Editor 's Note : The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE , an independent media company and Web site based in Brooklyn , New York . VBS.TV is VICE 's broadband television network . The reports , which are produced solely by VICE , reflect a very transparent approach to journalism , where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process . We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers . Brooklyn , New York ( VBS.TV ) -- On the afternoon of June 13 , 1981 , a Japanese man named Issei Sagawa walked to the Bois de Boulogne , a park on the outskirts of Paris , carrying two suitcases . The contents of those suitcases were the dismembered body parts of a fellow student , a Dutch woman named Renée Hartevelt , whom Sagawa had shot three days prior and had spent the days since , eating various parts of her body . The details of Sagawa 's brief incarceration and subsequent return to Japan are too vague and complex to state here , but for the sake of this introduction , I can say that on August 12 , 1986 , Sagawa checked himself out of Matsuzawa Psychiatric Hospital and has been a free man ever since . This is the point in the story in which things get really strange . In his 24 years of freedom since , Sagawa has experienced a level of notoriety ranging from perverse public intrigue to minor celebrity . He has published novels ; inspired songs ; been the subject of countless documentaries and magazine articles , and exploitation films in which he re-enacts his crime ; drawn manga novels and even directed his own personal pornography `` experiment . '' Effectively , he has made a living off his crime . The prospect of not only meeting such a despicable man but spending several days with him was of course one of apprehension . A walk through his greater Tokyo apartment revealed an almost physical manifestation of his neurosis . Just inside the door , a wall-mounted black balaclava hangs next to cabinets filled with gargoyle-like statuettes , classic literature and trinkets collected over decades of travels ( often with young girls he 's met under dubious circumstances ) . Chairs are piled high with stuffed children 's toys . His room is like a 14-year-old boy 's : adorned with countless images of young girls , some painted by himself , some taken from celebrity magazines . See the rest of Issei Sagawa 's story at VBS.TV . After an initial meeting , we went to a local restaurant for lunch , over which Sagawa recommended we visit the national park around Mount Fuji . `` Breathtaking scenery , '' he assured us , `` and there is a part of the forest where people go to commit suicide called Aokigahara . If I could drive , I would go there and kill myself , '' he remarked casually . I explained that , funnily enough , we had been there a few days prior , shooting a documentary surrounding the park , and actually the train was modestly priced . We returned to his tiny apartment and began the interview . Sagawa stared into the lens of the camera and began his story . Clearly , at times his delivery was scripted and straight from the pages of his novels . It was an abject despair at having to once again recount what he refers to as his `` incident . '' He was constantly desperate to somehow validate his existence , and what unfolded was a confession of a man approaching the end of a very unusual life and having spent too much time reflecting upon it . Sagawa 's punishment , he believes , is the very thing that has supported him -- his fame and the irony is not lost on him . Personally , I feel that this torment has not been punishment enough . Furthermore , I feel that perhaps the blame is just as much upon us , the public . We have been encouraging this strange man to exist in order to feed our macabre fascinations , and the irony of that is not lost on me .
Akira Tanaka murdered a Dutch woman in 1981 , dismembered and raped her . He was arrested , declared insane , institutionalized and ultimately executed . Now a celebrity of sorts , he has effectively made a living off his crimes .