Man Arrested over Sale of Tokyo Olympic Coin Imitations

May 17, 2018

Tokyo- Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department has arrested a man over the alleged sale of imitations of 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic commemorative coins.

Yasuhiro Kotani, 43, a corporate worker of Osaka, western Japan, was arrested on suspicion of violating the trademark law by possessing the imitations in order to sell them.

He admitted the allegations, saying that he did it to earn his living, department officials said.

This is the first trademark law violation case related to the 2020 Games emblems, they said.

According to the arrest warrant, Kotani held at his home a total of 26 imitated commemorative silver coins in 13 sets for sale. An authentic version carries a face value of 1,000 yen and is priced at 9,500 yen.

The Tokyo Games emblems and flags are colored in authentic coins while those in the imitations are colorless. The fake coins also lacked the price inscription.

Kotani, a coin collector, bought 40 sets of imitated coins for 450 yen each from a Chinese online shopping site. He resold them through Internet auctions at an average price of 4,300 yen, according to the officials. Jiji Press