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Bakune Young Manga Creator Toyokazu Matsunaga Arrested for Alleged Threats

Police in the town of Amagasaki in Hyōgo Prefecture arrested 49-year old Bakune Young manga creator Toyokazu Matsunaga on Tuesday on suspicion of making threats against 53-year-old city councilor Takaaki Kubo.

On April 7, someone wrote a threat on Kubo's political homepage while he was running for election, saying, "If you also involve us in your war, I will kill you. Don't bring your Osaka plot into Amagasaki." The message originated from Matsunaga's personal computer. Kubo was elected as a city councilor in June.

Kubo is a member of the Japan Restoration Party, which was created by former Tokyo governor and current lower house Diet member Shintaro Ishihara and mayor of Osaka Tōru Hashimoto. Ishihara was a major advocate of Tokyo's amended Youth Healthy Development Ordinance; the amendment expanded the number of manga and anime that fall under "harmful publications," the legal category of works that must not be sold or rented to people under the age of 18.

The Japan Restoration Party is based in Osaka and is the only national political party that is not headquartered in Tokyo.

Viz Media published Matsunaga's Bakune Young manga in its Pulp magazine. The company then released the three-volume series in compiled book form in 2001-2002. Matsunaga originally launched the series in Shogakukan's Weekly Young Sunday magazine in 1995.

Source: Yahoo! News, Nikkan Sports via Hachima Kikō