An official from the video industry's censorship body was arrested with four other men Saturday on suspicion of inappropriately checking and consequently allowing about 13,000 obscene adult DVDs to enter the market.
The Metropolitan Police Department arrested Katsumi Ono, 51, head of the screening department at the Nihon Ethics of Video Association, along with four men involved in the video industry, including Hiroyuki Gorokawa, 46, and Yukio Umezawa, 49. Gorokawa and Umezawa both run DVD production companies.
The association examines videos based on its own guidelines at the request of video producers before they go to market.
It is the first time an official at the association has been arrested in connection with adult DVDs.
The police said Ono approved two video tapes submitted by Gorokawa's company in July and August of 2006, knowing that the sex scenes in them had not been appropriately censored.
The association also failed to take action even after it was informed of the problem by DVD shops, the police said.
The police are investigating other senior officials and those responsible for screening work at the association.
Ono has denied he had knowledge of any problem with the tapes, but others have apparently admitted to the charge.