First 'Naked Smartphone' User Arrested: Man Taken into Custody for Refusing Government-Approved 'Deco Case'

The first arrest in Tokyo following the enactment of the new law has occurred. A man who stuck to his minimalist principles and did not put a case on his smartphone was arrested on the spot for “Public Boredom.” The man reportedly resisted the enforcement of the official pink rhinestone-decorated case, saying, “My Zen…”

On the 18th, the “Color Control Division” of the Community Safety Bureau of the Metropolitan Police Department arrested Mochio Sasage (38), a self-proclaimed Zen instructor, in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo. He was caught using a smartphone without a protective case and arrested on suspicion of violating the National Decoration Law (commonly known as the Deco Law). This is the first application of the “Public Boredom” charge under the law since it came into effect on the 1st of this month.

According to the investigation, Sasage is suspected of taking out a “naked” smartphone, with its chassis exposed, in the middle of the scramble crossing around 2:00 PM that day to check a weather app. Passersby made a series of emergency calls, complaining that “the device is so simple my eyes slide off it” and “I feel like I’m getting visual malnutrition.” Police officers rushed to the scene and apprehended him. During questioning, Sasage repeated incomprehensible statements such as “Jobs is crying” and “The coldness of the aluminum unibody is justice.” He steadfastly refused to attach the government-issued standard equipment “Piled-High Bear Rhinestone Case (Pink)” offered by the officer, leading to his arrest.

Starting this fiscal year, the government enacted the Deco Law, which mandates excessive decoration on all mobile devices, with the aim of “economic recovery and raising national tension.” Inorganic industrial design has been designated as “visual pollution,” and violators face penalties such as “mandatory deco case attachment” or “mandatory dancing of trending TikTok dances.” A spokesperson for the Color Control Division commented, “Displaying a naked smartphone is a mounting act that puts silent pressure on others, implying ‘I don’t rely on decoration,’ and is extremely malicious. We will deal with this strictly to protect the color of the city.”

On the other hand, witnesses at the scene had mixed feelings. “True, his smartphone was so smooth it made me anxious just looking at it. But the case the police officer tried to force on him looked so heavy it might hurt his wrist,” said a university student (21), whose own smartphone featured a giant sushi food sample.

A white T-shirt with no logo, a table without legs, and a “space of nothingness” with nothing placed in it were found at Sasage’s home. Police plan to pursue further charges (such as Interior Boredom). This arrest drama may cast a sleek, slippery stone into modern society, where depersonalization progresses under the name of forced individuality.

Stakeholder Comments

• Suspect Sasage: “Putting a case on it is a blasphemy against the designers. I want to feel the sweat of the engineers who competed for that 0.1mm thinness.”
• Chief of Color Control Division, MPD: “Simple is best? That is a relic of the Showa era. The Reiwa era is the age of ‘More is More’.”
• General Goods Store Owner: “Deco parts are flying off the shelves. Nowadays, ‘Those who do not decorate are not human.’”
• Industrial Designer: “How many years do you think we spent designing this curve… No, I won’t say anything.”
• iPhone (Confiscated Item): “Just when I thought I felt the warmth of a human hand for the first time in a while, this happens. I wonder what kind of costume I’ll be made to wear next.”
• Passerby A: “The moment I saw the naked smartphone, I felt a perverse eroticism and called the police.”
• Government Spokesperson: “We ask the public to prefer glitter processing that generates economic effects over matte processing that prevents fingerprints.”
• Representative of Minimalist Association: “We are going underground. The time has come to remove the case of the heart.”
• Pigeon in Shibuya: “The smartphones humans drop lately shine too much, and I mistake them for food. It’s annoying.”
• Ghost of Steve Jobs (via Medium): “Insane.”

International Expressions

Haiku

• Naked phone in hand / Handcuffs cold in winter dusk / Arrested today
• Deco Law is here / Unadorned phones are a crime / Color is mandated
• Arrested forthwith / Shining case forced upon him / No choice remains now
• Heart of Zen resides / In the cold aluminum / Stillness in the noise
• City lights shine bright / Bear case glows competitively / Fighting for the eye
• Fingerprints appear / Calling them a pattern now / Feigning intent there
• Loss of self proceeds / The more we decorate it / We all look the same
• State of emptiness / Trapped inside a flashy case / Silence screams aloud
• Police officer / Hands also hold a device / Gaudy and heavy
• Jobs anniversary / Taken away just as is / Naked and exposed

Kanji / Chinese Characters

Naked Cyber Crackdown Public Boredom First Application Decoration Obligation Law Plain Chassis Confiscation Pink Decor Box Enforcement Quiet Beauty Rejection

Emoji

👮‍♂️✋📱🚫✨➡️🚓💨🧸💎💔

Onomatopoeia

Slip (Feel of the smartphone) Glint, Sparkle (Surrounding deco cases) Click (Sound of handcuffs) Silence… (Suspect’s room) Doom (Back of the suspect being led away) Clunky, Piled-up (Government approved case)

SNS

• #NakedSmartphoneArrest
• #WhatIsPublicBoredomCrime
• #AntiDecoLaw
• The minimalist hunt has begun…
• Honestly, isn’t a naked smartphone cooler?
• The government-approved case is too lame lol
• #FreeSasage
• Finally an arrest. I gotta be careful. Just put a sticker on for now.
• People without cases make me nervous just looking at them, so they deserve to be caught.
• Is this Cool Japan? (rolling eyes)