She Became an Internet Heartthrob After Stabbing Her Lover
Sometimes beautiful people can get away with anything, even murder.
Justice is supposed to be blind. Class, race, attractiveness, wealth, or status are things that are not meant to be considered in the eyes of the law. But we all know the truth. It’s easy to see that privilege, celebrity status, and having the right friends can get you out of trouble.
A study from Cornell University found, “that unattractive defendants tend to get hit with longer, harsher sentences — on average 22 months longer in prison.”
This case is about a woman who is young, beautiful, and privileged. Despite taking a knife and stabbing her boyfriend as he slept, her supporters insisted she did not deserve to be punished.
A picture of her as her boyfriend lay there in a pool of blood, shows her sitting next to him smoking a cigarette and chatting on her phone covered in blood. Rather than being hated, she became a celebrated icon with both men and women who fell in love with her and even raised money to keep her out of jail.
Why did she stab her boyfriend? What happened to him? Where are they now? This is the story about Yuka Takaoka, the girl who is known to be too beautiful to be a killer.
Yuka & Luna
Japanese News reported court testimony about Yuka Takaoka. She was born in China to a Japanese father and Chinese mother. When she was two years old, her family moved to Japan and she became a Japanese citizen.
Born in 1998, she was an only child and grew up in Tokyo. She originally went to Teikyo University studying Childcare but dropped out in 2017 when she decided she would rather work than go to school.
She originally worked in a cram school. Cram schools are tutoring and after-school programs Japan has for students who use these schools to pass the entrance exams that are required to get into better junior and high schools.
But in 2018, she changed course and instead started working at a girl’s bar. Girl’s bars are a place where men pay money to drink and talk to young women usually in their early 20s. The men pay an entrance fee, then pay for drinks and the company of the female.
It was here from April of 2018 to May 2019, that Yuka successfully worked her way up to becoming the manager of the bar. She also had a Tiktok, Twitter, and Instagram account where she would dress in cosplay as yandere characters, dance to anime songs, and post pictures of her at her bar for promotion.
Yandere in Japanese refers to an obsessed female who will do anything, including violent actions in the name of love. Yuka went from cosplaying a yandere girl to becoming a real one.
In October of 2018, a man named Mr. Ryutsuki, who calls himself Luna Phoenix visited Yuka’s bar. He was a host at a host club close to her bar. It must have been during this time that Yuka became interested in Luna, as she decided to visit his host club.
Host clubs are the male version of hostess clubs. Similar to a girl’s bar, a host club charges an entrance fee and women can choose the host they want to drink and flirt with. Women pay for drinks and time with a host.
Luna started sending Yuka private messages on her Twitter and invited her to his club. Hosts make more money when clients come specifically to the club to meet them. He would message her often until she finally decided to visit his club in March of 2019.
Yuka was so enraptured by Luna, that she ended up visiting his shop many times a week and as reported by realifevillians.com, spent up to 1 million yen or about $10,000 dollars a week just to “date” Luna.
But she quickly realized that if she wanted to make enough money to keep meeting Luna and eventually start dating him, she would have to have more streams of income than just her bar job.
Yuka ended up doing two things that helped her make huge amounts of income. One was to go on dates with older men who would pay her similar to an escort. Like having sugar daddies, she would have relations with these older men for cash which she would then use to pay to be with Luna.
She also did something called Delivery Health. This service is the loophole to prostitution in Japan where men pay to meet delivery health girls. In exchange for money, they provide any sexual service excluding penetration. Of course, what happens in a hotel room can not really be monitored so most provide a full sexual encounter.
Spending hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars each time to meet Luna both in and out of his shop, she was willing to pay for his time and all expenses including restaurants, hotels, drinks, and gifts.
In April 2019, she bought a bottle of champagne and presented it to him at his host club and that night they began a sexual relationship. Yuka also conveyed her feelings to him and confessed her love. Luna told her he liked her, wanted to marry her, and was hoping to quit his hosting job and move in with her.
Unfortunately, Yuka and Luna were not on the same page and soon Luna would find out why.
From The Eyes Of Yuka
Although they were in some sort of relationship, it was evident that both Yuka and Luna thought about it differently. Yuka knew that Luna was a host and in order to meet him, she would have to pay for his time. However, she hoped he would quit being a host and be with her.
She went to his club to support him and help him become the number one host in the club. Rankings are important and being in the top spot guarantees extra bonuses, more privileges, and more power in the club.
Yuka would drop hundreds of dollars a night to ensure Luna was praised and rewarded. On the day that she confessed her love and he reciprocated it, she spent 2.5 million yen or $25 000. Then in May of 2019, she rented an expensive apartment in Tokyo close to Luna’s host club. Yuka hoped Luna would be able to visit and stay over more often if she lived near his club.
On May 20th, she visited Luna at his club, they went to a Japanese shop called Nitori, which is similar to IKEA, and they spent time together in her new apartment. But instead of feeling the bliss of the first night together in a new home, she was disappointed because Luna was on his phone the whole time or sleeping.
On May 21st, Yuka found out from a friend that Luna was at a love hotel with another woman. When she confronted him, he told her it was for his job and he didn’t have any sexual relations with her. Despite feeling sad and heartbroken, she trusted Luna that he wouldn’t lie to her.
On May 23rd, Yuka would end up stabbing Luna in her apartment.
From The Eyes Of Luna
Luna, who was 20 years old at the time of the incident and one year younger than Yuka, enjoyed his life as a host. Originally from Ibaraki, Japan, he moved to Tokyo to become a host and was always in the top 3 of his host club, was trying hard to earn money, make connections, and rise to the top of his club.
Luna enjoyed the company of Yuka. He said he never formally dated Yuka nor lived with her. He also talked about Yuka’s dark personality. Talking about their relationship in May, Luna said,
“Yuka called me to the rooftop and said, ‘I’m going to jump off, and became really emotional.’”
Unlike Yuka’s deep admiration for Yuka, Luna said they didn’t argue and he never stayed over at her place overnight. He often told her he liked her too but since he was a host that was part of his job. Though he was thinking about quitting his hosting job in September of 2019 and starting a relationship with Yuka.
He even went to Nitori with her to help her buy things for her new apartment. But on May 23rd, things happened that would change their relationship forever.
The Crime
On May 23rd, after being frustrated and hurting because of Luna’s lack of affection, Yuka called a coworker at her girl’s bar to let off some steam about the problems she was having with Luna. Then when Yuka tried calling Luna after his work shift, he said he would be late to meet her. He had plans with another female client who had paid for him at his club.
Hearing this, Yuka fell apart and wrote a message on her phone that police later found. The contents of the message roughly translated and reported by Tokyo Reporter, said,
“I want to be a tragic heroine. How is it possible for him to look at a woman other than me? I know killing [him] is for the best. If I kill [him], it will be eternal, and there will be no pain [after]. I don’t need anything other than you.”
Originally Luna was supposed to come to Yuka’s apartment at noon but he arrived around 3 pm. After some time fixing up her apartment, having physical relations, and spending time together, Luna took a shower and took a nap. He was tired from his work from the night before and Yuka was still upset about Luna meeting another woman.
She walked into the kitchen, grabbed the new knife she had bought in the day for her kitchen, and walked over to where Luna was sleeping. She got on top of him and with both hands plunged the knife into his stomach.
Luna awoke to a knife in his stomach and pulled it out. Luna was on top and asked him if he loved her. He said yes in hopes that she would call an ambulance rather than kill him. Yuka told the court, Luna said he loved her and would stay with her forever, so she put the knife under the bed and decided she didn’t want him to die.
But then Luna grabbed his phone and tried to call for help. He pushed and hit Yuka and ran out of her apartment. She grabbed her cellphone and cigarettes and chased after him. When she got to the lobby of her apartment, Luna was passed out in a pool of his blood.
Regretful and devastated, Yuka called 110, the equivalent of 911 in North America.
The Arrest & Famous Picture
Yahoo News reported that “crime scene photos, shared widely on social media, show a young woman seated on the lobby floor of the apartment in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district, while a man lay bleeding behind her, reportedly with his stomach sliced open.”
The picture that went viral and has now even become a meme shows Yuka smoking a cigarette, talking on her phone, and covered in blood, with Luna’s body lying behind her.
Japan Times reported that Luna was taken to hospital in critical condition and Yuka was taken into custody by police. She told arresting police officers that she stabbed the man because she loved him so much she just couldn’t help it.
FNN released security camera footage that showed Tokyo police escorting Yuka from her apartment building, her legs streaked in blood. Police found Yuka’s knife in her residence.
Luna remained in critical condition and was in a coma for 5 days. Doctors had given him a 20% chance of surviving his wounds. But surprisingly, Luna recovered and was released from the hospital.
He tweeted,
“Sorry, I’m alive and back. Since I was stabbed in the liver, I can’t drink.”
He also gave an exclusive interview to a Japanese media outlet in which he talked about the incident. He said he didn’t hold a grudge against Yuka and that, “there was a reason for her to stab me. It was also thanks to her that I was able to achieve the sales I did in less than a year since becoming a host.”
Trial & Sentencing
At Yuka’s trial at the Tokyo District Court, she pleaded guilty. On December 3rd, 2019, Yuka was found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to 3 years and 6 months out of a possible 5 years.
Yuka with the help of her lawyers and parent’s money were able to give Luna a 5 million yen (about $50,000) settlement in exchange that Luna asked the courts to give Yuka a lighter sentence.
Tokyo Reporter reported that the judge in the case described the crime as “selfish,” and added,
“that she had a strong intent to kill. It is difficult to justify a suspended prison term. Prison time is unavoidable.”
When she was first arrested, many of Yuka’s fans started a GoFundMe and raised almost $4000 to keep her out of jail. However, after a public outcry, the account was shut down. Yuka was allowed to be out on bail during the trial and was living at her parent’s home and studying to be a long-term care worker for the elderly.
She told the court she hopes to get practical training and find a job in the healthcare industry. She also apologized to her parents, Luna, his family, and vowed to be a better person.
And though all of these steps seem that Yuka truly is remorseful and hopes to turn over a new leaf after her prison sentence, she is also currently appealing the prison term and hopes to receive a suspended sentence.
Having almost killed a man who she was obsessed with, but didn’t harbor the same feelings as her, rather than accept the punishment and thank God he didn’t die, she doesn’t want to spend even one day in prison. Throwing money at Luna that she got from her sugar daddy and delivery health jobs before the incident, then throwing more money at him from her parents to atone for her sins, it seems Yuka thinks money solves everything.
Similarly, Luna, who was kind enough not to hold a grudge and pleaded for Yuka to get a lesser sentence, is happy that he received a big settlement from Yuka and became the top host at his club because of all the publicity.
Finally, the fans and followers of both these people add to their fame and enable them to create an atmosphere where money and beauty are above justice and equality. Yuka fans create memes and works of art depicting Yuka as a beautiful and sexy figure who shouldn’t be punished because she is too beautiful. And Luna fans make him the most popular host in his club.
Until this culture of letting off those with power, fame, beauty, and money stops, there will always be people like Yuka who do illegal and immoral acts but have little or no consequences for their actions.
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