YouTuber sent to prosecutors for stunt at busy Shibuya crossing

Kyodo -- Oct 27

A Japanese YouTuber and two men were referred to prosecutors on Monday for allegedly placing a mattress on the sidewalk in front of the busy Shibuya scramble crossing in central Tokyo as part of a prank video, investigative sources said.

Masahiro Harada, a 29-year-old YouTuber known as "Hezumaryu," and the two accomplices who appeared in the video are suspected of obstructing pedestrians on the sidewalk near the famous intersection on July 2 by laying out the Japanese-style futon mattress before one of them lay on it, according to the sources.

Harada, who has traveled across Japan to create YouTube videos, was quoted by the sources as saying to investigators that he had thought their action would not be considered a crime so long as they did not use a bed.

In 2019, Tokyo police referred a different group of pranksters to prosecutors over a stunt in which they placed a bed with a YouTuber inside in the middle of the Shibuya scramble crossing while pedestrians were traversing it.

Oct 27 (ANNnewsCH) - スクランブル交差点側に布団を置くなどして通行を妨害した疑いです。  「へずまりゅう」の名前で活動する男性ユーチューバーら3人は7月、東京のJR渋谷駅近くの交差点前の歩道上に布団を置き、その上に寝そべって通行を妨げた疑いで書類送検されました。警視庁によりますと、3人はこの様子を撮影してユーチューブに投稿していました。取り調べに対して「交差点に置かなければ大丈夫だと思った」などと容疑を認めています。男性ユーチューバーは別の窃盗事件で起訴され、今月16日には威力業務妨害などの疑いで大阪府警に逮捕され、その後、釈放されていました。