A 57-year-old Japanese man, after applying for early retirement, became obsessed with an "underground idol." In order to win the favor of a 24-year-old underground idol, he spent his entire 60 million yen (approximately 159,000 MYR) retirement fund in just six months. Unexpectedly, after the money ran out, the woman asked him to get a job and earn more, which drove him into a rage. Seizing the opportunity when the two met at a love hotel, he fatally stabbed her, and was ultimately sentenced to 16 years in prison by the court.
According to Japanese media reports, Akira Ishikawa graduated from university and worked for nearly 30 years. In 2018, at the age of 50, he applied for early retirement and received about 60 million yen in retirement funds. He later took a job at another company as a systems engineer and only truly stopped working in May 2022.
He never married and had almost no experience in romantic relationships; he only briefly dated someone when he was in his 30s for three months, so he was essentially "single since birth" for nearly 50 years. With almost zero romantic experience, he began searching for compensated dating partners through dating sites in August 2022, at most keeping relationships with more than four women simultaneously.
One of them was Sana Hirabayashi, who debuted under the stage name Hoshitani Ririka and was active as part of an underground female idol group for half a year. The 24-year-old was even viewed by Akira Ishikawa as a potential marriage partner. Each date would cost him 60,000 to 100,000 yen (approx. 1,593 to 2,550 MYR), and overnight trips would cost as much as 1 million yen (25,502 MYR). He claimed that Sana Hirabayashi frequently asked for money for various reasons, and that he once gave her 10 million yen (266,129 MYR) in a single instance.
One of them was Sana Hirabayashi, who debuted under the stage name Hoshitani Ririka and was active as part of an underground female idol group for half a year. The 24-year-old was even viewed by Akira Ishikawa as a potential marriage partner. Each date would cost him 60,000 to 100,000 yen (approx. 1,593 to 2,550 MYR), and overnight trips would cost as much as 1 million yen (25,502 MYR). He claimed that Sana Hirabayashi frequently asked for money for various reasons, and that he once gave her 10 million yen (266,129 MYR) in a single instance.
This extravagant spending over half a year depleted his retirement money, forcing him to start selling his collectibles and borrow 7.45 million yen (198,266 MYR) from the bank.
On the night of February 2, 2023, the two met at a love hotel in Tokyo, where the woman once again asked for 300,000 yen (7,983 MYR) and said: "If you're out of money, go get a job." Akira Ishikawa thought of their relationship as serious, yet felt treated as an ATM, so he lost control and stabbed her three times in the neck, causing her death.
According to the investigation, at 2:00 a.m. on February 2, he and Sana Hirabayashi checked into the hotel. After committing the crime, he left alone at 6:00 a.m., with his departure captured on surveillance cameras. At 1:30 a.m. on the 3rd, the hotel discovered the guest had not checked out and notified the police. When officers arrived, they found Sana Hirabayashi lying naked on the bed. The police began investigating Akira Ishikawa, who had checked in with her, and arrested him on the evening of the 3rd, finding two small knives among his belongings, one of which had suspicious bloodstains.
The judge determined that Akira Ishikawa had clear intent to kill and used cruel methods, thus sentencing him to 16 years in prison.