"Before I committed that incident, I was given many opportunities from my parents and others close to me. But I disregarded these. I never gave any consideration to my privileged situation."

With this display of contrition, Tatsuya Ichihashi — who will soon go on trial for the murder of 22-year-old English teacher Lindsay Ann Hawker — concludes his 238-page book, "Taiho Sarerumade — Kuhaku no Ninen Nanakagetsu no Kiroku" ("Before I Was Arrested — Records of the Blank Two years and Seven months"). The book was published by Gentosha on Jan. 25 and as of Feb. 9 was rated No. 1 in nonfiction book sales by Amazon Japan.

In March 2007, police found Hawker's corpse in a bathtub, bound and gagged, on the balcony of Ichihashi's apartment. He slipped away from the police before they could detain him and his whereabouts over the next two and a half years were the subject of wild speculation in the media, which ran stories suggesting that he had fled the country, or was working as a drag queen in Tokyo's Shinjuku district — a place where people know better than to ask nosy questions.