Public worker by day, private dick by night.

Cases of government employees abusing their positions are certainly not unheard of, but it’s usually for lame reasons like spoiling a manga series or going to the gym. Very rarely do we see people who leverage their access as a civil servant to lead a daring second life as a private investigator.
But whatever the reasons, a crime is always a crime, and things ended badly for former Toyota City employee Takashi Takeuchi. Once the head of the Health and Food Services Division for the city’s board of education, overseeing school lunches and other health matters, he is believed to have started a second job as a detective around 2021.
Actually, according to investigations, he was more or less the head of the Love & Free Detective Agency in the city of Tokoname. His company specialized in uncovering cases of infidelity.
▼ They may also hold the record for least liked, retweeted, and commented-on Twitter feed ever, with straight zeros for as far as I could scroll, despite posting nearly every day. It makes sense since who’s going to go on record as checking out an infidelity detective service?
土日こそチャンス――相手が動く日こそ、証拠が取れる日です。浮気相手との密会、ホテル、ドライブ。土日調査の実績、豊富にあります。#週末の調査 #浮気 #不倫 #証拠写真 #常滑本部 #探偵事務所 pic.twitter.com/RMTaxIbemq— Love&Free探偵事務所 (@LoveFree88888) August 23, 2025
In terms of becoming a private detective, the environment in Japan is such that it’s very easy to become one, but difficult to work as one. By that I mean no special licensing examination is required, but because of that, Japanese private detectives have virtually none of the access to public records that their counterparts in other countries do, greatly hindering their ability to get information.
Takeuchi’s position in the government, however, helped him to illegally get around this setback and allowed him to access people’s addresses at least dozens of times. In November 2022, he took a leave of absence and was set to retire in March 2025. Since he’s only 43 years old, the reason for the early retirement isn’t clear but may have been because his moonlighting was uncovered.
Nevertheless, he was known to go back to the office from time to time during his leave, and it was during one of those visits that he was caught accessing a terminal without authorization. After his arrest, Takeuchi admitted to the crimes and is still under investigation to see if any other crimes were committed by him. The revenue from his detective work since 2022 is estimated at about 30 million yen (US$194,000).
Readers of the news were amazed that someone would make the jump from one of the most secure jobs in Japan to one often seen as a particularly insecure line of work, if TV shows are anything to go by.
“His other side is like something out of a manga.”
“A public servant spy.”
“Wild stuff is going on in Aichi.”
“I always wonder how information like that gets leaked, but I guess it’s that simple.”
“The MyNumber system must have made his second job a lot easier.”
“So, he’s like a public detective then?”
“Who goes into work while on leave? That was a dead giveaway.”
“People say it’s too strict to not let public workers have second jobs, but this is why.”
“Getting paid with public money while working as a hardboiled detective is surreal.”
The concept of escaping your job to help find the Maltese Falcon or save Toontown may sound romantic, but the reality is this guy probably spent most of his time parked outside a hotel waiting for some businessman to get his rocks off. It’s as good as any job if you’re up for it, but hardly one worth risking jail time for and betraying an entire city’s trust with the public.
Time will tell how deep his transgressions really were, but in the meantime, I’m going to place a call with Guinness about this company’s Twitter feed. It’s just like looking at a field of freshly fallen snow.
Source: The Sankei Shimbun, Jiji.com, Aichi News, Itai News, Japan PI
Top image: Pakutaso
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!