To see my sick mother… Behind the Scenes of “FC2” Founder Arrested on the Day He Returned to Japan “After 9 Years in Custody

Police officers waiting for him at the airport

On November 7, Rihiro Takahashi, 51, the founder of the Internet video-sharing website “FC2,” was arrested by Kyoto Prefectural Police on suspicion of displaying obscene electromagnetic recording media.

In June ’13, he is suspected of conspiring with the president of the management company of “FC2” to make indecent videos showing male and female genitalia on the site available to an unspecified number of people. Kyoto police obtained an arrest warrant in ’15, but the suspect Takahashi had moved abroad. Therefore, they had to apply for an “International Maritime Airport Arrangement” so that they could take custody of the suspect when he entered Japan, and were pursuing his whereabouts while continuing to renew the arrest warrant” (reporter from a national newspaper’s society section).

The Kyoto Prefectural Police received the news of Takahashi’s return to Japan at around 5:00 p.m. on November 7, the day of his return. About three hours later, officers from the Osaka Prefectural Kansai International Airport Police Station were waiting for Takahashi when he arrived at Kansai International Airport after departing from Gimpo Airport in South Korea.

An officer from the Kansai International Airport Police Station, who had received a request for cooperation from the Kyoto Prefectural Police, asked Takahashi, who had just completed immigration inspection, a question about his duties. Afterwards, when he voluntarily accompanied the suspect to the station, investigators from the Kyoto Prefectural Police arrived on the scene and took him into custody”.

Reason for Takahashi’s return to Japan

Suspect Takahashi studied in the U.S. when he was in college, married a local woman, and became a U.S. citizen. He was aware that he would be arrested if he returned to Japan, so he lived his life moving from place to place around the world, including the U.S., Hawaii, Dubai, and Bangkok. In Dubai, she was friends with Yoshikazu Azumaya, 53, a.k.a. “Garsy.

In response to Kyoto police investigations, Takahashi stated, “If it is written in the arrest warrant, I think it is true,” while explaining, “I was an American at the time, so I don’t think it violates Japanese law.

As of ’14, “FC2” had about 14 million users. It was the fourth most accessed video posting site in Japan, and many videos on the site were available in Japanese. At the time, Las Vegas, U.S.A., was the base of the operating company on the website, but it is believed that a corporation in Osaka City was responsible for the actual management and operation of the site.

The Kyoto Prefectural Police decided that if the operation was being conducted in Japan, domestic laws could be applied. The suspect apparently wanted to return to Japan and had approached a prominent businessman to see if the “International Maritime Airport Arrangement” could be withdrawn. In fact, he also stated that he returned to Japan to see his sick mother who lives in Japan. Did he return to Japan prepared to be arrested?

It has been about nine years since the arrest warrant was obtained. The arrest was the fruit of a persistent investigation.