Officers took Makoto Adachi, the 39-year-old president of firm Homepage System, into custody for broadcasting programming featuring live sex acts over the Internet without genitalia obscured.
Police also arrested advisor Jinbun Takahashi, 38, who was once president of the company. Both suspects have reportedly denied the allegations.
The head office of Homepage System is registered in North America. According to Nippon News Network (April 23), the arrest of Adachi and Takahashi on charges of obscenity is a nationwide first for an Internet company based overseas.
In September of last year, officers conducted a raid of the Japan offices of Homepage System that did not result in any arrests. Prior to that search, police had begun cracking down on the content producers of the site, which boasts a membership of more than 20 million.
On June 6, officers from the Kyoto police entered an apartment in Osaka and discovered a young man and woman engaged in sex acts atop a bed as a camera streamed the action uncensored on FC2.
Three months earlier, Saitama police arrested Kunimitsu Umebayashi on charges of public obscenity. Since November of the year before, Umebayashi had engaged in sex with approximately 150 amateur actresses live on the site.
