BI deporting Japanese wanted for violating copyright law on Sept. 24

September 20, 2019

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is deporting a Japanese fugitive arrested in Pasay City two and a half months ago  wanted by authorities in Tokyo for violating a copyright law by operating an illegal online manga comic library. 

Information obtained from the BI’s deportation unit said 28-year-old Romi Hoshino a.k.a. Zakay Romi is scheduled to board an All Nippon Airways flight to Narita airport on Sept 24. 

The plane carrying Hoshino will depart from Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 9:30 a.m. and will arrive in Narita at 3:05 p.m. 

At 5:45 pm that same day, the plane will take off from Narita en route to its final destination in Fukuoka where it is expected to land at 8 pm.

Sources said Hoshino will be escorted on his flight by Japanese policemen who were sent to Manila to fetch him.

Last July 18 the BI board of commissioners ordered Hoshino’s summary deportation to Japan for being an undesirable alien. 

He was also placed in the immigration blacklist to prevent him from returning to the Philippines.

He was arrested on July 3 at the NAIA Terminal 3 by operatives from the bureau’s fugitive search unit (FSU) who were armed with a mission order by Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente.

Earlier, the Japanese embassy alleged that Hoshino was manager of “Manga-Mura”, an illegal viewing website of Japanese cartoons, popularly known as Manga, which operated from January 2016 to April 2018.

The Association of Copyrights of Japan estimated ''Manga-Mura'' cost of damages to be approximately 320 billion yen ($2.9 billion), said to be the worst violation in the history of the Copyright Law of Japan. 

It is estimated more than a 100 million people viewed the pirated website every month as it made available to the public for free more than 60,000 mangas, or Japanese graphic novels or comics after its publication.

Manga publishers allegedly incurred losses of more than 320 billion yen ($2.94 billion) in potential revenues over a six-month period or up to February 2018, according to Japan's anti-piracy group Content Overseas Distribution Association. DMS