Japanese Police arrested a man suspected of assaulting a young pop
star he was obsessed with, after allegedly figuring out where she lives
by analyzing her social media photos, specifically the reflections in
her pupils.
Hibiki Sato, a 26-year-old unemployed man from Saitama, a city north
of Tokyo, has been arrested for allegedly attacking Ena Matsuoka, a
21-year-old pop singer with the group Tenshi Tsukinukeni Yomi. It is
believed Sato was able to narrow down the area of Tokyo Ms. Matsuoka
lived in by going through her social media profiles, enlarging her
photos and analyzing the reflections in her pupils. He was thus able to
recognize some Tokyo scenery and a bus stop, which he then located using
Google Street view. Some sources claim that the alleged stalker had
even approximated the storey Matsuoka lived on based on the windows and
the angle that sunlight hit her eyes.
Police believe that after pinpointing her location in Tokyo, Hibiki
Sato spent a long time stalking his victim and eventually followed her
from the bus station all the way to her home, after a concert. He
allegedly placed a towel over her head, dragged her into a dark corner,
threw her to the ground and molested her. The 21-year-old singer
reportedly suffered injuries to her face during the struggle.
According to RT, Sato confessed to the crime on September 17, when he
was finally arrested, 16 days after the attack allegedly took place. He
admitted to being obsessed with Matsuoka, as well as to analyzing the
reflections in her eyes to find out where she lived.
池袋SOUND PEACEさんと渋谷TAKE OFF7さんありがとうございましたーーー🐨— 松岡笑南＠天使突抜ニ読ミ (@matsuokaena) September 1, 2019
はちゃめちゃたのしかった！来てくれた子お話ししてくれた子みんなありがとう。おかげできょうもアイドルでいられた( •̥ ̫ •̥ )( •̥ ̫ •̥ )#ツキヨミ pic.twitter.com/yETnbKKdIE
It’s unclear how popular the use of high-resolution photos is among
cyberstalkers, but Japanese newspaper Tokyo Shimbun warned its readers
even casual selfies could reveal clues that could help someone identify
the location of the photo. It also claimed that doing the V-sign/victory
sign, which many Japanese people do in photos, could help someone steal
their fingerprints. That one sounds a bit far-fetched… But then again,
so does analyzing the reflections in someone’s pupils.
Hibiki Sato was indicted for his crime last week.
