On June 3, officers from the Kyoto Prefectural Police barged into an apartment in Osaka’s Kita Ward and discovered a young man and woman engaged in sex acts atop a bed as a camera focused on the couple recorded the action.
With the footage being distributed on video site FC2 Live — and, crucially, not including any obfuscation of genitals — officers arrested the ring leader of the operation, Takashi Matsumoto, 30, and a female junior college student, 19, on public obscenity charges.
According to Shukan Post (June 27), Matsumoto, who likes to be referred to as “Mr. Hat,” a reference to the fuzzy, leopard-print cap he prefers, had developed a very lucrative business model until the cops pulled the plug.
Viewers were charged 50 yen per minute. According to prefectural police, which seized computers, phones and a rack of costumes during the bust, the group earned more than 30 million yen over the past six months.
Matsumoto started broadcasting on FC2 last summer. At first, the programming mainly featured women chatting, but later, when the time was assessed to be right, he changed the content to include live sex.
“Sites like Niconico strictly regulate the exposure of genitals,” says IT writer Toshiyuki Inoue. “However, such pornography appearing on FC2 is legal since its servers are located overseas. Further, supervision by management is lax. Exposed female genitals, as in masturbation scenes, are prevalent.”
Three shows per day
The group typically broadcast three shows per day. At the time of the raid, 1,250 viewers were tuned in. To promote each segment, Matsumoto featured the girls scheduled to appear beforehand on social media outlets.
An investigator tells Shukan Post that Matsumoto was a former scout for hostess clubs, adding that he utilized his skills in his former profession to assemble some top female talent.
“Up until the bust, he employed more than 30 actresses,” says the investigator.
When contacted by Shukan Post, a manager at FC2 refused to comment on the matter.
Source: “Gesshu 500manen!! ‘SEX yokoku namachukei’ de arakasegi shita ‘boshi-kimi’ no sungoi teku,” Shukan Post (June 27)
