Some cops arrest drug dealers, murderers and master thieves. In Tokyo, Japanese police arrested a 25-year-old vocational student from China for selling knock-off hug pillows.
Called "dakimakura" in Japanese, the term is used to refer to all types of hug pillows (even those orthopedic in nature), but in recent years, they have become synonymous with ones that have anime, manga or video game characters on them. Check online retailer daki-makura.com for non-otaku hug pillows.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested Xu Xueliang for violating Japanese copyright law by selling contraband hug pillows via the internet. Mr. Xueliang did not get permission for the characters reproduced on the 200 pillows he sold starting this past October, netting him around ¥100,000 (US$1,198) in profit.
The police believe he brought the pillows in from China and seized another 430 pillow covers from his residence. The suspect told officials, "I sold them to cover my educational expenses."
This comes as more and more Chinese students are coming to Japan to study and an increasing number of Japanese companies like Panasonic and Uniqlo are hiring foreign workers to help with overseas expansion.
Foreign students are finding their cost of living skyrocketing due to the strong Japanese yen. This doesn't excuse Xueliang's actions, but that might explain it.
萌え抱き枕カバーを違法複製した男を逮捕 [SANSPO.COM] [Pic]