TOKYO - A shaved-headed man wearing sandals, half-length pants and a black T-shirt walked through Narita Airport around noon on Friday, surrounded by investigators from the Metropolitan Police Department. He briefly glanced at the assembled cameras before repeatedly bowing his head with a tense expression.
The man was Keisai Kominato, also known as Keisai Fukuhara, the former president of Neo Universe, which operated the luxury watch-sharing service TokeMatch. Fukuhara, 44, had been on an international wanted list after fleeing to Dubai and was arrested on suspicion of fraud involving high-end watches such as Rolex.
Police allege that Fukuhara defrauded a man in Tokyo of 15 luxury watches, including Rolex models, with a total market value of about 18 million yen. He had been internationally wanted for one year and nine months in connection with the case.
The incident, widely known as the “TokeMatch case,” drew national attention in 2024. The service allowed owners to entrust luxury watches to the company, which then rented them out to users. A portion of the rental fees was paid to the owners.
However, in late January 2024, the company abruptly announced on its website that it would dissolve and terminate the service. Shortly afterward, Fukuhara fled to Dubai with former employee Daisuke Nagata.
Investigators believe that Fukuhara and his associates sold the watches without permission to secondhand dealers and used the proceeds for purposes including cryptocurrency purchases, while failing to return the watches to their owners.
According to police, complaints have been filed in 45 prefectures, with about 650 victims reporting that their watches were never returned. Total damages are estimated to exceed 2.8 billion yen.
One victim said, “I don’t know if my watch will ever come back. I don’t know whether it was stolen or what was done with it. I just hope even a part of it is returned, or that some of the money comes back.”
In December, authorities in the United Arab Emirates informed Japanese police that Fukuhara had been detained. Investigators were dispatched to the region, and following his handover, he was arrested upon arrival at Narita Airport.
Another former employee, Taishi Nakayama, 44, has also been arrested on suspicion of fraud. However, Nagata, who fled to Dubai with Fukuhara, remains at large, and police are continuing their search.
Commenting on the case, commentator Hideo Yanagisawa said that around 1,700 watches had been entrusted to the company, with roughly 1,300 allegedly sold off to pawnshops. He added that it appeared the operation had been planned from the outset. He also warned that as sharing services expand to items such as cars and clothing, fraud schemes are becoming more sophisticated, making it increasingly important for consumers to stay alert to changing risks.
Source: FNN
