Before we get started, a warning that this episode contains mention of infanticide. Please be advised when listening. Hello for Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Wamanica. This month, we're talking about women who found themselves at the center of controversy, whether deserved or not. Today we're discussing one of the most notorious serial killers in Japanese history. She took advantage of struggling mothers and was responsible for the death of more than one hundred infants. Meet Miyuki Ishikawa. Miyuki was born in the south of Japan in eighteen ninety seven. Not much is known about her upbringing. We do know that she moved to Tokyo for college and became a midwife. Soon after graduating, she married a man named Takeshi Ishikawa. He was previously a sergeant in the military and after that a police officer for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Before being discharged, Miyuki worked at the Kotobuki Maternity Hospital. Soon she became its director. New mothers entrusted Miyuki to keep them healthy during pregnancy, deliver their newborns, and care for their children. In nineteen forties Japan, abortion was illegal. That, coupled with economic troubles stemming from World War II, meant that many mothers were giving birth to children that they didn't have the means to care for. Miyuki came up with the makab solution. She would suffocate or strangle or neglect the infants to death. Then Takeshi would ask the parents for payment. It would be cheaper than the cost of raising a child, he'd argue. Finally, a doctor named Shiro Nakayama would falsify the baby's death certificates so it seemed like they died of natural causes. This deadly team committed their crimes undetected until one day in January of nineteen forty eight, two police officers found four bulky wooden boxes while on their morning patrol. They belonged to a local funeral director. When they investigated the boxes, they found the bodies of five babies inside. Upon medical examination, it was determined that three of the infants died of pneumonia and malnutrition, two of them froze to death, all had no food in their stomachs. When questioned, the funeral director said the boxes the police found were requested by Kotabuki Maternity Hospital, where Miyuki worked. Then he admitted that he'd been paid five hundred yen per baby to bury them. Three days later, Miyuki and her husband were arrested. Investigations continued. The remains of more than forty infants were found in a funeral home, while thirty more were found buried underneath the temple. In all, it's estimated that Miyuki was responsible for the deaths of one hundred and three infants. Miyuki, Takeshi, and doctor and Nakayama were sent to court. The defense claimed that the parents were at fault for the children's death, not the Ishikawa's, because the parents were the ones who abandoned them. Much of the public sided with this reasoning their sentence came down In October of nineteen forty eight. The Tokyo District Court found Miyuki and Takeshi guilty of five counts of murder by omission. Their sentences were light, and the couple appealed. In the end, Miyuki was sentenced to four years and Takeshi only two. The Japanese government took measures to prevent tragedies like this from happening in the future. On June twenty fourth, nineteen forty nine, the federal government legalized abortion for economic reasons under the Eugenic Protection Law. All month, we're talking about women of controversy. For more information, fight us on Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica Podcast Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co creator. Talk to you tomorrow

Before we get started, a warning that this episode contains mention of infanticide. Please be advised when listening. Hello for Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Wamanica. This month, we're talking about women who found themselves at the center of controversy, whether deserved or not. Today we're discussing one of the most notorious serial killers in Japanese history. She took advantage of struggling mothers and was responsible for the death of more than one hundred infants. Meet Miyuki Ishikawa. Miyuki was born in the south of Japan in eighteen ninety seven. Not much is known about her upbringing. We do know that she moved to Tokyo for college and became a midwife. Soon after graduating, she married a man named Takeshi Ishikawa. He was previously a sergeant in the military and after that a police officer for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Before being discharged, Miyuki worked at the Kotobuki Maternity Hospital. Soon she became its director. New mothers entrusted Miyuki to keep them healthy during pregnancy, deliver their newborns, and care for their children. In nineteen forties Japan, abortion was illegal. That, coupled with economic troubles stemming from World War II, meant that many mothers were giving birth to children that they didn't have the means to care for. Miyuki came up with the makab solution. She would suffocate or strangle or neglect the infants to death. Then Takeshi would ask the parents for payment. It would be cheaper than the cost of raising a child, he'd argue. Finally, a doctor named Shiro Nakayama would falsify the baby's death certificates so it seemed like they died of natural causes. This deadly team committed their crimes undetected until one day in January of nineteen forty eight, two police officers found four bulky wooden boxes while on their morning patrol. They belonged to a local funeral director. When they investigated the boxes, they found the bodies of five babies inside. Upon medical examination, it was determined that three of the infants died of pneumonia and malnutrition, two of them froze to death, all had no food in their stomachs. When questioned, the funeral director said the boxes the police found were requested by Kotabuki Maternity Hospital, where Miyuki worked. Then he admitted that he'd been paid five hundred yen per baby to bury them. Three days later, Miyuki and her husband were arrested. Investigations continued. The remains of more than forty infants were found in a funeral home, while thirty more were found buried underneath the temple. In all, it's estimated that Miyuki was responsible for the deaths of one hundred and three infants. Miyuki, Takeshi, and doctor and Nakayama were sent to court. The defense claimed that the parents were at fault for the children's death, not the Ishikawa's, because the parents were the ones who abandoned them. Much of the public sided with this reasoning their sentence came down In October of nineteen forty eight. The Tokyo District Court found Miyuki and Takeshi guilty of five counts of murder by omission. Their sentences were light, and the couple appealed. In the end, Miyuki was sentenced to four years and Takeshi only two. The Japanese government took measures to prevent tragedies like this from happening in the future. On June twenty fourth, nineteen forty nine, the federal government legalized abortion for economic reasons under the Eugenic Protection Law. All month, we're talking about women of controversy. For more information, fight us on Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica Podcast Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co creator. Talk to you tomorrow