Issei Sagawa (1949–2022), infamously known as the “Kobe Cannibal,” was a Japanese murderer and cannibal who gained worldwide notoriety after killing and cannibalizing a Dutch student in Paris in 1981. Declared legally insane in France, Sagawa was eventually deported to Japan, where legal complications resulted in his release. His case became one of the most disturbing and controversial true crime stories in modern history due to his later celebrity status and public notoriety in Japan.