How to make a marudai

In 1984, two armed men in masks broke into CEO Katsuhisa Ezaki's mother's home and bound her, taking the house key of Glico's CEO. Entering his house, they also tied up his wife and daughter. Mrs. Ezaki attempted to negotiate money with the men, but they were after something else. Cutting off the telephone cords, they raided the bathroom, where Ezaki and his other two children were hiding. They abducted Ezaki and held him hostage at a warehouse. They issued a ransom for 1 billion yen and 100 kilograms of gold bars. Their plans were discovered when Ezaki managed to escape three days later.
A few weeks later, just when the company thought it had escaped extortion, vehicles in its headquarter's parking lot were set on fire. Then, a container with hydrochloric acid and a threatening letter addressed to Glico were found in Ibaraki, where the warehouse was located. This began a string of letters from a person or group that dubbed itself "The Monster with 21 Faces," named after a villain in a Japanese detective series. The letters threatened the company's products, claiming that their candies were laced with potassium cyanide soda. Glico was forced to pull the products off the shelves, resulting in a $21 million loss and the layoff of 450 part-time workers.
After months of tormenting Glico, the Monster with 21 Faces decided to look for fun someplace else. Their final letter towards the company read, "We forgive Glico!" With that abrupt ending, they turned their sights on the food companies Marudai Ham, House Foods Corporation, and Fujiya. In exchange of stopping their harassment towards Marudai, one of its employee was to hand them ransom money on a train. That was when an investigator, who disguised himself as an employee, saw the prime suspect, known as the "Fox-Eyed Man." The man was well-built, his hair cut short and permed, with "eyes like those of a fox." After dropping the ransom as instructed, he and another investigator attempted to follow the Fox-Eyed Man, only to lose him. They would get a second chance later on, but he again evaded them.
After continuing harassment towards the police, a year later Police Superintendent Yamamoto committed suicide by setting himself on fire, ashamed of his failure to capture the Fox-Eyed Man. Five days following the death, the Monster with 21 Faces sent its final letter to the media:
"Yamamoto of Shiga Prefecture Police died. How stupid of him! We've got no friends or secret hiding place in Shiga. It's Yoshino or Shikata who should have died. What have they been doing for as long as one year and five months? Don't let bad guys like us get away with it. There are many more fools who want to copy us. No-career Yamamoto died like a man. So we decided to give our condolence. We decided to forget about torturing food-making companies. If anyone blackmails any of the food-making companies, it's not us but someone copying us. We are bad guys. That means we've got more to do other than bullying companies. It's fun to lead a bad man's life. Monster with 21 Faces."
And with that final statement, the Monster with 21 Faces disappeared, never to be heard from again.

This is PART 1 of a 3 part post due to character limit.
PART 2 can be found here and contains a summary of events from October 11th 1984 to November 14th 1984: https://www.reddit.com/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/m22h6x/highspeed_chase_evidence_and_voices_the_monste
PART 3 can be found here and contains a summary of events from November 22nd 1984 to August 12th 1985: https://www.reddit.com/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/m22iwz/poems_poisonings_and_suicide_the_monster_with_21/
March 18th 1984, 42 year old Katsuhisa Ezaki is abducted naked from his home by three masked men.
Katsuhisa is president of Japanese food company, Ezaki Glico.
Katsuhisa is taken to a little used warehouse where criminals took Polaroid photos of the company president naked then dressed him in a black overcoat, a ski hat and handcuffed him.
Google Map location of the Warehouse used to hold Katsuhisa Ezaki:
https://goo.gl/maps/fWDLYXX96UWKbod87
Suspect A is described as approximately 170cm tall. About 40 years old. He wore a white mask, white gloves, dark clothes, dark shoes. He had a low voice, and carried a rifle that looked to be made of plastic. Suspect A is thought to be the leader.
Suspect B is described as approximately 160 cm tall. Medium build. About 35 years old. He wore a white mask with one opening for both eyes and a mouth opening, white gloves, dark clothes, and dark shoes with no laces. He carried a handgun.
Suspect C is the driver of the vehicle used to transport Mr. Ezaki from his home. He is described as approximately 165 cm tall, about 20 Years old. He wore a black mask, and had acne.
At 1:15 AM, on March 19th 1984, at the Home of Glico Director of Human Resources, Fujie Hirotake, a phone call comes in directing Fujie to a phone box where he finds a ransom letter at 1:40 am.
In part it reads:
I am holding a hostage. Prepare 1 billion yen in cash and 100 kilograms of gold.
Tell anything to the police, I will definitely kill the hostage.
I have friends at the Police and I will know immediately if you try to trace me.
Don’t try trick me with cash or gold. Don’t try to trace me, it is pointless. I won’t negotiate. Just listen to what I say.
See the letter here:
https://www.themonsterwith21faces.com/letter-3-19-84
March 19th 1984, a phone call is received of a taped recording of Katsuhisa Ezaki. In the recording Katsuhisa reads directions for Glico to bring the ransom money to a restaurant.
Police in cooperation with Glico traveled to the restaurant awaiting contact with the criminals but received no further instruction forcing the operation to end.
News articles from this point in the case:
https://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/20/world/abduction-of-businessman-alarms-japanese.html
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/03/19/Candy-tycoon-kidnapped-naked-from-bath/6214448520400/
At about 10 pm on March 20th 1984 Katsuhisa was abandoned by his captors after being redressed and loosely tied.
Nearly 14 hours later Katsuhisa managed to escape his bindings and seek help, contacting police at 2:22 pm.
News articles from this point in the case:
https://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/22/world/around-the-world-kidnapped-executive-in-japan-manages-to-flee.html
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/03/21/Kidnapped-executive-escapes/8748448693200/
Photos from this point in the case:
https://www.themonsterwith21faces.com/episode-1-photo-archive
April 2nd 1984, a letter accompanied by a bottle of eye drops filled with Hydrochloric Acid arrives at Katushisa Ezaki's residence.
In part it reads:
Dear Katsuhisa,
How dare you break our promise and run away from us. I’m giving you one more chance.
It’s going to be 10 million yen per person in your family, so for 6 people it’s going to be 60million yen. At 7pm on the 8th of April, I’ll call the number at your house. I’ll forgive the six of you once I get the money. I will never do anything to you again.
See the letter here:
https://www.themonsterwith21faces.com/letter-4-2-84
Police moved forward with the plans to meet for a money hand off at 7 pm on the 8th of April however, no suspicious activity was noted and the operation was called off around 9 pm.
April 10th 1984, fire at Ezaki Glico Headquarters breaks out on the west side, starting in the prototype department then spreading to the trial area and worker changing room.
The source of the fire was a gasoline soaked cushion.
166 square meters burned to the ground.
9:10pm, 20 minutes after the initial arson at Glico Headquarters, Glico Nutrition, a division of Glico sees fire at it's headquarters.
Gasoline, and strips of cloth in a plastic container were used to ignite the interior of a company vehicle located in the parking garage on the first floor.
The flames were quickly put out having done damage only to the vehicles ceiling.
Immediately after the arson attempt, it was observed that an approximately 170cm tall man wearing a golf cap, a white mask, work clothes, jeans, and carrying a Boston bag was seen running away.
The relationship between the Ezaki abduction and intimidation cases as well as the Glico Arson events was considered to be extremely high. The National Police Agency of Japan designated the series of events as Nationwide Case 114 on April 12th 1984.
On April 22nd a letter arrived to Kiriko Fujisawa, Corporate Auditor of Glico.
In part it reads:
Dear Katsuhisa,
I’m proud of you for making a decision.
We will call Fujie’s house at 7:30pm on Tuesday, April 24th.
Kato should wait at the restaurant called Downhill in Kozushima, Toyonaka city. Have the money ready there.
Monster with 21 faces.
See the letter here:
https://www.themonsterwith21faces.com/letter-4-22-84
This was the first time the criminal group signed off on a letter with the name "Monster with 21 Faces. Inspired by "The Fiend with Twenty Faces", a children's book.
On May 10th 1984 a letter arrived to newspapers.
In part it reads:
To the poor policemen
Glico is annoying so I injected 2 with 0.05 grams of hydrogen cyanide in the stores in the area between Nagoya and Okayama. It’s not enough to kill but the target will be hospitalized. After eating Glico let’s go the the hospital. Eat Glico and end up in the grave.
Monster with 21 faces.
See the letter here:
https://www.themonsterwith21faces.com/episode-2-letter-archive-may-10th-1984
After much debate, and out of concern for public safety, the media shares only a portion of the letter in newspapers and TV reports.
Major supermarket companies such as Daiei, Jusco, Nichii and Ito-Yokado held emergency meetings and decided to remove Ezaki Glico products that day despite Katsuhisa Ezakis objections.
The reaction by the public caused the Tokyo Stock Market on the morning of the 11th to end with the price of Glico stock falling to 500 yen, 50 yen lower than the closing price the day before. Over the following 2 weeks this would drop to a new low of 485 yen.
A few days later, Ezaki Glico is forced to reduce production at Osaka, Tokyo and Kyushu plants as well as parts of eleven subsidiary plants nationwide.
News article from this point in the case:
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/14553536/
On May 20th 1984, the president of Nagaoka Perfumery, a major supplier of various flavorings to Ezaki Glico, received a letter.
In part it reads:
Dear Harada,
Give this to the President or one of the executives at Glico. If you don’t do as we say, you are going to face the same situation as Glico did. We could easily make your company vanish just by using 100 sticks of dynamite.
In the envelope addressed to Nagaoka Perfumery, there was another envelope, type written on the outside were the words "To Katsuhisa Ezaki".
In part it reads:
Dear Dummy’s at Glico,
Are you guys really business men? Business men don’t usually lose money like that. I have an abundance of sodium prussiate. For right before next Valentine’s day, I’ll use cyanide instead.
See the letter here:
https://www.themonsterwith21faces.com/letter-5-20-84
Determined to survive it's own destruction, Ezaki Glico requested stores resume sales of their products as thoughts of Katsuhisa stepping down as president of the company were tossed around.
On May 31st, 1984, another instructional letter was received by Nagaoka Perfumery.
In part it reads:
Dear Katsuhisa,
Prepare 300 million yen like before. On June 2nd at 8:30pm, have two of your employees over the age of 45 wear a white jacket and white pants, and have them drive a white corolla to the Barbecue restaurant "Daidomon" in Ward 1, Torikainaka, Settsu-city. Be in the restaurant by 8pm.
See the letter here:
https://www.themonsterwith21faces.com/letter-5-31-84
Suspicious of their activities over the past ten days investigators went to Ezaki Glico headquarters and convinced President Katsuhisa Ezaki to reveal the details of the letters sent to Nagaoka Perfumery as well as the upcoming money drop.
Photos from this point in the case:
https://www.themonsterwith21faces.com/episode-2-photo-archive
June 2nd 1984, the Corolla loaded with cash sits in Daidomons parking lot at 7:57 PM. Daidomon was a BBQ Restaurant in Settsu City, Osaka, located about 2 kilometers from the flood control warehouse used to hold Katsuhisa Ezaki and that evening was surrounded by an elite team of 30 undercover officers from Osakas Special Crimes Squad.
The white Corolla was modified with a kill switch, located in the trunk, designed for use by an investigator hidden within.
The plan was to coerce the soon to be stolen Corolla onto a side street where officers would arrest the driver and find their destination, sending in its place an identical replacement corolla driven by an undercover officer. There at the destination police would be able to apprehend the remaining members of the criminal gang.
At 8 pm investigation HQ called for radio silence.
The monster instructed that they would call Nagaoka Perfumery at 8:30 pm. However, at 8:45 PM, a young man walks into the restaurant Daidomon, and up to the seat of the Glico Manager.
After silently exchanging several notes the man retrieves the car key and exits the restaurant. The man forces the second Glico Manager out of the Corolla and drives north away from Daidomon.
Radio communication with the investigator in the trunk of the stolen Corolla was lost causing the kill switch to be flipped on the main street. It safely came to a stop at a red light and the driver was arrested. However this 22 year old man would soon be found to have been the victim of a carjacking and abduction by the criminals along with his 18 year old date who was held captive for a short time before being released while the man was forced to steal the cash filled vehicle for the Monster.
Shortly after the mans arrest the Corolla is restarted and driven by an investigator toward the destination described as the criminals meeting location.
On the way the investigator encounters a suspicious white Toyota that overtakes the Corolla on a side street near the destination. The investigator decides to pursue the suspicious vehicle at high speeds before loosing it in heavy traffic at a red light. The investigator returns to the meeting location but no criminals showed up and the operation was called off after 10 pm.
On the morning of June 3rd 1984 the abducted man's stolen Toyota was found on the approach of the Tomorogi Shrine in Neyagawa.
It would seem that the criminals abandoned the stolen car here shortly after eluding the investigator driving the Corolla.
The suspects who abducted the man and woman wore black masks and white gloves.
Suspect A is around 45 years old, 168cm tall, had a low voice and carried a rifle.
Suspect B is around 30 years old and 173 cm tall.
Suspect C who abducted and held the woman captive was described as around 25 to 30 YO, he carried a fruit knife.
News article from this point in the case:
https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19840609-1.2.48.2
On June 11th 1984 Police began a search of 800,000 homes. Asking door to door for any information on the crimes, criminals or associated evidence.
On the 22nd of June a letter arrives at the Takatsuki home of another Japanese food company president. Takashi Haga, president of Marudai Food.
In part it reads:
Dear Haga,
I hope you know about us. Give us 50 million yen with used 10,000 yen bills. On Thursday, June 28th at 8pm, I’ll tell you where the letter is. It’s super easy to put potassium cyanide in things, just get a syringe and we can put it in ham, sausage, and anything else.
Monster with 21 faces.
See the letter here:
https://www.themonsterwith21faces.com/letter-6-22-84
June 26th 1984 a letter arrives at Mainichi, Sankei, and Yomiuri Newspapers. In the envelope of Sankei's letter is a copy of Katsuhisas tape.
In part it reads:
To our fans throughout Japan:
We're satisfied. The president of Glico has already gone around with his head hanging down long enough. We would like to forgive him.
Monster with 21 Faces
I will be back next year in January.
See the letter here:
https://www.themonsterwith21faces.com/letter-6-26-84
June 28th 1984, at 8:03 pm the Monster calls. A voice recording of a woman directs Marudai and Police to find an envelope taped to the back of a bus stop guide board at 8:16pm.
In part it reads:
To Yamada
Take the 8:19 Kyoto bound train that stops at every station Get on the second car from the back and sit on the left side marked with the circle. Either circle is fine.
If the seats in the circled area are not available, say that you feel sick and have someone give up their seat. Sit on the side with the tracks and open the window so that you can throw out the bag
Once you see the 1-meter square, white flag, throw the bag out the window Go to Kyoto, and if there is no flag, then do it again
See the letter here:
https://www.themonsterwith21faces.com/letter-6-26-84
In the envelope, along with the letter the Monster provided a ticket for the 340 yen section.
The investigator carrying the money bag boarded the train at 8:35 surrounded by undercover officers.
After noticing several suspicious passengers on the train the investigators zeroed in on one of them.
There was a man 35 to 45 years old, about 175-178 cm in height, he had a thin lip, thin eyebrows and was well built, wearing a gray suit and clear glasses with silver rims and short permed hair. He carried a black umbrella with a handle, and a newspaper folded in four.
The most striking thing to investigators however was his silent gaze, hunting, with eyes like those of a fox.
Investigators named this suspect the "Fox-Eyed Man".
The Fox-Eyed Man followed the officer carrying the money back and forth between train stations. The tailing undercover officers were kept from detaining the very suspicious man by direct order of the operation headquarters. Though the man was suspicious, HQ wanted an arrest made only when the money was taken to avoid any mistakes. This plan however would lead to the escape of the Fox-Eyed Man and the operation ending with no other contact with the criminals.
News article from this point in the case:
https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/02/world/the-great-candy-caper-leaves-all-japan-atwitter.html
Photos from this point in the case:
https://www.themonsterwith21faces.com/episode-3-photo-archive
The criminal gang attempts to extort Marudai Foods of 600 million yen one last time on July 6th 1984. However after once again not showing up to retrieve the money, the Monster sent a letter declaring an end to the extortion of Marudai Foods.
Two months later the Monster found their next target in Japanese candymaker, Morinaga.
On September 12th 1984, a letter arrived at Morinaga accompanied by three tablets of industrial sodium hypochlorite totaling 30 grams, and 3 poisoned Morinaga food products.
In part the letter reads:
You probably know my name. Your company is doing well because of Glico's loss, so if you feel bad about it give us 100 million yen. If you don’t follow what we say to you, we’re going to place 50 snacks each, for 10 different types of snacks that contain potassium cyanide all over the place. I will receive the money on Tuesday, 18th of September. No matter where you are, we’re watching you.
Monster with 21 faces
See the letter here:
https://www.themonsterwith21faces.com/episode-4-letter-archive-september-12th-1984
Because the Monsters intimidation of Marudai Foods had not yet reached the media, the reporting of Morinaga as the next target behind Glico led to the case being widely referred to as the Glico-Morinaga case as opposed to the Glico-Marudai case, cementing Morinagas name alongside Glico and the Monster with 21 Faces forever.
September 18th 1984, Morinaga attempted to deal with the Monster for the first time. The 100 million yen in cash that the company had prepared was never collected that evening and the operation was called off.
At 11:23 am Sunday October 7th, a man in his 20's or 30's wearing a Yomiuri Giants baseball hat, metal frame glasses, and light tan business casual jacket with a white button up shirt and no tie entered the FamilyMart store of Nishinomiya.
The man is approximately 170 cm tall and has a solid, muscular physique. His hair, under his hat, was permed.
Upon entering the store and turning right, he picked up a weekly magazine from a shelf by the window.
Heading toward the sweets section the man scoped out back of the store, appearing to be on the look out for security cameras.
He was being recorded by 4 of them. Investigators will name this suspect, "The Video-Taped Man".
The Video-taped man approaches the confectionery display shelf. Here he placed what appeared to security cameras to be a square shaped object.
The Video-taped man then stops by the register to purchase the magazine before exiting the store.
The can of Morinaga Fruit Drops the man had quietly placed on the shelf were found to contain 0.18 grams of Sodium Cyanide.
A lethal dose of sodium cyanide is 0.1 grams per 50 kilograms of body weight. The average adult human weight is 62kg. This single candy drop had enough cyanide to kill nearly 15 people.
Attached to the can with a piece of cellophane tape, and typed onto a piece of paper 2x5 centimeters in size, a note read:
This has poison in it. If you eat it you will die. Monster with 21 faces.
That same day on October 7th convenience stores and super markets in Hyogo, Osaka and Kyoto also find poisoned Morinaga products on their shelves. All of the cyanide laced sweets were identified by the note attached to each of them. "This has poison in it. If you eat it you will die. Monster with 21 faces".
The morning of October 8th saw the discovery of more cyanide laced products as well as 2 separate letters sent to various newspapers and food companies.
In part one reads:
To all mothers in Japan
In autumn appetite is huge. Candy is great. When you think sweets - no matter what you say - it's Morinaga right?. We added some special flavor to it. The flavor of Potassium Cyanide is a little bitter. Tell children not to get cavities and buy it for them.
We placed 20 pieces between Hakata and Tokyo.
There are 2 flavors with 0.2 grams and 0.5 grams of acid.
After 10 days. We will place 30 of them, without any sign across Japan. We are preparing a lot more for later. Look forward to it!
Monster with 21 faces
See the letter here:
https://www.themonsterwith21faces.com/episode-4-letter-archive-october-8th-1984
By the evening of October 8th 1984, shops where poisoned snacks were discovered had removed their entire stock of Morinaga products out of caution.
The next day on the 9th, more poisoned products were found as the supermarket chain Daiei removed Morinaga from 158 stores nationwide. Department stores such as Isetan, Matsuzakaya, Tenmaya and Jusco among others did the same.
Like an avalanche, 3,500 shops across the country including those at National Railway Stations dumped the tainted brand.
Due to the massive cuts in production and delivery, Morinaga halted 450 part-time jobs and employees were sent home.
On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Morinaga shares reached a high price of 670 yen at the end of July. On October 8th the company's stock price plummeted to 580 yen. It would fall to 450 yen by the end of the month and down to 380 yen by the end of the year. A fall much more devastating than that of Glico.
News article from this point in the case:
https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/09/world/poisoned-candy-found-on-japanese-store-shelves.html
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/10/10/Extortionists-who-laced-candies-with-deadly-cyanide-have-threatened/2060466228800/
https://www.themonsterwith21faces.com/episode-4-article-october-8th-1984
Photos from this point in the case:
https://www.themonsterwith21faces.com/episode-4-photo-archive
Wikipedia information on the case:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monster_with_21_Faces
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glico_Morinaga_case
POST 2 COMING SOON
This post contains a summary of events from March 18th 1984 to October 10th 1984. Post 2 will contain a summary of events from October 11th 1984 to August 12th 1985, the end of the case.
TLDR: Criminal gang kidnaps Japanese candy company president from his home and holds him for ransom for 3 days in a warehouse. The criminal gang names itself "Monster with 21 Faces" as it continues an extortion campaign again several Japanese food companies. After having failed to capture a "Fox-Eyed Man" suspect stores in Japan begin discovering cyanide laced candy products on their shelves. All the while, the criminal gang has been sending taunting letters to police, newspapers and food companies. (Post 2 coming soon)

I’m trying to figure out how to make the curved hole in the center of this top. It will be worked in half since I can’t get a big enough piece to do it in one.
https://amksoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Marudai-Measured-Drawing.pdf

Under the looming Nabro Volcano, the city of Afrera is a small farming settlement, home to a thriving community of native Afarians, Tamil tourists - and, unfortunately, an increasing number of political refugees escaping untold terrors on the African mainland.
While the Tamil people continue their idyllic and peaceful lives in the Tamilakam, others around the world are not so lucky. The African continent has been plagued by constant war, with tens of thousands of innocent lives caught in the crossfire. Nowhere is this more evident than in East Africa, where a genocidal regime led by the warlord Jomo has swallowed up entire peoples in their ongoing conquest of the region.
The island of Afar is already inundated with refugee camps and temporary housing - but yet more come every day, desperate to escape the increasingly totalitarian nature of the Jomo state, where the petty warlord has established himself as, if not God on Earth, then the closest thing to it, where worship of the state, and of Jomo as the personification of the state, is mandatory, and where non-Kenyans have no place.
The Marudai Times sent Kallayeniyan M. to investigate these reports, meeting with one of Jomo's victims: Markos Atikem Dereje.
Markos was a young man in his early thirties, with a wife, a daughter, and two sons - living in one of the many Abyssinian farming communes that was unceremoniously attacked by Jomo's militias. Today, he stands before me a withered old man of 40 - a man who has seen too much injustice in just a few years, who witnessed the murder of his wife and daughter, and who has not seen his sons since they were enslaved by Kenyan gangs and forcibly marched south to labor.
Kallayeniyan: Markos, thank you for speaking with me today.
Markos: Yes.
Kallayeniyan: How long have you been here, in Afar?
Markos: I arrived last year - had to make a hard journey across the mountains before making it here.
Kallayeniyan: Very recent. What prompted the change?
Markos: I did not leave by choice, I had to leave, I had to run. I could not stay there. Ethiopia as a country was maybe not the richest, maybe not the most stable, but it was ours, and my family was happy, and we had our own land. After the war, this all changed. There was no place for us there. We are not Kenyan.
Kallayeniyan: What do you mean?
Markos: The Kenyans do not tolerate our existence. We are not people, just slaves. I worked for four years on a farm that my community once owned. But it was taken from us. We work there but it wasn't ours, it belonged to some soldier that got given our land as payment for this occupation. We worked, not as slaves, but so poor. They own everything and only sell to us at high prices, so we go into debt, and because we are in debt, we can't say no.
You know, when the war was happening, we all feared the worst. My brother, rest his soul, died fighting for our independence. But because some of us fought, we suffered. The Kenyans were not happy. They punished us.
Kallayeniyan: Punished you?
Markos: Yes. They took my sons - all the sons of our village. Where they went, we do not know. They were conscripted, they said, soldiers, or slaves, or something. Who knows? God knows. After the war, it was just me, my wife, and my daughter still together in our village. Working and working and working but starving all the same.
Kallayeniyan: Starving?
Markos: Not a lot of food in our village. The weather wasn't good, and what little we did grow we had to give up to the soldiers. Many people died. Many.
Kallayeniyan: Including your wife.
Markos: Yes. She died in the second summer.
Kallayeniyan: Tell me about her.
Markos: She was the light of my life. Her smile could always cheer us up. But I hadn't seen it for many months by then. Her heart couldn't take the loss.
Kallayeniyan: Have you heard anything of your sons?
Markos: Nothing.
Kallayeniyan: And what of your daughter?
Markos: Unspeakable. What that man did to her. How those soldiers treated her. Unspeakable.
Kallayeniyan: I'm sorry.
Markos: They don't see us as human. They can't. It was only at gunpoint that they even pretend to treat us well, but we will never be Kenyan. They took our land and raped our country. No one cares. Not the Sudan. Not even the Tamil. We are dying every day, living in prisons of our own villages. I had to leave, I had too. I remember one worker, someone from a different village brought in to help us, was nailed to the barn door, and we knew that would happen to us if we stayed. So we all set off to escape that.
Kallayeniyan: How did you escape?
Markos: After my daughter... well, after the situation, we decided, you know, we decided to start doing what we could. We stole some tools, our old tools, now theirs, and stashed them away. That night, we grabbbed as much food as we could, and grabbed these tools, and some water, and ran.
Kallayeniyan: Where to?
Markos: We didn't know then, but I suppose here. We ran north, where we heard of some Greek land. We thought, if we can make it there, we will have a new life.
Kallayeniyan: What happened?
Markos: The road was hard. Bandits. Lions. Not good. Aisha (daughter) didn't survive. It was hard.
Kallayeniyan: But you made it here.
Markos: Yes.
Kallayeniyan: How do you find Afar?
Markos: It is many things, beyond my hopes. But it is not Ethiopia. It is not home.
Kallayeniyan: What message would you have for the Tamil people, reading your story?
Markos: Help us.
Jomo Kenyatta is wanted by Tamil authorities for crimes against humanity.

I have begun testing the silk in this fine thread size for kumihimo, so here's my thoughts:

1. 8 strands braided together does indeed result in something noticeably larger, but very similar to, embroidery thread. Pretty nice result, too. Maybe too big for a second braid.
2. alternating colors does not result in a color blend, sadly.
3. alternating colors does result in a candy strip pattern
4. a six-inch foam marudai is cramped.
5. braiding a rope from braids of my resulting test size will end in a fairly chunky rope - maybe a 1/4" in size, or larger. Maybe too big for some uses.
6. braiding goes pretty quickly on even a small, cramped marudai.
7. silk has a very soft - well, "silky" - feel to it.
8. I feel a little special using real silk. The string is quite pretty, too.
9. a cone of silk is fairly large and light in weight
10. a white silk cone from Valley Yarns says "Hasegawa" on the inside (a silk manufacturer)
11. a blue silk cone from Bluegrass Mills (AKA "The Woolery") has the pantone color on it, but no manufacturer listed (Pantone 19-4150 TPX is a rich blue, the cone is marked with 19-4150 TPX)
12. it will take forever to use up a cone. Each cone should produce roughly 200 feet of braid, given: 2744 yards per cone and a braid consisting of 8 strands of 5 strings each.
13. the entertainment value proposition of premium silk thread is basically $75 for 200 feet of braid, or $2 to $3 per foot of braid. In my choice of colors. Using a premium material.
14. one alternative to silk thread is Tencel thread. Tencel is $31 a cone - not cheap
15. another alternative is Bamboo. Bamboo is $35 a cone - also not cheap!

I am using test strings of 1 wingspan in length. What's a wingspan, you ask? Stretch your arms out to your left and right, as far apart as comfortable. That's my test length. Based on my wingspan, I will learn how far my string will last on the most basic braid.
I bought two items that some of you may have thoughts about: a yarn ball winder, and a bottle of fabric glue. The glue has two purposes. First, it will keep my cords and braids from fraying when cut. Second, it will add permanence to my braided works. Fabric glue is non-toxic and cleans up easily, which are huge selling points after my adventures with superglue. The yarn ball winder is something that I have owned before. It makes string management much easier by letting you make well-behaved cakes of thread that unravel from the center. A yarn ball winder is cheap ... $20 off Amazon. Using these cakes, I could easily make stacks to wind onto a tama. Need a strand of 5 strings? No problem - just get out five cakes and wind them straight onto the tama (in theory). I don't know, yet, if this works in practice.
This time around, I am not buying a warping board. I am using cones, not skeins, and the warping board is unnecessary (as is a swift). Also, I hated using both a swift and the board.
Okay, I feel that I have barfed up enough information for the day ... :)

The Monster with 21 Faces (かい人21面相, Kaijin Nijūichi Mensō) was a name (originally of the villain in Edogawa Rampo's detective novels) used as an alias by the person or group responsible for the blackmail letters in the Glico Morinaga case in Japan, in 1984. Variations of the name's translation, including “the Mystery Man with the 21 Faces” and “the Phantom with 21 Faces”, have also been used in articles and books featuring the case.

• The Glico Morinaga case

At 9:00pm on 18 March 1984, two masked men wearing caps and armed with a pistol and rifle broke into the home of Katsuhisa Ezaki, the president of Glico. Prior to entering Ezaki's house, the two men had first forced their way into the neighboring home of Ezaki's mother, bound her and took the key to the president's house. Using the key to enter the main house, they then tied up Ezaki's wife and daughter. Believing the two men were ordinary robbers, Ezaki's wife attempted to negotiate with them for their freedom in exchange for money, but was rejected. The two men then cut the telephone lines and stormed the bathroom, where Ezaki and his other two children were hiding. Ezaki panicked and cried for help, but was threatened that he would be killed unless he calmed down. The two men abducted Ezaki and held him captive in a warehouse.
The next morning, they called the director of the company in Takatsuki city and issued a ransom demand for 1 billion yen (about US$4.2 million at the then-current exchange rates) and 100 kilograms in gold bullion. However, three days later, on 21 March, Ezaki managed to escape from the warehouse in Ibaraki city, Osaka prefecture.

• Letters to Ezaki Glico

The Monster with 21 Faces sent its first letter on May 10, 1984, to the giant food company Ezaki Glico following the kidnapping and escape of Katsuhisa Ezaki, president of Glico. The letter stated it had laced $21 million worth of the company's confections with potassium cyanide soda, and it later threatened to put them on store shelves. None of these poisoned candies were found, but Glico products were removed from stores, resulting in a loss of more than $20 million and the laying off of 450 part-time workers.
Meanwhile, the Monster with 21 Faces also sent letters to the media, taunting police efforts to capture the culprit(s) behind the scare. An excerpt from one such letter, written in hiragana and with an Osaka dialect, reads, “Dear dumb police officers. Don't tell a lie. All crimes begin with a lie as we say in Japan. Don't you know that?” Another taunting letter was sent to Koshien police station. “Why don't you keep it to yourself? You seem to be at a loss. So why not let us help you? We'll give you a clue. We entered the factory by the front gate. The typewriter we used is PAN-writer. The plastic container used was a piece of street garbage. Monster with 21 faces.”
On June 26, the Monster with 21 Faces issued a message proclaiming its forgiveness of Glico, and subsequent harassment of the company ceased.

• Letters to Morinaga

After ceasing its harassment of Glico, the Monster with 21 Faces began targeting Morinaga, another confectionery company, and food companies Marudai Ham and House Food Corporation with similar criminal campaigns, using the same alias.
In October 1984, a letter addressed to "Moms of the Nation" and signed by the Monster with 21 Faces was sent to Osaka news agencies with a warning similar to those sent to Glico. It stated that 20 packages of Morinaga candy had been laced with deadly sodium cyanide. After receiving this letter, police searched stores in cities from Tokyo to western Japan and found over a dozen lethal packages of Morinaga Choco Balls and Angel Pie before anyone was poisoned. These packages had labels, such as "Danger: Contains Toxins", put on them. More tampered confections were found in February 1985, making a total of 21 lethal sweet products.

• Death of Superintendent Yamamoto and cessation of letters

Unable to capture the suspect believed to be the mastermind behind the Monster with 21 Faces, the police superintendent Yamamoto of Shiga Prefecture died by suicide by self-immolation in August 1985. Five days after this event, on August 12, "the Monster” sent its final message to the media:
Yamamoto of Shiga Prefecture Police died. How stupid of him! We've got no friends or secret hiding place in Shiga. It's Yoshino or Shikata who should have died. What have they been doing for as long as one year and five months? Don't let bad guys like us get away with it. There are many more fools who want to copy us. No-career Yamamoto died like a man. So we decided to give our condolence. We decided to forget about torturing food-making companies. If anyone blackmails any of the food-making companies, it's not us but someone copying us. We are bad guys. That means we've got more to do other than bullying companies. It's fun to lead a bad man's life. Monster with 21 Faces.
After this letter, the Monster with 21 Faces was not heard from again. The statute of limitation for the kidnapping of Katsuhisa Ezaki, president of Glico, ran out in June 1995, and the statute of limitation for the attempted poisonings ran out in February 2000. No suspect was ever caught or convicted of the crimes, and the identity of the Monster with 21 Faces remains a mystery.

• Major suspects

"The Videotaped Man"
The released image of the "Videotaped Man": https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monster_with_21_Faces#/media/File%3AMonster_With_21_Faces_%22Videotaped_Man%22.jpg
Following threats by the Monster with 21 Faces to poison Glico confections and the resulting mass withdrawal of Glico products from shelves, a man wearing a Yomiuri Giants baseball cap was caught placing Glico chocolate on a store shelf by a security camera. This man was believed to be behind the Monster with 21 Faces. The security camera photo was made public after this incident.
"The Fox-eyed Man"
Police did get close to the suspected mastermind of the "Monster with 21 Faces", however. On 28 June, two days after agreeing to stop harassing Marudai in exchange for 50 million yen (about US$210,000), the "Monster" arranged for a Marudai employee to toss the ransom money onto a local train heading toward Kyoto when a white flag was displayed. An investigator disguised as a Marudai employee and following the drop instructions of the "Monster" spotted a suspicious man observing him when he was riding a train to the drop point. The man was described as a large, well-built man wearing sunglasses, his hair cut short and permed, with "eyes like those of a fox."
When the white flag was not displayed, the undercover policeman and the "Fox-Eyed Man" (キツネ目の男, kitsune-me no otoko) both disembarked from the train at Kyoto station, and while the investigator waited on a bench, the "Fox-Eyed Man" continued to observe him. The investigator later headed back to Osaka, and the "Fox-Eyed Man" boarded another car in the same train. When the investigator then disembarked at Takatsuki station, the "Fox-Eyed Man" boarded a Kyoto-bound train and another undercover investigator tailed him from Kyoto, but the "Fox-Eyed Man" eventually lost him.
Police got a second chance at the "Fox-Eyed Man" on 14 November, when the "Monster" group attempted to rob the House Food Corporation of 100 million yen (about US$410,000) in another secret deal. At a rest stop on the Meishin Expressway, near Otsu, investigators saw the Fox-Eyed Man, wearing a golf cap and dark glasses, but again he evaded capture. The cash delivery van they were tailing continued to head toward the drop point, where they were to drop the money in a can under a white piece of cloth. When the delivery van reached the drop point, the white cloth was there but the can was missing. As a result, the investigative team was ordered to withdraw, believing that the drop was an evaluation by the "Monster" of police response.
However, an hour earlier, a patrol car from the local Shiga prefecture police had spotted a station wagon with its engine running and its headlights off. The station wagon was also sitting less than 50 meters from a white cloth suspended from a fence. Unaware of the secret ransom drop, the police officer drove up to the station wagon and shone his flashlight on the driver, revealing a thin-cheeked man in his forties, wearing a golf cap over his eyes and, more telling, a wireless receiver with headphones. Surprised by the policeman, the driver sped off, with the police car following in pursuit until the station wagon lost him.
The station wagon was later found abandoned near the Kusatsu Station and had been discovered to have been stolen earlier in Nagaokakyo in Kyoto prefecture. Inside the abandoned car was a radio transceiver that had been eavesdropping in on radio communications between the police officers of six prefectures, including Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe, the prefectures of the drop point. Also recovered was a vacuum cleaner, although no evidence could be traced back to the "Monster" group.
Manabu Miyazaki
Following the release of the identikit in January 1985, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police quickly identified the culprit as Manabu Miyazaki. Labelled as Mr. "M" or Material Witness "M", Miyazaki was suspected of issuing a 1976 tape declaring support of a local union in a labor dispute with Glico that bore similarities to the numerous declarations of the "Monster with 21 Faces".
There had been numerous whistleblowing incidents between 1975 and 1976 that were also attributed to Miyazaki, which highlighted Glico's dumping of starches and other industrial waste into the local river and drainage system. Miyazaki was also suspected to have been involved with the resignation of a union leader over accounting irregularities when Glico Ham and Glico Nutritional Foods merged. In addition, his father was the boss of a local Yakuza group and Miyazaki himself bore a striking resemblance to the "Fox-Eyed Man". Speculation had gone on for months that Miyazaki was the "Fox-Eyed Man", until the Tokyo Metropolitan Police checked his alibis and cleared him of any wrongdoing. The resulting notoriety caused Miyazaki to become a social commentator, and he wrote a book about his experiences called Toppamono.
https://theghostinmymachine.com/2019/08/12/unresolved-the-monster-with-21-faces-the-glico-morinaga-case-and-the-candy-poisoning-incident-of-1984-kidnapping-katsuhisa-ezaki-extortion-unsolved-fox-eyed-man-video-man/

Hi, I have just finished making my own marudai stand and I can't find anything on the internet that explains how to start a kumihimo cord. I found plenty of patterns and I found a pattern I want to use but I have no clue how to start it. I have 8 strands of embroidery floss, and 8 bobbins and a makeshift weight ready to use. Just tell me how to start it.

Hello all. I just received my marudai a couple of days and I am very excited to get started. I have resources that I can tap however I am having the hardest time finding info on how to make haori himo*. Know this is super specific. I have tried looking on Youtube in Japanese and English and can find nothing about the process. Does anyone have any suggestions or comments? I figured I'd ask here before I fumble my way through Google translate on an unsuspecting kumihimo shop in Japan.
*Haori are coats or jackets that go over a kimono. Inside the Haori there are straps that ties together to slightly close it. There are three parts to a haori himo tie and aside from watching the quick hands of a master there is no step by step process that I can find for the public.

If you haven’t already, please read part one of this write-up. Also, thanks to everyone who liked my previous post, I didn’t expect it to garner so much intrigue! Okay let's dive into round 2:
Continuing from my last post, The Monster with 21 Faces had just ‘forgiven‘ Glico; and that could have been the end of the ordeal: no one physically hurt, no one poisoned, & no ransom money given.
Well, not quite. Instead of stopping their terrorism, the Monster started targeting other food companies like Marudai Ham, House Food Company, & confectionery giant Morinaga.
The Monster returned to their original tactics: sending letters & poisoning candy. In one letter, which was sent to the Osaka news agency & (strangely) an organization called “Moms in the Nation,” the Monster claimed 20 Morinaga candies would be laced with sodium cyanide.
For the second time, pandemonium & terror ensued.
To inspect every Morinaga candy, police had to scour all of Japan. Miraculously, they found all 20 packages before anyone was poisoned. How did they identify which candies were poisoned? For some unknown reason, the Monster had attached a label on each tampered item stating: “Danger: Contains Toxins.”
The Search (close calls):
After the Monster continued to taunt & harass companies, one of its targets, Marudai Ham, agreed to pay out $50 million to appease the Monster. The police were in on this drop & an officer, disguised as a Marudai employee, agreed to take the money to the drop off point. On the train over, the undercover officer noticed a mysterious man who kept glancing at him. The man was later described as large, well-built, with short, permed hair. However, what struck the officer most was that the man had “eyes like a fox,” thus leading to the moniker the “Fox-Eyed Man." When the officer got off at the drop site, the Fox-Eyed Man followed. The officer noted that the man was acting suspicious & would stare at him while he waited. When the signal for the drop never came, the Fox-Eyed Man boarded another train. Despite being trailed from train to train by multiple officers, the mysterious man managed to elude capture.
The police had a second chance at apprehending the man when another money drop was arranged. The Fox-Eyed Man was spotted at a rest stop near Otsu, wearing a golf cap & dark glasses. But again, he evaded capture. The police then continued onto the designated drop off point, which was supposed to be marked by a white cloth & can, into which the police would place the money. When they arrived, they found only the white cloth. Confused, the police were ordered to withdraw. Later it was speculated this entire ransom drop was simply a way for the Monster with 21 Faces to observe police procedures & methodology.
However, what the police did not know at the time was that just hours earlier, local police had encountered a suspicious man parked a mere 50 ft from a white cloth on a fence. Unaware of the drop, they had flagged the car simply due to its running engine & lack of headlights. Upon approach, police noted the driver was a man in his forties, wearing a golf cap to conceal his eyes, &, most telling, a wireless receiver with headphones. This receiver, later found in the abandoned vehicle, indicated the listener had been eavesdropping on radio communications between six different police prefectures, two of which were involved with the ransom drop. When the police began asking questions, the man got spooked & sped away. Although the police tailed the car for a while, they eventually lost the vehicle. This is believed to be the last known sighting of the Fox-Eyed Man.
With all plans to catch the Monster unsuccessful, police superintendent Yamamoto, who still did not have any credible leads, was under immense pressure. This, coupled with the Monster’s taunting letters wracked Yamato with unbearable guilt & frustration. A year and a half after the initial abduction of Ezaki, Yamamoto killed himself. His chosen method was nothing short of horrific. In August of 1985, police chief Yamamoto doused himself in kerosene before setting himself on fire.
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Following Yamamoto’s suicide, the Monster with 21 Faces issued its very last letter:
“Yamamoto of Shiga Prefecture Police died. How stupid of him! We've got no friends or secret hiding place in Shiga. It's Yoshino* or Shikata* who should have died. What have they been doing for as long as one year and five months? Don't let bad guys like us get away with it. There are many more fools who want to copy us. No-career Yamamoto died like a man. So we decided to give our condolence. We decided to forget about torturing food-making companies. If anyone blackmails any of the food-making companies, it's not us but someone copying us. We are bad guys. That means we've got more to do other than bullying companies. It's fun to lead a bad man's life.”
- Monster with 21 Faces.
(*police superintendents involved with the case)
The Suspect:
The strongest suspect in the whole case is a man by the name of Manabu Miyazaki (nickname Mr. M). He had previously been linked to Glico as a whistle-blower who publicly accused Glico of dumping industrial waste into the city’s river. Throughout the years, M would continue to dispute & attempt to de-legitimize the company.
What’s more, M’s father was a yakuza boss. This would have given him control of a lot of manpower. Perhaps enough manpower for two yakuza members to abduct the president of a large company while ensuring M had a solid alibi for the time of the kidnapping.
M also bears an uncanny resemblance to the Fox-Eyed Man. You can judge for yourself: compare the artist sketch to the man himself (current photo).
Although the police probably looked into hundreds of leads, the only one ever mentioned as the prime suspect was Mr. M. Eventually, he was cleared by police due to having a rock, solid alibi during the time of the abduction. However, considering the police knew he had ties to the yakuza, who could easily have conducted the kidnapping for him, this seems like a rather weak reason to clear his name.
Conclusion:
The Monster with 21 Faces was never heard from again & has never been apprehended. Sadly, the statue of limitations for both Ezaki’s kidnapping & the attempted murder via poisoning has passed. Even if the culprits are caught, they will never be prosecuted. Little else is known about the Monster with 21 Faces. The only facts that are almost certain are that multiple individuals were involved in the crimes, some or all who are male, & most likely tied to the yakuza.
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Sorry this is such a long write-up. Below I’ll list my theory of what happened - feel free to skip this as I feel I’ve just written a short story above.
In my opinion, M was not only involved with the whole debacle, but was actually the head of the Monster, so to speak.

• Motive: M has a long-running & infamous feud with Glico. He felt Glico was morally bankrupt, which led to several disputes.
• Resources: his father is a yakuza boss. So he had no shortage of man power. This is important not only bc of the kidnapping but also bc it makes disseminating the laced candy around Japan a lot easier.
• Alibi: the police ruled M out bc he had an alibi the night of the murder. This, I find, is a rather lazy oversight. They knew M was connected to the yakuza. Clearly, other yakuza members could have done the kidnapping while M was nailing down an alibi. It could also point to police corruption since they seemed to let M off the hook a little too easily.
• Methodology: I don’t think the Monster was interested in hurting innocent people. He just wanted Glico to pay for what they did. Let’s break this down:
• The first crime was Ezaki’s abduction & extortion. M wanted Glico to suffer & pay up for their wrong doings.
• This plan went awry, so M decided to hurt Glico’s assets & reputation in a different way. The Monster claims to have laced Glico candy, yet there were no reported incidents of anyone getting sick. In addition, Glico lost millions in sales. So that simple threat was enough to tarnish Glico’s reputation, cause people to stop buying their products, & ultimately cost the company millions due to the recall & layoffs.
• At some point, I think Glico finally had enough & decided to quietly pay off the Monster, thus, explaining the sudden “We Forgive Glico!” message.
• Furthermore, the later candy lacings included “Do not eat: toxic” labels. For me, this indicates that whoever was behind it didn’t intend on killing people, but rather wanted to scare them from buying Morinaga’s products.
• This is further corroborated by their message to “Moms in the Nation.” Why send a warning letter out in the first place, especially to such a random group? Since kids are a major consumer of candy, the Monster may have been warning mothers not to let their kids eat potentially lethal Morinaga candy. Again, this would hurt Morinaga's bottom line & reputation while not intending to have any real casualties.
• Finally, the Monster stopped their activities only after the only known casualty occurred (police chief Yamamoto's suicide). At this point, perhaps what was meant to be a mission to take down a few big-name companies suddenly became 'real' to the Monster; hence their final letter.
• Last question: If M is behind all this & only had a vendetta against Glico, why target the other companies? I think this may be one of two possibilities. A) the Monster wanted it to seem like they were targeting the entire industry to hide their true target (Glico). It's like committing a string of murders to hide your one true target. The suspect pool increases with each subsequent crime. B) if my theory about Glico secretly paying the Monster off is correct, it's possible the Monster figured they had stumbled onto a lucrative extortion plan. Why not try the same tactic on other food companies (ie ruin their reputation, lace their product; etc)? The companies would then pay out millions to have the Monster leave them alone.

TL;DR: M is probably the head of the Monster because he had motive, resources, links with the yakuza, & a questionable alibi. Many acts by the Monster suggest they didn’t intend on hurting anyone but simply wanted to ruin Glico’s reputation & bottom line.
And those are my thoughts on the subject. I think that ties all the twists & mysterious aspects of the case together pretty neatly, although of course there are still unanswered questions & this is purely speculation. Let me know if you find this theory plausible or have alternate theories.
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Bonus creepy photo sketch of the Fox-Eyed man.
Credit to u/AstanaTombs for helping me tease out my final theory
Sources here, here, here, here, & here.
For a great article that includes details too vast for me to cover, look here. It mentions some interesting details, including translated excerpts from the many letters, commentary from people who lived through these events, & even the meaning behind the dialect used in the letters.
Edit: added theory TL;DR
Edit: fact correction; changed photo link