Crime is serious stuff. But everyone once and while, some Japanese TV news stations make it as goofy as possible.
For example, the above photo is a likeness of a suspect. Around 25 years old. Plump, with a thin moustache. Have you seen him? Eh...
Other times, unflattering photos are used for criminals. Not sure why... Dark humor? Bored program employees? I dunno!
This isn’t a nightly occurrence by any stretch. Most television news that covers crime does so with a straight face. However, this has happened several times over the years.
Let’s have a look at some of the egregious examples (a couple of which previously appeared on Kotaku). Many of these are meme images in Japan and baffled people when they were originally aired.
First, the suspect drawings:
An eye witness’ drawing of the suspect. The realism!
Yes, that is underwear on the suspect’s face.
Have you seen this woman? (Well, I guess this is more of the news anchor getting trolled...)
Here, a sticker picture from a video game arcade was used for this suspect’s pic.
This might be the most infamous photo featuring a suspect. It appeared on Fuji TV’s Super News back in 2009.
Some viewers thought it was unexpectedly funny; others weren’t happy about the photo choice.
Mind you, this was used for a suspect in a murder case!
You might think, well, the news programs are only using whatever pics they can get. That doesn’t explain why this was the photo one news program used for celeb Minako Komukai when she fled Japan over a drug warrant.
Komukai eating a bean pastry in the photo. There are tons of other photos that could have been used!
Photos: ネタ的なニュースちゃんねる, Hayabusa
This article was originally published on November 15, 2013.