here, no? Stop blaming the victim.”
OP’s tweet may have been published before the full financial details came to light. However, their point stands. I’m no fan of streamers and the parasocial relationships that streaming encourages. It’s also clear Sato took advantage of this guy with no intention of paying him back.
However, there’s also a worldwide epidemic of socially maladjusted incels taking out their hatred against women on female streamers who’ve done nothing but exist. Sato’s killing comes days after an incident in which streamers Cinna, Valkyrae, and Emiru had to run from a man who hurled death threats at them during a livestream.
Given how easily Takano found Sato, it’s clear a detective agency or debt collector could have found her current address easily. Takano also could have gone to court and filed a motion for compulsory seizure (強制執行; kyousei shikkou) to enforce the judgment he already had.
Nothing that Sato Airi did merited the death penalty. In the end, sympathy for her killer boils down to plain old misogyny.
Be the first to comment