The Blackmans return to a dangerous Japan: the killing and brutal dismemberment of a young English hostess in Japan shocked the world. As the trial begins, the shock deepens - Red Light Reckoning - Cover Story

Japan, Inc., Feb, 2004 by Leo Lewis

THE FATHER AND SISTER of Lucie Blackman, the ex-British Airways flight attendant who was abducted and slain in Tokyo three years ago, broke down in tears as they returned to the secluded beach where her mutilated body was found.

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Until late November 2003, the Blackman family had not been back to Japan for more than two years. As they took their first steps into the Miura beach cove they were hit by the horror of what had taken place there. Tim and Sophie lit a candle and laid flowers at the mouth of the cave where Lucie's head was found encased in concrete.

"It was very sad coming back, and just seeing the place where they found her," said Tim, his voice trailing off. "It had really been preying on my mind, and I think it just hit home to be on this beach again. The emotions take you by surprise sometimes. I just cried."

The experience also hardened the Blackmans' resolve to see justice done for Lucie. "Coming here and feeling close to her again reminds us in our hearts why we are doing this, why we should bother to come all this way from Britain. It has added to our determination to see this thing through to the end," said Tim.

Their four-day visit was an emotional roller-coaster as they tearfully retraced Lucie's last known steps along the Japanese coast and faced her alleged rapist and killer, Joji Obara, in court for the first time. But the feisty family described the trip as "empowering," and is now more determined than ever.

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"This trip has been so difficult at times, but so successful," said Tim on the eve of his return to Britain. "There has been much less turmoil and I am not carrying the mind-numbing shock I was three years ago. I'm sharper and more focused now on what I have to do. There were ghosts that were lurking and they have been done away with."

Sophie reflected her father's words: "There are no more 'firsts' for us now, so there is a big sense of relief. We have seen Obara for the first time, come back to Japan for the first time since taking Lucie home, and been in court for the first time."

As they left Japan on the night of November 25, Tim vowed to return soon. If 50-year-old property developer Obara is found guilty, Tim may even have to go through the ordeal of describing his family's trauma to the Tokyo district court before the judges decide on a sentence.

Neither Tim, 50, nor Sophie, 23, Blackman has been back to Japan since March 2001--the grim day that the seven-month search for Lucie ended, and they were finally able to take her remains back to the UK.

Before leaving his home on the Isle of Wight, Tim admitted to being "very frightened" by the prospect of returning to Japan--a place he described as "full of friends, but also very difficult to go back to."

Scenes of the crime

The family visited the tiny and remote Miura beach about an hour's drive from Tokyo where Lucie's dismembered corpse was found, and where a simple shrine has been built in her memory. Barely a person was visible in the peaceful fishing village that is now known across Japan as the scene of one of the most brutal crimes in recent memory.

The Blackmans' behavior at Miura beach was significant. Journalists who have covered Lucie's case from the beginning have always been struck by the family's reactions to each event as it has unfolded, particularly Tim's. In public at least, his persona has been one of determination mixed in with a measure of self-protecting gallows humor. Japanese interviewers have not always understood that, and have often asked their colleagues from the British press about when they can expect to see a more familiar set of emotions. On his latest trip to Japan, it initially seemed that Tim had not changed that persona much at all. He and Sophie cracked the occasional joke, and he voluntarily went out for dinner in Roppongi on all the nights he was in Tokyo. On the surface it seemed that the family's clearly successful method of dealing with their loss was still working.

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But the scene at the beach was different. For the first time on their visit--and perhaps ever--the family was provided with an opportunity for private reflection about what had happened in the very location where it all mattered. Suddenly, this was no longer a family that had stirred up the Japanese press, shaken the Japanese police and exposed the dark side of Roppongi for what it was. This was a sad family that has been battered by the incomprehensible and still not finished grieving.

Accompanied by his partner, Josephine Burr, Tim took Sophie over to a rock along the beach where the three sat down and cracked open a bottle of champagne. With Mount Fuji visible across the bay, the family took its time chatting about Lucie and toasting her memory. In what has now become a family tradition, they were careful to leave a quarter of the bottle un-drunk, and placed it on the shrine with the flowers.

Their morning on the beach was in stark contrast with the last time Tim Blackman was there. Back in 2001, the small cove was overrun with hundreds of TV cameras, whose intrusion on the scene infuriated the Blackman family. But this time, the family appreciated the calm of the place for the first time.