[Insider] Modern Day Extortionists: The Scummy World of Japan’s “Exposé” Influencers

Picture of flames on a social media website and a woman holding her head in her hands in shame
Picture: bino / PIXTA(ピクスタ)
(Subscriber content) Two men invaded the home of an "exposé" influencer, beat him, and microwaved his phone. Here's why few people feel sorry for the dude.

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The Twitter/X account of “exposé influencer” Takegawa Yūichi isn’t what it used to be.

Currently, going to Takegawa’s account brings up a warning that you’re about to view “sensitive content.” His name is prefixed with the epithet “land swindlers” (地面師たち; jimenshitachi), which many will recognize from the Netflix series Tokyo Swindlers.

The account isn’t pretty. The first pictures you see are of a trashed-out apartment. The next pictures are even more disturbing. They include pics of a naked man doing a deep dogeza apology bow. Other pics show an array of sex toys that Takegawa allegedly owns, including an array of dildos.

The pictures were posted to the account at the end of May/top of June of this year. There are few other tweets on the account, which has around 11,000 followers. The account’s history appears to have been deleted.

In other words, the account appears to have been hijacked by someone who, to put it mildly, is none too fond of Takegawa and his posts.

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