Chinese National Taxicab Driver “Provocative Gaze” after Arrest

The man who came out of the police station showed no sign of being offended. When he got into the convoy, he seemed to be smiling and gave a challenging look to the gathered press, including the photographer for this magazine.

On December 13, the Shinjuku Police Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested Kim Ryo, 30, an unemployed Chinese national living in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, on suspicion of violating the Road Transport Law. He is alleged to have engaged in unlicensed cab business, so-called “Hakutaku” (white taxi) business.

The alleged incident occurred on June 29 of this year. In January, a cab driver reported to the police that he knew someone who was running a “Hakutaku” (white-collar taxi) business. When the police began their investigation, they found Kim’s car parked on the streets of Ginza.

According to reports from NTV and other media, when investigators asked Kim about his duties, he claimed that he was ‘giving a ride to a friend. However, the Chinese passenger denied it, saying, ‘I don’t know him. Kim allegedly used WeChat, a Chinese social networking service, to find customers and communicate with them.

Kim shows no signs of remorse after his arrest. It seems that he was making a lot of money with his white-collar taxi business.

In the case of the arrest, he was paying 1,700 yuan (about 34,000 yen) for a ride to and from the hotel. He initially denied some of the charges, saying that he had not received any money, but he also said that he had been operating a white-cart service since the end of 2010 and that he had earned about 1 million yen. He also said that he ‘made about 1 million yen’ by operating a white-collar taxi service from the end of 2010.

The number of white-collared taxi drivers, believed to be foreign nationals, is increasing in tourist areas. The police plan to investigate Kim’s other crimes as well.