What follows is a sequel to my previous article.
As I prepared to switch to a new account on X, I also decided to publish on Facebook under my real name.
I consulted a leading AI system about security and took every precaution I could.
I decided to establish a presence on Instagram under my real name as well.
It was during that process that I learned about Threads.
To go back slightly in the sequence of events, this was when I had not yet found a way to create a new X account and had been unable to make a fresh start there.
After consulting a leading AI system, I registered for Threads as an alternative place to publish.
Yet that Threads account, too, was suspended within a very short time.
I had no idea why.
I decided not to devote further time to dealing with it and left it alone.
Given the long history of harm I had suffered, I again suspected that the individual I have described might have been involved, perhaps through malicious reporting.
Was this someone who knew exactly how to exploit social media systems to silence another person?
With that in mind, I am recording what I experienced and what I suspected.
Now let me turn to what happened when I resumed posting on X by following the instructions given to me by the young detective handling my case.
Shortly after my return, I received a follow notification from an account claiming to be Shinjiro Koizumi.
At first, I thought it was his genuine account.
I had occasionally liked and reposted his posts.
But when I read the message that came back, I thought: What is this?
It said, in effect, that the sender would devote himself to entertainment.
Here was an account claiming to be the politician Shinjiro Koizumi, talking about devoting himself to entertainment.
That incongruous wording alerted me to the impersonation, and I deleted it immediately.
Then I received a follow notification from an account claiming to be the leader of the well-known band Mrs. GREEN APPLE.
I judged this account to be an impersonation as well.
What on earth was going on?
These incidents led me to suspect the involvement of the person who had impersonated me under my former pen name.
Anyone can be impersonated, so using my pen name was supposedly no great matter.
I felt that the purpose might be to trivialize what had been done to me in precisely that way.
I have not established that these accounts were operated by the same person.
But behind my suspicion lies the long history of harm described in my previous article.
And whoever operated them, there is an issue here that must never be treated lightly.
I want to appeal to lawyers throughout Japan.
Please do not assess the harm caused by impersonation solely by reference to the experiences of celebrities.
Of course, celebrities can also suffer harm from impersonation.
But a person whose face and name are widely recognized, and whose genuine channels are known to many people, is in a different position from an ordinary, unknown citizen when it comes to countering an impostor.
Ordinary citizens are not in a position where a single correction or denial will attract widespread reporting.
When someone assumes their name, they must begin by explaining to people unfamiliar with the circumstances which account is genuine.
Words they never wrote may be taken as their own.
Actions they never took may be attributed to them.
A reputation built over many years may be damaged by someone else’s conduct.
And the person who has suffered that harm must spend time and effort putting the record straight.
Impersonation takes away more than control over how a name is displayed.
It threatens the reputation attached to that name, relationships with other people, and the opportunity to communicate in one’s own voice.
Being unknown does not make the harm smaller.
The harm is, in fact, particularly severe precisely because they are unknown—indeed, it is unknown individuals who suffer so greatly.
Being unknown makes the victim’s account harder to hear and corrections harder to disseminate.
I have spent years writing and publishing my own work.
Those years are attached to both my pen name and my real name.
I cannot accept someone else assuming those names and confusing my relationship with my readers being dismissed as a harmless prank.
“It happens all the time on the internet.”
That sentence restores neither the time nor the reputation a victim has lost.
If it happens so often, is that not all the more reason to ensure that ordinary citizens have a path to redress?
I have personally experienced how difficult it can be to find a professional willing and able to address this kind of harm.
That is precisely why I want those working in the law to understand its gravity.
I will continue assembling the evidence and the history of what happened, and pursue accountability under the law for conduct that warrants it.
I am determined to pursue criminal accountability through to a conviction.
I do not intend to stop at putting my anger into words.
Ordinary citizens must be able to protect their names, safeguard their reputations, and communicate their words as their own.
These must not be rights that people acquire only after becoming famous.
To lawyers throughout Japan:
Please consider how profoundly impersonation can harm an ordinary citizen.
I hope this article will provide one reason to look directly at that reality.