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Police release clearer 2022 photo in Yoichi Hatta search

An English-language leaflet broadens the appeal for information about the suspect in a fatal hit-and-run in Beppu, Japan.

Channel: ANNnewsCH ·

JapanStory of November 1, 2026Trari Newsroom

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八田與一容疑者の新写真公開　チラシの裏面には「WANTED」　大分ひき逃げ【スーパーJチャンネル】(2026年10月30日)

The photograph is newly released, but it is not recent: it shows Yoichi Hatta around the time of the 2022 hit-and-run for which Japanese police are seeking him. Investigators hope the clearer, front-facing image will help someone recognize him more than four years later.

Japan's ANNnewsCH, the official TV Asahi news channel carrying All-Nippon News Network reporting, shows officers distributing updated wanted leaflets outside JR Oita Station on October 30. They ask commuters to examine the photograph and contact police if they have information.

According to the report, Hatta is suspected of driving a small car into two motorcycles in Beppu in June 2022, killing one university student and injuring another before fleeing. Beppu is in Oita Prefecture on Japan's southwestern island of Kyushu.

The report combines footage of the crash scene with previously released videos of Hatta speaking, giving viewers his voice as well as his appearance. Police describe him as approximately 175 centimeters tall. He is now 30.

Oita prefectural police obtained the newly released photograph this year, the report says, although it was taken in 2022. It presents his facial features more clearly than earlier images.

The revised leaflet also makes a first attempt to reach more foreign residents and visitors: its reverse carries the word "WANTED," with an English account of the case and identifying details. The report says public and private rewards together offer up to eight million yen for valuable information.

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