Real Name, Family, What He Did, What Happened To Him, Victims, Where He Is Now — Thedistin

What did Joji Obara do? He is a famous Korean-Japanese serial rapist who may have raped between 150 and 400 women. His biography facts explored.

A Korean-Japanese man named Joji Obara is known worldwide as one of the world’s serial rapists with a record of having between 150 and 400 victims.

One of Joji Obara’s crimes is the focus of a new Netflix documentary.

The evil Japanese criminal was jailed in 2008 for a series of heinous attacks on women, though he evaded murder charges despite being accused of two separate killings.

Read on for more about him.

Who is Joji Obara?

Joji Obara is a former real estate businessman famous for being a convicted serial killer and rapist who may have raped between 150 and 400 women.

In October 2000, he was charged with drugging, raping, and killing British hostess Lucie Blackman, the rape and manslaughter of the Australian woman Carita Ridgway, and the rape of eight other women. 

How old is Joji Obara?

Famous rapist and murderer Joji Obara was born on August 10, 1952. This means he is currently (as of the time of this article) 70 years old. He was 56 years old when he was jailed. He’s been in prison for 14 years now.

Where is Joji Obara from?

Joji Obara whose real name is Kim Sung-jong was born in Osaka, Osaka, Japan. He became a naturalized Japanese citizen and legally changed his name. He holds both Korean-Japanese nationality.

What school did Joji Obara attend?

While born in Osaka, Japan, he later moved to Tokyo.

Obara attended private schools and graduated from Keio University with degrees in politics and law.

After Lucie Blackman’s death, he was described as a “playboy millionaire”.

Who are Joji Obara’s parents?

Joji Obara was born to Zainichi Korean parents whose names are not known by the media. His father worked his way from scrap collector to immensely wealthy owner of a string of properties and pachinko parlors. 

His dad died in 1969 in Hong Kong when he was 54 years and he inherited property in Osaka and Tokyo.

became a naturalized Japanese citizen and legally changed his name. 

Does Joji Obara have any siblings? There are no reports about him having a brother or sister.

What did Joji Obara do for a living?

He pursued a career in real estate, flipping properties for profit. Obara invested heavily in real estate speculation, gaining assets estimated at as much as $38 million.

He lost his firm in the 1990s recession. After losing his fortune and his firm, he was pursued by creditors, and reportedly used his business as a money laundering front for the yakuza syndicate Sumiyoshi-kai.

What did Joji Obara do to Lucie Blackman?

In July 2000, British air hostess Lucie Blackman was reported missing. She was in the middle of a year of traveling and was working as a hostess at a club in Tokyo.

Her body was found in February 2001, seven months after she vanished. Lucie’s body was found dismembered in a cave an hour outside of Tokyo, near a fishing village.

Obara had chopped Lucie’s body into eight pieces and encased her head in concrete.

In October 2000, Obara was charged with drugging, raping, and killing Blackman.

He was acquitted of Blackman’s rape and murder in 2007 due to a lack of direct evidence.

Obara was, however, jailed in December 2008 for abducting Lucie and dismembering and disposing of her body.

The Japanese judicial system faces criticism for its handling of the case and not investigating Lucie’s disappearance quickly enough.

Lucie’s death is explored in the new Netflix documentary Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case.

What other crimes did Joji Obara commit?

In April 2007, Joji was cleared of Lucie Blackman’s rape and murder but was found guilty of nine other rape charges and manslaughter.

He is believed, however, to have raped between 150 and 400 women in Japan, using the drug chloroform to aid his attacks.

Obara recorded his crimes on videotape and kept a diary detailing his sickening actions, leading police to believe he may have up to 400 victims.

His 2008 manslaughter charge was for the 1992 death of Australian model Carita Ridgway.

Ridgway was allegedly raped and drugged by Obara, leading to chloroform-related liver failure and brain death.

Obara took to her to the hospital after giving her the drug, telling staff that she was having a bad reaction to shellfish.

At his trial, the prosecutor showed an autopsy report showing traces of chloroform in Ridgway’s liver and proof that Obara took her to the hospital before she died.

This led to him being charged with manslaughter and sentenced to life in prison.

Where is Joji Obara now?

Joji Obara is not dead but still alive and serving his life sentence in prison.

The Supreme Court of Japan rejected Obara’s appeal in December 2010.