Suicide of Takako Konishi

Takako Konishi (1973–November 2001) was a Japanese office worker from Tokyo whose body was found by a bow hunter in a field outside Detroit Lakes, Minnesota on November 15, 2001. Konishi had originally arrived in Minneapolis earlier that month, traveled to Bismarck, North Dakota, then to Fargo, North Dakota and finally to Detroit Lakes, Minnesota where she died. Her death was ruled a suicide, but some erroneous media stories at the time reported that she, under the mistaken impression[1] that the 1996 film Fargo was based on a true story, had died trying to locate the money hidden by Steve Buscemi's character, Carl Showalter.

Death

The Fargo theory surrounding Konishi's death resulted from a misunderstanding between Konishi and one of the Bismarck police officers with whom she had been speaking. The story was then misreported by the media, leading to the urban legend that she had come to the United States to search for the money in the film.[2] In reality, Konishi had become depressed after losing her job at a Tokyo travel agency (owing to its bankruptcy), being unable to find another job, and also had begun to drink. She had come to Minneapolis because—it is speculated—it was a place that she had previously visited with her former lover, a married American businessman whom she had met in Tokyo but who had left after taking another job in Singapore.[2] Konishi had been seen wandering Detroit Lakes before she apparently decided to commit suicide by lying down in the snow after consuming two bottles of champagne. This was supported by the discovery that she had made a forty-minute phone call to her former lover in Singapore the previous night, a suicide note she had sent to her parents expressing her intent to kill herself and that she had disposed of most of the belongings she had brought with her to the U.S. before she left Bismarck.[2]

In other media

Konishi's story was detailed in the 2003 short documentary film This Is a True Story, directed by Paul Berczeller, in which she was portrayed by Mimi Ohmori and the urban legend surrounding her death is the basis for the 2014 film Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter. [3] Konishi and the circumstances surrounding her death are the basis for Reel Bay: A Cinematic Essay by Jana Larson, published by Coffee House Press in 2021.

References
  1. Mikkelson, Barbara (17 April 2014). "Fargo". Snopes. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  2. Berczeller, Paul (5 June 2003). "Death in the snow". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  3. Vu, Maria (November 15, 2020). "How the Fake Treasure In 'Fargo' Sparked A Modern Day Myth". Metaflix. Archived from the original on 15 November 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
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