31-year-old Daisuke Imamiya, a part-timer living in Nippori, has been arrested by police on suspicion of cornering the market in tickets for the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. Tickets are not sold at the museum itself, instead, visitors book them in advance, specifying the day and approximate time. Imamiya bought up dozens of 1,000 yen tickets for weekends from June to September last year and resold them on Yahoo Auctions for at least twice the price. A number of disgruntled fans who weren't able to freely buy tickets began to complain and the authorities were alerted. Police have charged him under the law which restricts ticket touts and scalpers (dafuya) and have specifically identified him visiting five separate branches of the Lawson convenience store, buying sixteen tickets (above) and then looking to resell them. In total, however, they have so far traced transactions involving at least 215 tickets. Imamiya has said that he was aware that he might be breaking the law but denies that he set out just to make money. Initially, he says, he was trying to make sure that he and his friends got tickets for the peak times but then became carried away.
