Mainichi and wire reports, Sept. 15, 2004
OSAKA -- A man who posed as a Buddhist priest to legally change his name in a bid to flee debt collectors faces arrest for fraud, Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office officials said Wednesday.
His accomplice, Takeshi Onishi...helped the man change his name to avoid 2 million yen in debt he had racked up with a consumer finance company.
Name changing can be very complicated in Japan.....
Police said that during November 2002, Onishi helped the man pretend to be a Buddhist priest from a non-existent temple and submitted documents to the Osaka Family Court asking that it recognize his request to have his name legally changed.
