CASE CRACKED: Glico-Morinaga

Subscribe to the podcast to hear more on this true crime case.


Who was "Tamasaburou", the voice on "The Hokkaido Tape"?
And how were they involved with the "Monster With 21 Faces?


[Scroll Down For Images]

Around 2:20PM on December 4th 1984, a ham radio operator in the Iwanai area of Hokkaido happened upon a 7mhz transmission of a 1 sided conversation where the names "Tamasaburou" and "Monster With 21 Faces" appeared.
The conversation is from the side of "Tamasaburou":

TAMASABUROU
"Roger, that's definitely it. But if you go to 1 2 1 6 or R6, make sure to return within the day and definitely get round-trip tickets so they can't track where you're going on R6. And even though we're currently looking for another command regarding 7, 7 and 8 are relatively, umm, on high alert so for now R or R6 have the most promising information. Monster With 21 Faces, this is Tamasaburou."

(Silence)

TAMASABUROU
"Roger. By the way, what's going on with Fujiya? Are they not gonna pay up?"

(Silence for 10 seconds)

TAMASABUROU
"Nah, we should probably give up on Fujiya."

(Silence for 15 seconds)

TAMASABUROU
"Anyways, if we can catch a plane to 1 2 1 6 or 6 then we should definitely do that."

(Silence)

TAMASABUROU
"Monster With 21 Faces, this is Tamasaburou."

(Silence)

TAMASABUROU
"Yo, I hear you. Umm, I'm switching to another band."

(Silence)

TAMASABUROU
"This is awful, I'm switching."



The conversation lasted for 3 minutes 37 seconds and was determined to be in a Kanto and Kansai dialect.

1 2 1 6 is thought to refer to the upcoming date of December 16th.

7 and 8 are believed to refer to designated areas within Japan and R6 and JR6 refer to the Okinawa Postal Management Office.

This conversation is strongly thought to be related to the Glico Morinaga case and the criminal group Monster with 21 Faces.

Unfortunately, only the communications from Tamasaburou's side can be heard.

This conversation and recording by a radio operator on the island of Hokkaido is known as "The Hokkaido Tape".

This tape recording was distributed to ham radio shops from one of Osaka Police Headquarters's criminal investigation divisions.



An example of the tape handed out at radio shops read on the outside:

This was recorded by a ham radio operator in December of 1984.

Do you recognize any of the voices in this radio transmission!?

Does this radio traffic have any special characteristics!?

Our conviction is to "resolve this case, no matter what."

It's alright even if it's something small. We're asking for your help.

National Police Agency-designated Incident #114

contact information: investigator (blacked out)

Hokkaido-Tape-December-4th-1984-Monster-With-21-Faces-Podcast-Glico-Morinaga-Case
Hokkaido-Tape-December-4th-1984-Monster-With-21-Faces-Podcast-Glico-Morinaga-Case

The incident caused suspicion within the amateur radio community.

"The Hokkaido Tape" which mentioned Fujiya, a chain of stores, was intercepted three days before they received their first threatening letter from the "Monster with 21 Faces" on December 7th.

The "Monster with 21 Faces" up to this point had kidnapped the president of a Japanese candy company, set fire to their property, poisoned food and placed it back on store shelves and much more all while attempting to extort food companies and escaping capture by the police.

For more information on this case please explore this website: www.TheMonsterWith21Faces.com and check out the podcast "The Monster with 21 Faces".



The Monster with 21 Faces (かい人21面相, Kaijin Nijūichi Mensō) was a criminal group who terrorized Japan from March 1984 to August 1985 and well beyond.

They committed many crimes including Attempted Murder, Kidnapping for Ransom, Burglary Injury, Non-Residential Building Arson, Attempted Extortion and many Postal Law Violations.

They were never caught.




The information gathered is presented in an 8 episode podcast on all major podcast platforms and at www.TheMonsterWith21Faces.com as well as the website www.DarqArt.com.

The RSS feed is: https://feeds.fireside.fm/themonsterwith21faces/rss

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmcv1rfK39psLiYWxlTtlWg
Twitter - @Monster21Faces
Instagram - monster21faces - https://www.instagram.com/monster21faces/
Facebook - @TheMonsterWith21Faces - https://www.facebook.com/TheMonsterWith21Faces

Or send any questions or info to me at 21monsterfaces@gmail.com