{"id":492883,"date":"2024-09-07T19:24:59","date_gmt":"2024-09-07T16:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=492883"},"modified":"2025-10-23T11:47:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T08:47:24","slug":"kgb-and-bt-lied-let-s-break-down-the-story-about-the-japanese-spy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/kgb-and-bt-lied-let-s-break-down-the-story-about-the-japanese-spy","title":{"rendered":"KGB and BT lied. Let’s break down the story about the Japanese \u00abspy\u00bb"},"content":{"rendered":"
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One of the journalists at Reform.news knows Japanese, and he was puzzled by the translation of the correspondence between the Japanese \u00abspy\u00bb Nakanishi Masatoshi<\/strong> and his relative Masanari Sato<\/strong>. The translation of the conversation screenshots was so \u00abloose\u00bb that the meaning of the conversation was distorted beyond recognition. We decided to check other facts mentioned in the BT film. You won’t believe it, but almost everything is a lie.<\/span><\/p>\n

But let’s start from the beginning. On September 5th, the TV channel \u00abBelarus 1\u00bb <\/span>aired<\/span><\/a> a documentary titled \u00abThe Fall of the Samurai from Tokyo\u00bb about the Japanese citizen Nakanishi Masatoshi, who is suspected by the Belarusian KGB of espionage. The film uses archival footage, hidden camera recordings, interrogation scenes of the Japanese man at the KGB, and shows photos of his family, receipts collected by the Japanese man, as well as his bank cards. He was detained while attempting to leave Belarus on July 9. The arrest was carried out with maximum force \u2014 his body was fully restrained. The footage shows three undercover agents carrying him. Two are holding his arms, which are twisted behind his back in handcuffs, supporting him by the groin, while the third is choking his neck. His legs dangle loosely, and his head is covered by a bag.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Propaganda and KGB Version<\/b><\/h2>\n

Japanese citizen Nakanishi Masatoshi allegedly tried to take a laptop out of Belarus, which, according to the KGB, he intended to personally deliver to the Japanese \u00abKokka Koan Iinkai\u00bb (Public Security Intelligence Agency). Propaganda claims that the laptop contained 9,000 photos Nakanishi had taken in Belarus. Before approaching the intelligence service, he supposedly wanted to meet with Masanari Sato, the ex-husband of his younger sister. In the BT film, Sato is referred to as Nakanishi’s handler because, according to the arrested man, Sato had \u00abconnections in the intelligence services\u00bb.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you strip away the hints, emotional rhetoric, and fantasies of the propagandists, the film about the arrested Japanese man states the following: Nakanishi Masatoshi had a higher legal education, tried to engage in business activities, but did not live off business profits. In Belarus, he registered an LLC called \u00abBelNihonInternational\u00bb.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00abFor 6 years, no profit, no deals, mostly losses and fines\u00bb <\/span><\/i>says the narrator in the film.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nakanishi Masatoshi arrived in Belarus in 2018. Before that, in 2016, he was baptized into the Orthodox faith in Kupyansk, Ukraine.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00ab<\/span>He had not only visited Ukraine during the 2014 Maidan but also traveled to the DNR and LNR, made acquaintances there, and maintained ties\u00bb,<\/span><\/i> hints the propagandist in the narration.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the film, Nakanishi began traveling around Eastern Europe in 2008.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nakanishi married a Belarusian citizen but divorced after a few years. The marriage is called fake in the film. He settled in Gomel in 2018 and got a job as a Japanese language teacher at Francysk Skaryna Gomel State University.<\/span><\/p>\n

Propaganda claims that Nakanishi was not in need of money and spent it freely \u2014 he allegedly withdrew 1,500-2,000 Belarusian rubles ($473-$630) from his Japanese bank account each month.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to BT, Nakanishi kept a detailed paper diary, collected receipts and tickets, and traveled extensively throughout the region, taking photos but never sharing them \u2014 just accumulating them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00abI thought about handing the photos over to the ‘Kokka Koan Iinkai\u2019\u00bb<\/span><\/i>, the arrested Japanese man says on camera.<\/span><\/p>\n

He was reportedly interested in radiation levels in the Polesie State Radiation and Ecological Reserve, tried to make contact with Belarusian businesses like \u00abConte\u00bb, \u00abMilk World\u00bb, \u00abKrasny Pischevik\u00bb, and \u00abSpartak\u00bb, as well as with the administrations of the Gomel and Mogilev free economic zones. Propagandists claim he was interested in business projects with China.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nakanishi also studied the socio-political situation in Belarus and shared information with his relative. In 2020, he attended protests in Gomel and spoke with demonstrators. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the war and its consequences became a central topic in his conversations with his relative.<\/span><\/p>\n

At one point in the film, propaganda stops being subtle and, without any evidence, calls Nakanishi’s relative, Masanari Sato, a member of Japanese intelligence. The arrested Japanese man allegedly sent him photos and videos of Gomel Airport.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another compromising detail, according to propaganda, was Nakanishi’s informal communication with employees of the Japanese embassy. As incriminating evidence, a conversation between Nakanishi and his relative is shown, in which Nakanishi says he plans to meet an embassy employee at a bar but isn’t sure if he should pay for him or split the bill.<\/span><\/p>\n

To prevent the viewer from critically assessing the facts, the former head of KGB military counterintelligence, retired Major General Alexei Zakharov<\/strong>, appears in the film as the main expert, explaining what all of this means. According to him, Nakanishi’s marriage and business ventures were just cover, the two Japanese bank cards were channels for funding, and his communication with his relative and contacts at the embassy were two channels for transmitting information (primary and backup).<\/span><\/p>\n

At the end of the film, Konstantin Bychek<\/strong>, head of the KGB’s Investigation Department, says that Nakanishi has been charged with espionage. <\/span><\/p>\n

Let’s Analyze the Propaganda and KGB’s Arguments. Something doesn’t add up here.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lie #1: The Secret Laptop<\/b><\/h2>\n

From the first moments of the film, critical thinking encounters a contradiction: why would someone need to transport photos across a border on a laptop? Propaganda tries to explain this awkward point by claiming that Nakanishi was afraid to send the photos via the internet. Yet, he apparently wasn\u2019t afraid to physically carry them across the border on a device?<\/span><\/p>\n

Another detail: the filmmakers should clarify whether Nakanishi had been working for Japanese intelligence since at least 2008, or if he was just planning to approach them with his laptop. According to the film, Nakanishi spent six years accumulating photos of narrow-gauge railways and bridges in the Gomel region and intended to sell them. Is that right? And for all those six years, he never left Belarus? Does that make sense?<\/span><\/p>\n

Lie #2: The Shell Company<\/b><\/h2>\n

In the film, the propagandist Yevgeny Gorin<\/strong> got so carried away that he neglected the details. After all, a whole KGB major general explained why a company was necessary in Belarus \u2014 for cover! The problem is that the LLC \u00abBelNihonInternational\u00bb existed for less than two years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nakanishi Masatoshi <\/span>registered<\/span><\/a> the company on December 11, 2019, and liquidated it on October 29, 2021. It was removed from the Unified State Register on April 6, 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a strange cover \u2014 right before a major war, when a \u00abspy\u00bb would need the ability to go on those very spy missions, he willingly destroys one of his key espionage tools.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth emphasizing once more that propaganda lied about the company operating for six years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lie #3: The Job Cover<\/b><\/h2>\n

In reality, Nakanishi Masatoshi initially studied Russian at the \u00abGGU-Profi\u00bb language courses. He mentioned this himself in an interview for the Gomel State University website in 2021. Interestingly, the text of this interview was removed from the GGU website on September 4, and on the 5th, the English version was also taken down. Fortunately, the text was preserved in <\/span>the web archive<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In that interview, he said he started teaching at the \u00abGGU-Profi\u00bb courses in 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, he attended Russian language courses and found a job there. In the same interview, he revealed that he had graduated from law school in Japan and had worked for about 20 years as an economist-lawyer at a private company in Tokyo. It raises the question: what other options did someone who essentially had no other skills and didn\u2019t speak Belarusian or Russian have in Gomel? Was he supposed to give lectures in Japanese about the Japanese legal system?<\/span><\/p>\n

The narrative about the fake marriage also doesn\u2019t hold up. In 2021, he said that he had been living with his wife for three years and that his parents had warmly welcomed her. Judging by the photos, his entire family came to Belarus to meet his new relatives.<\/span><\/p>\n

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photo: Famliy photo screenshot from BT movie<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lie #4: The Unlimited Bank Account<\/b><\/h2>\n

In the film, two bank cards in Nakanishi Masatoshi\u2019s name were shown. One of them, a \u00abSaison Int. Mastercard\u00bb, is valid until September 2024. The second, an \u00abSMBC IC CASH CARD\u00bb, expired in September 2023. Perhaps that\u2019s why the Japanese man wanted to visit his homeland?<\/span><\/p>\n