Ito’s crime took place in September 2021, when he instructed a female first-year high school student (15 years old at the time) to take a naked selfie and send it to him while aware that she was underaged. His involvement apparently surfaced during the investigation of another child prostitution case.
Ito has reportedly admitted to the charges, even stating that he had had similar exchanges with another individual and “cannot remember if it was this girl or not.”
Police investigators have revealed that the suspect is “the” Ito Koichiro, who is credited as the producer of Makoto Shinkai’s award-winning animated film Your Name. (2016), as well as titles well-known such as Suzume, Garden of Words and Weathering With You.