Miso's Role in a 58-Year-Old Mystery

In 1966, a tragic crime shook Japan: a miso company executive and his family were murdered, and their home was set ablaze. Two months later, a company employee, Iwao Hakamada, was arrested and later sentenced to death based on evidence that would later be questioned. The key evidence? Bloodstained clothing found in a miso tank, which the prosecution claimed belonged to Hakamada. For decades, Hakamada maintained his innocence, and in 2014, a district court ordered a retrial due to doubts about the bloodstains' appearance. The court noted that the bloodstains remained reddish after over a year in miso, which seemed unlikely. However, in 2018, a high court overturned this decision, sending the case back into limbo. The defense team sought scientific evidence to support Hakamada's claims. They conducted experiments to understand how blood and bloodstains change color in miso. The results were striking: blood and bloodstains lost their redness and turned dark brown or black within days under conditions similar to those in miso. This suggested that the bloodstained clothing found in the miso tank was likely planted just before its discovery, rather than being hidden there for over a year. In 2023 and 2024, the defense team presented these findings to the high court and a district court. The courts ultimately ruled in favor of Hakamada, declaring him not guilty after 56 years on death row. This case is a rare example of forensic science proving a wrongful conviction decades after the fact. The study also sheds light on how fermented foods like miso can affect blood evidence. However, it's important to note that the experiments were conducted in a controlled lab setting, focusing mainly on pH and salt concentration. This highlights the need for forensic experts to consider the impact of food-derived environments when evaluating blood evidence.