On July 1, Kyoto Prefectural Police arrested the manager of the site Camouflage Camera, 25-year-old Takahiko Naito, and employee Atsuko Sonoda, 24, for the alleged sale of a shoe containing a miniature camera used to take illicit photographs.
Between October of last year and March, the suspects sold athletic shoes that include cameras to three customers (including men in Gunma and Kyoto prefectures) knowing that the merchandise would be used to facilitate the taking of photographs of the underwear of women.
According to Shukan Jitsuwa (July 31), the practice of taking such perverted pics is not a matter of point and shoot.
“The company sells a number of types of sneakers, leather shoes and sports shoes,” says a local news reporter. “Among those, a popular and expensive item is a sneaker in which a small camera is inserted into the toe, with the lens poking through the mesh. With a remote control, recording can begin, and there is a data-erase function for times when the lens is discovered.”
The specialty shoe sells for 27,600 yen each. Since 2012, the site has sold 2,500 units, with revenue from the sales totaling around 60 million yen.
The matter came to light in February, when the customer in Kyoto was arrested for taking photographs inside the skirt of a female high-school student.
A regular customer tells Shukan Jitsuwa that Camouflage Camera also sells wristwatches, pens and bags equipped with small cameras. For shoes, there are challenges.
“Some will argue that the lens should be placed at the toe of the shoe during the manufacturing process in order to make photographing (up the woman’s skirt) easier,” says the customer “But when inserting the camera between the legs of the woman, it’s difficult to control the orientation of the lens relative to her crotch. After all, they settle with a position in which the angle is satisfactory and it is tough to be detected.”
Shukan Jitsuwa is lost for words.
Source: “Kogori sugi tosatsu kutsu hanbai de taiho,” Shukan Jitsuwa (July 31, page 203)
