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The Boston Market Story

Japanese foot cult guru arrested

This story is embargoed until Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi stops laughing after he says "The Yokohama's on you."

©2002 The Tokyosaki Times of Northern Hokkaido County

    TOKYOSAKI, NJ -- Japanese police on Tuesday arrested a cult leader suspected of swindling followers who were told he could heal them by examining their feet, a police official said.

    Bill "Hogen" Fukunaga, the charismatic, silver-haired founder of the Ho-no-kus Hana Banana Sampogyo Numismarorogyi cult, was arrested on fraud charges, said Shinosuke "Ken" Miyanaga, a duty officer at the Tokyosaki Police Department.

    Fukunaga, along with several other cult members, was arrested at a rotisserie sushi bar in Tokyosaki's Shibuyahuya ward as dozens of reporters and TV camera crews jostled to get near as police led him into a car.

    Tuesday's arrest comes 11 days after a Japanese court ruled for the first time that Ho-no-Kus Numismarorogyi had defrauded a number of hungry Japanese copy editors, who were warned that they would lose their headline writing powers unless they had the soles of their feet inspected by Fukunaga.

AP-ES-04-19-56 1346 EST