Kenji Kuroda, a professional Street Fighter III: Third Strike player, has been arrested on charges of committing indecent acts against a high school girl. Kuroda has admitted to the charges, and police are currently investigating whether other offences have been committed.
Content Warning: Mention of CSA (Child Sexual Assault)
The incident was reported by Japanse broadcaster ANN News last week. It alleges that in February Kenji Kuroda, 32, invited a high school girl to his home where he started hugging her and began committing acts of ‘waisetsuna koui’ (わいせつな行為) according to the press, which roughly translates as “obscene acts” or “sexual molestation.” Authorities have said that this is the first time that the two had met in person, with communications up until this point being conducted over Twitter. The police were informed of the incident by the student’s mother.
Many reacted initially with shock and disbelief that the man arrested was the same Kuroda as the fighting game professional. Initial confusion arose when news reports referred to Kuroda by writing his name in Kanji (黒田) despite Koruda being known to write his name phonetically as クロダ, leading many to suspect that the two men were not the same.
It has, however, been confirmed that is indeed the same Kuroda that has been arrested on these charges, for a couple of different reasons. One is that some Twitter users had pointed out that the residence of the suspect on all TV broadcasts matched the description of Kuroda’s distinctive light-blue house. Another is from the Twitter account of upcoming indie movie 9road, which Kuroda is starring in. The account posted an apology over the news.
Kenji Kuroda was known as one of the best Street Fighter III: Third Strike players, making his name by playing as Q, one of the worst characters in the game. He had also previously written a column in the Japanese adult magazine Weekly Playboy (no relation to the US Playboy Magazine). His writings have understandably been scrubbed clean from Weekly Playboy‘s website since the arrest. There are no reports on any sentencing or further court proceedings at this current moment in time.
Image Credit: 9road
