Tokyo police have arrested a 30-year-old firefighter from the city of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, on suspicion of unauthorized use of private seals by impersonating a reporter from the Asahi Shimbun to cover university baseball cheerleaders.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, Daichi Nomiyama admitted to the allegations, saying, "I thought I would get more interviews by claiming to be from Asahi Shimbun rather than as a freelancer."
Nomiyama allegedly used counterfeit business cards bearing the name of a former employee of the newspaper, police said Wednesday.
The arrest is in connection to an incident on April 8 in which Nomiyama is suspected of handing out a business card with the name of the former Asahi Shimbun reporter to a member of a university baseball cheer squad at the Meiji Jingu Stadium in Tokyo.
According to the police, Nomiyama had been posing as a reporter from the newspaper since April, conducting repeated interviews with members of various university cheerleading teams.
University officials who grew suspicious of Nomiyama contacted the Asahi Shimbun to confirm his identity, leading to the discovery that the employee named on the business card had already left the company.
Police have confiscated business cards and a press armband from Nomiyama's residence and are investigating the details of the forgery.
In a statement, the Asahi Shimbun's public relations department said, "It is truly regrettable if false interview requests were made using a business card bearing the name of our former employee."
Kamakura officials said, "We will make sure to enforce compliance awareness and work to prevent any recurrence."