The scene was a waking nightmare. A young Filipina woman returned to the Tokyo apartment she shared with her cousin, Honey Faith Ranes, only to be met with a sight of unimaginable horror. In the middle of the room was her cousin’s boyfriend, Hiroshi Nozaki, in the gruesome act of dismembering Honey Faith’s body.

The cousin’s terrified screams sent the killer fleeing into the night, but they also exposed the shocking truth: this was the second time he had committed such a monstrous act. The story of Hiroshi Nozaki is a devastating tale of a serial predator who targeted vulnerable Filipina entertainers, and the catastrophic failure of a justice system that set him free to kill again.

The phenomenon of the “Japayuki” in the 1980s and ’90s saw thousands of young Filipinas move to Japan to work as entertainers and hostesses in clubs and pubs. It was a path out of poverty, but one fraught with peril. It was in this world that Hiroshi Nozaki, a shy, lonely man with deep-seated insecurities, found his hunting ground. He frequented the Philippine pubs, using a facade of kindness to get close to the hostesses.

His first known victim was 27-year-old Elda Lakit Yoneda. She fell for his charm and they became live-in partners. But the relationship soured over his lies about money.

When Elda, needing to support her family back home, said she wanted to return to work, Nozaki flew into a rage. In 1999, he beat her unconscious and suffocated her with a pillow. He then took her body to the bathroom and dismembered it, scattering the parts across different locations.

When her remains were found, Nozaki was arrested. In a bizarre and audacious defense, he admitted to the dismemberment but claimed he had found Elda already deceased and that chopping up her body was his unique way of “mourning” his lost love.

In a stunning failure of justice, prosecutors, fearing they couldn’t prove he was the actual killer, charged him only with the desecration and abandonment of a corpse. For this horrific act, Hiroshi Nozaki was sentenced to a shockingly lenient three and a half years in prison.

In 2003, he was a free man. Unreformed and emboldened, he immediately returned to his old haunts. He soon targeted 22-year-old Honey Faith Ranes, a beautiful single mother.

This time, his deception was more elaborate. He posed as a wealthy magician and businessman, manipulating her by showering her two-year-old son with expensive gifts. She fell for the act and, along with her two cousins, allowed him to move into their apartment.

The same pattern quickly emerged. His lies about his wealth unraveled, and when Honey Faith was forced to work longer hours to cover his share of the rent, he became intensely jealous and possessive.

On April 3, 2008, following a heated argument, he strangled and stabbed her to death. He was in the middle of dismembering her body when her cousin walked in.

After a three-day manhunt, Nozaki was captured after a failed suicide attempt. This time, he confessed to both murders. The full scope of his predatory nature was laid bare, as was the catastrophic mistake the court had made years earlier.

In 2010, the Japanese justice system would not make the same mistake twice. Hiroshi Nozaki was found guilty of two counts of murder and sentenced to death. He died in prison from liver disease in 2020 before the sentence could be carried out. The case remains a dark chapter and a tragic testament to the vulnerability of the Japayuki, and a grim reminder that justice delayed for one victim can mean a death sentence for another.