A 36-year-old man from Kyoto Prefecture was arrested by Japanese police for creating and selling a rare variety of Pokémon online. The suspect, Yoshihiro Yamakawa, is an interior decorator and used an unspecified modification device to change the status and characteristics of Pokémon in the popular Nintendo DS title "Pokémon Violet."

Yamakawa sold Pokémon on a third-party website dedicated to selling in-game items, and according to the Japanese broadcaster NHK, ran an ad with the following text: "For now! Order 6 monsters for 4,000 yen. "Between December 2022 and March 2023, hacked Pokémon were sold for up to 13,000 yen ($85). According to police, total sales of "falsified data," aka black market Pokémon, amounted to millions of yen.

Police arrested Yamakawa on April 9, and upon questioning, he admitted to the charges, saying he did it "for a living." Investigations into his activities continue, but reading between the lines, it appears that authorities are most interested in the software Yamakawa was using.

Japan's ACCS (Association of Copyright for Computer Software) issued a statement regarding the arrest:

"On April 9, 2024, Kochi Prefectural Police arrested a man who was altering save data of game software on the Nintendo DS. He was arrested on suspicion of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Law for providing a service that circumvents the technical limitations (of the platform).

"On a dedicated website for buying and selling game accounts and items, the man explained to sellers that 'all types of Pokémon can be created' and altered save data and modified Nintendo DS switches on behalf of buyers."

The ACCS is an industry organization that specializes in copyright protection, so naturally it has more to say about how such practices "undermine the enjoyment" of games, upset the balance, and of course "items that require a charge can be obtained without a charge." The organization concludes this broadside with a very optimistic call for purchasers of such data to "recognize that it was created by illegal means and discontinue its use."

Take the juicy bidoof from my cold hands! On a serious note, Japanese laws regarding such matters are somewhat stricter than those in the West. Modifying and distributing save files has been illegal in Japan since the Unfair Competition Prevention Act of 2019.

They don't even touch the penalties. Yamakawa could face up to five years in prison, a ¥5 million fine, or a combination. While it is utterly wild to flog a hacked Pokémon, we will have to wait and see how the courts interpret the sentencing guidelines in this particular case.