Kazutoshi Kodama is a real-life ghostbuster in Japan. The 46-year-old president of Kachimode, based in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward, specializes in verifying whether a property where a tenant tragically died is haunted to help its manager rent it out or sell it at a good price. Kachimode provides paranormal investigation services to property owners and management companies for 88,000 yen per session. After examining the details of the incident behind an apartment or house, Kodama checks the rooms, common areas, equipment, and furnishings from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. the next day to see whether there are anomalies, The Asahi Shimbun (TAS) reported.

Kodama uses a video camera and an IC recorder to document the scene while measuring atmospheric pressure, humidity, electromagnetic waves, wind force, and changes in temperature, according to TAS. After the investigation, he issues a report stating whether paranormal activity was detected.

Most of the 80 investigations he has conducted found nothing out of the ordinary, with most of the anomalies caused by building materials producing creaking sounds because of changes in temperature, pipe noises created by high water pressure, and other factors, TAS reported.

While Kodama did not find any lost souls in the properties he investigated, anime streaming service provider Bandai Channel (BC) lost many of its subscribers in a hacking incident in November.

A police search for the hacker led to a 15-year-old high school student from Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. On 6 July, police arrested the boy, who admitted to using the artificial intelligence-powered ChatGPT to refine an attack program and forcibly delete 46,812 BC accounts, according to TAS.

The suspect was apparently experimenting to see whether his self-written program could carry out the mass deregistration of BC subscribers. The company blocked the boy’s account to prevent him from accessing its servers, but he changed his IP address 30 times to breach BC’s computers.

The young suspected hacker is facing charges of fraudulent obstruction of business.