Nothing But a Confession: The Shi...
Nothing But a Confession: The Shimada Case | Japan, 1954
Explicit
UNTRANSLATED - Cases the world never heard by Daniel Dreher
S1 · E3
Aug 5, 2026
18:20
Episode notes

n 1954, a Japanese court convicted a man of murdering a six-year-old girl on the strength of his own confession, and almost nothing else. Thirty-four years and eight months later, a different court took it back.

Content warning: this episode covers the murder of a six-year-old child in Shimada, Japan, in 1954. She is referred to only by her given name, Hisako, in line with the show's policy of not naming child victims. The original indictment also included a charged sexual-assault offense tied to that six-year-old victim, under a Japanese statute since repealed; it is named once, without further detail. The episode also covers strangulation, a wrongful death sentence, thirty-four years and eight months in custody, and a subject's documented history of mild intellectual disability and past suicide attempts, discussed only as ... 

Keywords
true crime
cold case
unsolved murder
police
history
international true crime
murder
mystery
japan
What place this episode is about
Where this episode is made