Episode 40: Tottori Serial Suspicious Deaths

Black Torii — Japanese True Crime · Aug 10, 2026 · 13m

In one of Japan's quietest, most rural prefectures, a woman worked the night shift at a snack bar. Nothing unusual about that. Tottori Prefecture has been losing population for decades, and its small cities are dotted with exactly these places — narrow counters, low lighting, women paid to listen, to pour drinks, to make tired men feel like someone cares. It's a particular kind of economy, and it runs on loneliness. The woman's name was Miyuki Ueta. She was good at the job. Men came back. Some of them fell for her in the way people do when someone performs warmth convincingly enough that it…