TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 33-year-old female reporter for the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on suspicion of stalking a male reporter from another newspaper, reports Fuji News Network (Aug. 29).
According to police, Aoi Hanzawa, a reporter in the paper’s Economic and Social Security Group, sent messages such as “I want to see you” to the male reporter, aged in his 30s, on 64 occasions between August 17 and 25 using the chat function of the app PayPay.
Upon her arrest for violating the Stalking Prevention Act, Hanazawa partially denied the charges, saying, “I don’t acknowledge this because I thought my feelings were acceptable [to him].”
Prior to her arrest, Hanazawa had reportedly received multiple warnings from police over the past year.
The Nikkei commented, “We deeply regret the arrest of one of our employees. We will take strict action as soon as the facts are clarified.”
Married with three children
What was left out of that report by Fuji News Network is that the two were in fact dating, this despite him being married with three children.
Given his status, some wonder why she has been singled out, says the online site for weekly tabloid Shukan Shincho.
Their relationship was well known among political reporters covering Nagatacho, the beat for both of them.
A social affairs reporter for another paper tells Shincho that Hanzawa moved from the Mainichi Shimbun to the Nikkei last year. Meanwhile, her boyfriend was in the Political Department of the rival paper. “The two were covering the same subjects as the prime minister and the Heisei Research Department,” the source says.
After moving to Nikkei, she was assigned to the Economic and Social Security Group and was in charge of the Ministry of Finance. Meanwhile, he was transferred from the Political Department to the Economic Department at the rival paper during the same period.
Obviously, he denied the relationship when asked but that runs counter to what was widely known.
“Mysterious documents stating that the two were having an affair were circulated, and it became known to both companies,” continues the aforementioned source.
“I want to see you”
The magazine wonders: Why couldn’t they part ways cleanly? The answer is that she was agonized by the thought of letting him go.
That desperation is clearly revealed in the 64 messages that Hanazawa sent to him: “I want to die,” “Don’t leave me alone” and “I want to see you.”
There are also rumors that at one point Hanazawa was so upset that she confronted his wife.
Given the existence of the relationship, the same social affairs reporter says that both parties should bear responsibility for the trouble. “Even if the stalking was real, one was handed over to the police and reported by name while the other continues to work as if nothing had happened,” the same reporter says.
Shortly after the news of Hanazawa’s arrest, a bylined article by him appeared on the front page of the morning edition of the newspaper to which he belongs.
“Normally, they would have removed him if they’d considered the timing. How could they let that run? What a company,” the social affairs reporter says.
