A 42-year-old man was arrested on Thursday for exceeding the speed limit by nearly 140 kilometers per hour on Route 371 last year, after footage was uploaded to online sites YouTube and Nico Nico Douga.
Police received a call in September last year that footage of a man riding a 1300 cc motorbike at speeds of up to 188 kilometers per hour had been posted on the two sites, and they began their investigation.
Police identified the person who uploaded the video - a male resident of Osaka City and owner of the motorbike - but he told police that Hiroaki Iwahashi, a resident of Kinokawa City in Wakayama Prefecture, had asked him if he could ride the motorbike, before attaching a video camera to the gasoline tank.
The footage, recorded at around 9 a.m. on Aug 16 last year, shows the speedometer at a maximum speed of 188 kilometers per hour, in a 50-kilometer per hour zone. Analysis of homes and other scenery in the video revealed that the speed was accurate, and Iwahashi was arrested.
Police added it is the first case in Japan of someone being arrested for speeding based on footage posted on the Internet.
© News reports
48 Comments
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ratpack
idiot. Reminds me of the guy in a ferrari a few years back who videoed himself zipping down the expressway at ridiculous speeds only to be arrested a few days after the download.
ratpack
Now if only they would do something about those morons who hoon about on their bikes in the early morning hours instead of driving behind them with their lights flashing pretending to be doing something.How about 4WD over the top of their bikes once you catch them?
Disillusioned
The cops make another arrest that came to them. Otsukade sama!
S7ro9kGm3aQ
So Japanese.
NeoJamal
What a sucker. He didn't have the courage to do this on a Highwa..toll way did he?
gogogo
They do this all the time on TV, but normally the TV crew is charged because they say the TV crew made the guy speed.
dolphingirl
So they spent 6 months to arrest a guy for speeding?!
Smythe
I am baffled over m/c riders that just have to show speeding to accidents that happened on You Tube which they feel is FUN, especially if they have caused the accident like in doing wheelies to stoppies to other stunts on the pulic owned roads.
Yet I type as a rider since '46 which also includes 42 yrs of all forms of dirt competition to some yrs of road racing. PLUS several of the sportbikes I have in my garage can clock up to 138KPH but not the suicide pace of the rider mentioned.
whiskeysour
Next time do not post your name, & your license plate. Make sure you and your friend do this in another location. Doing it around your neightborhood is soooo stupid. And make sure you wear a dark sun visor helmet and wait 2 years before saying that's you. Living on the edge is great !!!!
LoveUSA
he is strong and he is brave. now he is an internet sensation. my hero! many people who critisize him are most probably jealous and will never have the bravery to put themselves in his situation.
LoveUSA
PS He is not a killer, sexual predator, pervert or a stalker. He is just a boy riding his motorbike and being proud of his skill so he posted his video on the net. People on bikes have their pride.
delrennich
the all seeing camera eye. Big Brother strikes again. Watch out what you post on the internet, it might just come back and bite you! Weird how people seem to need to post intimate details of their lives on the internet now. Facebook, Myspace, and so on and et cetera.
goddog
Loser
neverknow2
If it's such a problem, don't allow big bikes. He should have used a proxy when he uploaded like most people do.
dolphingirl
Love: Strong and brave? I don't think so. This guy was going 188 klicks! He could have caused a crash, injured or killed himself and others. If you want to live on the edge, great, but do it where you are not endangering other people.
brotokyo
neverknow2, ouch. Punish everyone for the misdeed of one.
nemoflow
188 kph aint that fast; it is only 117mph.
timeon
yes, he is cool and brave if he does it on one of the many race circuits in Japan, you can use them for a certain fee. he's a complete and dangerous idiot for doing it on a public road (and yes I'm a rider and I like speed)
LoveUSA
come on, do not be jealous of one brave kid. If you cannot do it do not blame others for daring the impossible for you. He did not kill anybody and most probably he won't kill anybody because he is in control of his mind and bike. He will learn his lesson and will do this in the designed areas but he is a man and men want to impress with their skill and bravery. Even if it borders with the idiotic. Love him.
LoveUSA
Not a loser. He will be so popular among the women.
thepro
lol 6 months spent investigating youtube. great work, coppers.
timeon
LoveUSA, you are completely missing the point here. the heroes are on the circuit, the idiots that endanger the public roads are not "man". if he wants to show he's cool, let him show it with the real guys on the circuit. otherwise, he's just a loser who is desperately trying to get some attention
LoveUSA
come on, they did not even investigate, somebody tipped them
ok, i agree, once I have thought more about it. sorry.
nisegaijin
Actually there was a similar incident when the president of Ferrari owners club sold his recording of blasting through highways at nearly 300km'h in his F40. While it was impossible for him to get away with it, the biker dude could have said "it wasn't me", and there we would be no way of proving that it was.
But what kind of moron calls police about something he sees on youtube? Some people should be shot.
timeon
Love, you see, I had this friend of mine, he was a foreign student like me, and he was crazy about motorcycles. He put all his savings from scholarship and part time job into a Hayabusa, and one night, he tried the power of the bike. He got caught, the speed was almost 200 km/h on a 50 road, he had to quit school and go back home, with police record and all. His life was pretty messed up, he gave up uni and started all kinda jobs, from a bright future student in Japan he became a low paid worker in a poor country
all you have to do is sign up with a bike club, pay a fee and go riding on the circuit, it's really great and perfectly legal (I'm a speed freak myself)
LoveUSA
Timeon,
I said I agree with you. He did wrong. I should not admire such people. When I think of it deeply, what he did is illegal and harms people. Thank you.
LoveUSA
i hate such informers. They do not have a life.
Broktuse
I think the informer was right to squeal on this A-hole. Doing things like that on a wide open highway at 3 am is one thing, but doing it at 9am on 50km road is quite another. He very easily could have killed people (ie. children) who would have been out walking or driving at that time. They mention houses being among the scenery he was passing, so it wasn't just out in the middle of nowhere.
spikejp99
As timeon said, there are open weekends at Suzuka every now and then, if you want to speed then go there and do it, if you skid out there are trained professional emergency crews, and hopefully you won't die. Enjoying speed is one thing, but consider the potential for an accident and on the open road you'll bleed out before the ambulance gets there....
bicultural
It takes more than a day to identify a man and a motorcycle on YouTube. You think they got recent photos of every dude in the country? At least the cops did some investigating and found the guy. Stupid guy, anyway.
cadmium
Youtube link anyone?
JA_Cruise
What an idiot though trying to push the blame saying his friend asked him to do it. And very surprised that the police would go through so lengths to find this guy. My friend lent me a DVD on the Nissan GTR where they topped up to speeds in the realm of 250kph on public two lane roads and tunnels in Tokyo... go figure...
3RENSHO
Here's a picture of the bike...
http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/ann/news/web/soci_news7.html?now=20100305171215
kyoken
Following this logic, we do not nead any road regulations as everyone believes he/she is in control ...
kyoken
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3bm1d0h_Gw
gpilot
Smythe: PLUS several of the sportbikes I have in my garage can clock up to 138KPH
u wanted to say scooter right?
138kph isn t exactly fast considering that sportbikes often do up to 300kph
u actually ride bikes or just wanted to comment regardless? there have been bikes around for 40 years that go faster than that.
HeyLars
I never would have imagined someone would be arrested for speeding on the basis of a self-made video! Identity theft just got scarier because someone could make a film and put it on your youtube account and then call the police!
fondofj
This video is already removed by the user. The police might force him to remove that video with a fear of encouraging others breaking the law.
hellhound
Cops here are pussies! Go arrest the real bad guys! Youtube is awesome!
Fadamor
YouTube has a policy of not allowing videos showing crimes being committed. Speeding is a crime. Ergo: the video was removed.
I'm constantly amused at the number of people who feel that posting videos and pictures of illegal activity on their Facebook pages or YouTube is OK. I work for a school system and the police officer assigned to the high school "had a talk" with a student and her parents after the student posted pictures of herself using a bong on her Facebook page. The student was amazed that the police officer was allowed to act on what was on the Facebook page.
3RENSHO
Fuji News Network has a very thorough report, with details of the incident and excerpts from the video... indeed it was a 'Highway Abuser'!
http://www.fnn-news.com/en/news/headlines/articles/CONN00172994.html
soothsayer
"But what kind of moron calls police about something he sees on youtube? Some people should be shot."
"i hate such informers. They do not have a life."
Such informers probably save lives by getting the morons who commit crimes like this arrested. They are true heroes who care more for their fellow road users than road abusers.
nath
I found the youtube link! That was awesome!
Carcharodon
What about all the bozuzoku idiots riding illegally (breaking dozens of traffic laws) with impunity all over Japan everyday?. Why don't we chase down these clowns? The media are in a frenzy over this case? help me. Sigh.
Carcharodon
In think the cops in Japan who did so well here need to go to Sweden and track down the Ghostrider - a very skilled notorious 'highway abuser' with dozens of such vids at much higher speeds.
Gurukun
@Carcharodon I agree! That's the keystones at there best! I really think they enjoy chasing the bosozoku....but that's all they do...wasting gas, time, etc.....etc....
jason6
Carcharodon: Ghostrider was caught by the Swedish cops years ago! Doing an interview with a TV show and plain clothes cops sniffed him out LOL. But there might always be a chance that he's not the real Ghostrider of course..
IMO, 188km/h is not much on a highway per se.. but on a 50km/h road is very sketchy. I don't care so much if he gets maimed or killed, it's the average motorist or pedestrian that frequents his path that is much more of a concern. Anyways, no accident occurred fortunately, so the one thing I'd like to add is: WHY would he make that video traceable back to himself??! You post something online and expect it to be there/known to every internet user for eternity.
sharky1
Go out and take videos of these j-dudes on their crotch rockets, post it on u-tube, and then the police might do something about it.