by On the 28th, the Aichi Prefectural Police arrested four people, including the president of an import and sales company in Kanagawa Prefecture, for selling fake goods from the popular anime “Kimetsu no Yaiba.” A towel with a large letter “Destruction” written on a green and black checkered hoodie. The items lined up in a row are thought to be goods from the popular anime “Kimetsu no Yaiba,” but in reality, they are all fake.
Four people were arrested for selling such fake products, including Wu Xiaobin of Kanagawa Prefecture’s import and sales company “Red Spice” and Yuki Saito, the president. The four are suspected of importing and selling products labeled as “Kimetsu no Yaiba” from China.
In April of this year, many investigators were seen in the company warehouse in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture. If you look closely at the large cardboard box that was seized from the inside, you will see the “Oni extermination bath towel” on the “Oni extermination backpack.” It is said that about 36,000 items were seized.
How were fake products on the market? On the company’s homepage and other products, the word “Oni extermination” stands out. It was called the “Kimetsu Slayer” and had a wide variety of products on it, but all of them were reminiscent of “Kimetsu no Yaiba” from the patterns and logos.
When you look at the product. “It looks the same as Haori, the main character of Kimetsu no Yaiba, but there is no tag on the back, and it is not written as Kimetsu no Yaiba.” (Reporter)
Over these fake products. Seized goods were released by Nagoya Customs in March this year. Along with counterfeit brand products, many counterfeit goods such as “Kimetsu no Yaiba” figures and stationery. The number of import suspensions for fake goods sent from overseas has increased by 20.6% compared to the previous year.
Four people seem to have purchased and sold in large quantities from China. But why are so many fake products on the market? When I hear about it at a store that sells a lot of toys. Reporter: Are there any things that seem to be fake? “There are some.
There are Japanese patterns without names and things with words.” (Store owner) While I feel that there are many counterfeits, it is said that it is challenging to devise countermeasures. “We don’t know what kind of route it is distributed through, but in many cases, we don’t know unless the supplier tells us that this is a fake.” (Store owner)
A vicious crime that took advantage of the popularity of anime. The police have not disclosed the approval or disapproval of the four people, but the sales are estimated to be 1.67 billion yen, and we are investigating the motives.
