‘Suzume,’ ‘Your Name’ Producer Koichiro Ito Arrested For Soliciting Child Pornography

Koichiro Ito, a producer at Japan’s Comix Wave Films, was arrested this week on suspicion of soliciting child pornography.

According to The Mainichi, one of Japan’s leading national papers, Ito (52) was arrested by Wakayama Prefectural Police on Feb. 21 on suspicion of creating child pornography. Ito is being accused of asking a 15-year-old girl he met online to send him nude photos in September 2021.

Citing a Wakayama Bureau report, the Mainichi article says local authorities believe Ito knew the girl was underage when he requested the photos. They are also currently investigating to see if there are other possible victims.

Japanese broadcaster NHK has reported that Ito generally acknowledged the charges, telling police, “I have received images from underage women several times in the past, but I can’t remember which one this time belonged to.”

The report says police began investigating Ito when his name came up during a separate child prostitution investigation.

Ito is a producer at Tokyo’s Comix Wave Films, the studio which has produced all Makoto Shinkai’s films since Voices of a Distant Star in 2002, including recent global hits Your Name, Weathering With You, and last year’s Suzume. Although Ito mostly worked on Shinkai’s films during that time, he also worked with Shuhei Morita on his debut Kakurenbo and Hitoshi Takekiyo of MontBlanc Pictures on After School Midnighters.