'Inoue' always wore cap and glasses

OSAKA--Despite Tatsuya Ichihashi's best efforts at disguise, the game was up almost as soon as police released a photo of him after he underwent plastic surgery.

Ichihashi spent the past 14 months of his life on the run working for a construction company near here.

Former colleagues said he avoided being photographed and always wore a cap low over his forehead.

Using the alias Kosuke Inoue, the 30-year-old lived in the dorm of the builder in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, until mid-October. He rarely went out except for work.

Co-workers said he would only take baths when no one else was around. He also grew a goatee and a moustache and kept his black-framed glasses on at all times.

"I had a long period of social withdrawal and caused trouble to my parents, so I'm saving money to take them to a spa," his former colleagues recalled him telling them.

The Chiba prefectural police say fingerprints left in the dorm room matched those left by Ichihashi.

The company contacted the authorities after police last Thursday released a photo of Ichihashi following plastic surgery.

Suspicious colleagues drew a moustache and a beard over the top of the photo on a computer screen to create the man they knew as "Inoue."

Police also found a guide to applying for a passport in his room along with English conversation books. They say he may have planned to flee abroad.

According to the builder's employees, Ichihashi approached them on Aug. 19, 2008, when they were recruiting workers in a day laborers' town in Osaka's Nishinari Ward.

He had said he needed money and asked them for help, they said.

At the time he was wearing the glasses and a baseball cap, and only had a paper bag with him.

He signed the work papers as "Kosuke Inoue" and supplied a phone number in Osaka's Minato Ward as his father's. He ate breakfast and supper at the dorm and was shuttled to and from construction sites from Monday to Saturday.

When a colleague told him to take off his cap at least during meals, he apologized but refused. He did not drink alcohol or socialize much, and went to his room as soon as he finished eating.

His take-home pay was 100,000 yen to 150,000 yen a month. He worked hard and said he wanted to work even on holidays or at night. He told others he wanted to save 1 million yen.

The former colleagues said Ichihashi always used polite language, and smiled as he chatted with them during breaks. They called him Dai-chan (Big) because he was tall.

But he hated being photographed, they said. When more than 10 workers went bowling in April, he agreed reluctantly to join them. In their group photo, he stood at the back and managed to almost hide his face.

Last summer, he became involved in a brawl with a colleague over work. Another employee intervened, telling him the co-worker could die if he struck him in a particular place. At this, Ichihashi broke down sobbing, they said.

He left the dorm Oct. 11 after collecting his wages. He said he would be back two days later, but he never returned.

Police believe Ichihashi stayed in Osaka for a while before he began working for the builder. He gave several addresses in Osaka to plastic surgeons and other places he visited.

He also used a different name when registering at an Internet cafe in Fukuoka in mid-October. He had an ID card with the name that was possibly a forgery or wrongfully obtained, police said.(IHT/Asahi: November 11,2009)