Japanese woman arrested for sewing housemate's lips shut with needle and thread

A woman in her 40s was arrested in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, after allegedly sewing shut the lips of a woman she lived with using a needle and thread.

According to Japanese media including Fuji News Network, police arrested Sakurai Masae, 49, on assault charges Tuesday at a residence in Koga, Ibaraki Prefecture.

Sakurai is accused of repeatedly sewing together the upper and lower lips of a 42-year-old woman, identified only as A, with whom she shared the home.

The crime came to light on June 29, when A escaped from the house with her lips still sewn shut and entered a nearby store to seek help. She handed a store clerk a note reading, "Please help me. Call the police. I cannot speak."

A was taken to a hospital for treatment and her condition was not life-threatening. In a police interview, she said she "was too scared of Sakurai to escape right away."

Neighbors said Sakurai rarely interacted with those around her but had behaved suspiciously at times.

One resident said Sakurai had lived in the area for two to three years and had moved in with a foreign husband and two children. At some point, however, the husband disappeared, and Sakurai began living with A in April 2025.

A former colleague who worked with Sakurai at the same restaurant until February last year said she was "skilled at drawing people to her side," adding that she had heard Sakurai took in a young person with nowhere to go after leaving home, found them work and was receiving money from them.

Police are continuing their investigation after determining that additional residents beyond Sakurai and A may have been living at the property. Investigators are also looking into the possibility that an unusual communal living arrangement, with multiple people coming and going frequently, had been taking place.