A Tokyo businessman suspected of raping two foreign women kept notes including the names and other information on other women he allegedly had contact with, it was learned Tuesday.
According to sources close to the investigation, the notes were found among items confiscated from several locations, including the apartment of Joji Obara, 48.
Obara was indicted Oct. 28 on charges of raping a 23-year-old Canadian woman at his apartment in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture, on March 31, 1996, after giving her drug-laced alcoholic beverages. He is also under investigation for allegedly raping other foreign women in a similar fashion.
So far, Obara had been telling investigators that while he spent time with foreign women, he did not remember who they were, the sources said.
The sources said the confiscated notes had "the names and activities" of some of the several women he invited to his apartment, including the Canadian woman. However, there was no note regarding Lucie Blackman, a 22-year-old Briton who went missing in July after telling a friend a man was taking her to the seaside.