Missing Deposit, One Story - told year by year

Part 1: Introduction 

I want you to think about things you can't see, gravity, the rotation of earth, because we can only see the results and not the process should we assume they don't exist?  On April 25th, 2001, two young Americans arrived in Japan.  They moved into an apartment in Tokyo with two other American men.  These men entered into a contract with a Japanese landlord, that landlord required a large amount of deposit money.  Three of these men claimed one man, Tim, ran off with this money.  But 14 years later, I have to ask myself,  could Tim really have done this?  And if so, how?

Our investigative journalist have been busy digging up more information on the exact details of what happened, where it happened and how it happened.   For the past 14 years I've been in/out of contact with a mutual friend, Yuko, who somehow got involved with these four men and the logistics of renting an apartment in Japan.  We'll get back to her relationship with these 4 men later, but she claims Tim collected 262,350 Japanese Yen:

i want to to tell you about the deposit money which you worried.
on wednesday night i recievede a letter from the real estates
and there was infomation about it.
the amount of money which you can recieve is ¥262350
details are following...
change tatami mat -¥34650 (They didn't mention it to me before though...)
room cleaning -¥52500
repair　water　pipe　-¥10500
the money they kept as ur deposit is ¥360000
so, 360000-97650=¥２６２３５０

Maybe there are people out there that claim they have seen Tim take hold of this money.  Maybe there are even people out there who have spent some of this money with Tim.

Then there is the Yoshie checkbook ledger . . . next time, as we delve into the Missing Deposit, one story, told year by year.