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| “ | Yukio: They did not care for me. They were ashamed. I was weak. I failed them. But now they have their revenge. Jack: You think that makes what you did okay? Yukio: I gave them each an honorable death. Which is more than they deserved. My parents will finally be proud of me. |
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| ~ Yukio’s most famous line, confessing his crimes to Jack Garrett |
Yukio Aito is the main antagonist of the Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders episode “Whispering Death”. He is a vengeful serial killer after everyone he blames for the destruction of his family’s business and lives.
He was portrayed by Takashi Yamaguchi.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Yukio was born in 1983. His parents Daichan and Reiko ran a sushi business in the Tsukiji fish market, a business Yukio was to inherit in spite of the weight of responsibility leaving too much pressure on him. Yukio also had taller and stronger than average build, which left him feeling like a pariah from standing out in his features. Aiko Nakano, a chef employed by the Aito family, was hoping to take over the business knowing Yukio wasn’t in a position to do so, but Daichan remained determined for the shop to stay in the family. Yukio eventually became reclusive, with the status of hikikomori, a term for a Japanese young adult, usually a young man, who lives for years in their bedrooms to retreat from the world. As a result, however, Yukio became extremely proficient in computer programming, video cameras, and other hardware and software technology. He had little sun exposure, so he suffered rashes and mild rickets as well due to low Vitamin D levels.
In 2015, a major trading company, Taylor Investments, run by two businessmen, American Jarod Taylor and Japanese-American Sean Kagame, purchased the expanse of the Tsukiji market’s property, in the interest of developing it into something much different. Aiko knew Daichan wanted to have Yukio step up despite his condition and quit. Two brothers and owners of a hedge fund startup, Damien and Kristopher Hall also came to Tokyo to tour the district for their clients. The Aitos were forced to close the business from struggling to maintain their property, and using Daichan’s father’s Nambu pistol, the parents both killed themselves in their living room.
For the first time in years, Yukio, hearing the gunshots, ran out of his bedroom and was beyond grief-stricken and traumatized finding his parents dead, even taking photos of them to save on his computer to process his grief. Yukio sank into anguish from his family’s deaths and the loss of their business he regretted not doing something for, then found numerous people who dealt serious blows and minor offenses to their life’s work. Yukio became enraged by the betrayals and, partly motivated by his own guilt, created a hit list of people in his family’s lives he felt had forsaken them in their time of need as well. Yukio knew various methods of traditional Japanese suicide customs, which he’d disguise the deaths with the buy some time and as a totem to his family and his own dignity. Even though standing out in public, Yukio wears a medical face mask to conceal his identity.
"Whispering Death"[]
An American woman named Dee Brown was leased an apartment by Daichan, but she was returning to America to get married. Yukio followed her to her university, tied her legs, and cut her throat, killing her through a mock-up of Jigai, a women’s suicide ritual meant to protect their femininity. Finding out travel blogger Bobby Freeman wrote a scathing review on the family business, Yukio shoved him in front of a train, alluding to Tobikomi. Yukio then followed Damien to Gyaru, where he was soliciting escorts who rejected him due to him not accepting their price. Yukio kidnapped Damien and drove him to Aokigahara, a.k.a. “Suicide Forest”, where he hanged Damien by hoisting him by a noose from a tree, disguised as Kubitsuri. At every crime scene, Yukio would mount a live feed camera, returning home to watch the footage of police response to overcompensate by relishing the sense of power from his viewpoint. He turned off each camera and left it at the scene once he was done seeing the response.
The International Response Team was dispatched by the U.S. consulate due to the alarming increasing of American deaths in the city appearing to be suicides, and the agents respectfully communicated their interest to the police and offered cooperation and teamwork. Shortly after, he eviscerated Aiko in a freezer at his new job, leaving him kneeling with the knife in his stomach, meant to paint a picture of Seppuku. However, the agents knew he was murdered, as he wasn’t holding the knife with his dominant hand, which was shown by his watch being worn on the other wrist. They found the camera at the scene, and Yukio laughed as he saw the agents knew he was spying on them. Swiftly ruling out Aiko’s cross-dressing when questioning his wife, they realize the Aito family business is the key.
Yukio is stopped from killing Kristopher at one point when the agents catch up to him, where he’s found drunk to bury his grief over Damien’s death. He reveals their partnership with Taylor Investments, but the agents send him up to his hotel room without protection, where Yukio is waiting. Yukio throws Kristopher off the balcony and onto a car below, knocking out a guard during his escape. That’s the same time they hear about his parent’s suicides, and they know from the victims’ ties to his family that he’s the killer. They storm his apartment, where they see the setup of his room and photos of his parents on his computer. Using his computer information, Agent Russell “Monty” Montgomery tracks Yukio’s camera activity to find one at nightclub in Shibuya Crossing recently activated. Sean Kagame is in a VIP lounge with a woman, where Yukio appears, spraying accelerant on Sean while the woman runs. He sets Sean on fire and leaves him to run out onto the dance floor, collapsing and being put out by fire extinguishers. Miraculously, he lives, and the club is secured by police.
Yukio aiming his gun at Clara moments before his death.
The agents watch out for Aito, knowing his stature, his medical problems, his aversion to crowds, and the fact he has an opportunity to watch the chaos instead of film it like everyone else at the venue. Agents Clara Seger and Jack Garrett see him, and Seger, speaking in Japanese, appeals to Yukio about his family. He removes his mask and confesses, speaking of his and his family’s plights and his retribution being what he hopes for his family’s semblance of pride. When Garrett shoots the notion down, Yukio shouts he doesn’t know him and his family, Seger trying to quell him by saying surrendering will be honorable if he extends that. Yukio refuses and pulls out his family pistol to shoot Seger, and Garrett, the only agent allowed to carry a gun, shoots Yukio dead with one shot to his head.
Trivia[]
- Yukio is inspired by multiple real-life serial killers:
- Tsutomu Miyazaki, a.k.a. “The Otaku Murderer”, a Japanese serial killer of children who avoided the family business with hobbyist photography, was bullied for deformed wrist joints, and whose father committed suicide as a result of his crimes.
- Miyuki Ueta, a Japanese serial killer of her romantic partners, whose deaths she typically disguised as suicides and accidents.
External Links[]
- Yukio Aito on the Criminal Minds Wiki
