On Dec. 25 in a courthouse in Fukushima Prefecture, three Ukrainian YouTubers were each sentenced to fines of ¥100,000 ($650) in lieu of several-month prison terms. If they had been in any Asian country other than Japan, their punishments might have been harsher.
In September, Alexander Kryukov, 43, who streams to more than 6.6 million subscribers under the online handle Kreosan, broadcast himself and two others traveling to the Fukushima nuclear exclusion zone in the town of Okuma. Though the livestream has since been deleted from his channel, the trio filmed themselves exploring a home, examining household goods and making tea in a property left unoccupied after the triple disaster of March 2011.
The verdict puts Japan out of step with a stance that is growing increasingly common across East and Southeast Asia: When it comes to nuisance streamers — online personalities who livestream their travels, often leaning on transgressive behavior as a means of creating viral content — criminal behavior is being met not with slaps on the wrist or expedited deportation but with serious legal consequences.
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