Experience Culture: November 2009

Similarly to the famous scene of Nicolas Cage and John Travolta exchanging faces to dupe police and criminals alike in the 1997 John Woo film, "Face/Off," a suspected killer on the run in Japan underwent plastic surgery to cosmetically mask his identity from authority.

Yesterday in Osaka, Japan a man believed to be suspected killer Tatsuya Ichihashi was arrested after being on the run since March of 2007. Ichihashi is the sole suspect for the murder of a British English teacher in Japan by the name of Lindsay Hawker whose body was found in a bathtub filled with sand in Ichihashi's apartment. It's believed that Ichihashi was stalking Hawker and convinced her to give him a private English lesson at a cafe nearby his apartment. After finishing the lesson he led Hawker to believe he didn't have sufficient money on him at the moment and subsequently led her to his apartment where he severely beat and strangled her to death.

It's being reported that the police were tipped off about Ichihashi's new look after he underwent plastic surgery at a clinic in Nagoya, Japan. Immediately after receiving the news the police released a photo of Ichihashi's before and after pictures to the Japanese's media. Yesterday, according to the Sankei-Kansai, the police received a tip from an employee of the Osaka Minami Ferry Terminal that a suspicious man who looked like Tatsuya Ichihashi was getting ready to board a ferry headed for the Japanese island of Okinawa. Quickly upon arrival the police arrested the man who confessed himself to be Ichihashi.

The Japanese media is reporting that Ichihashi, while on the run was working as a day laborer for a construction company in the Osaka area. He worked until he saved close to 1 million yen (around $11,160) to pay for his cosmetic surgery. After searching a dormitory belonging to his construction company, police found a passport application, which had Ichihashi's fingerprints on them, leading them to believe that Ichihashi was planning to flee the country.

Lindsay Hawker's family released a statement to the press about the arrest of Ichihashi: