https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2014/03/20/digital/who-holds-the-deeds-to-gossip-bulletin-board-2channel/

Massive anonymous bulletin board 2channel has played an important role on the Japanese Web for 15 years (mostly on the dark side). Riddled with gossip and rumors, the site has always kept its ownership vague to avoid legal conflict, but recently a longtime background supporter seems to be trying to shake things up — and he’s an American.

2channel (2ch) is Japan’s largest bulletin-board service, founded in 1999 by Hiroyuki Nishimura. There are boards for every conceivable subject. Because the site allows users to post anonymously, it became hugely popular as a place to vent without the usual pressure of Japan’s strict societal mores. The concept was even exported to other countries, such as with 4chan in the United States.

The new developments began after 2channel recovered from an outage on Feb. 19. An admin-only thread was created under the name “Jim,” with a message that began, “I have secured the 2ch servers.”

The post stated that the “previous management” had failed to earn sufficient money for running the servers, that his name had been slandered, and ended with the hope that “proper management” could make the site sustainable again.

So who is this “Jim”? He is Jim Watkins, an American who has been running 2channel servers in San Francisco, at his Web-server hosting company N.T. Technology. Indeed, one of the reasons it is so difficult to file claims or legal action against 2channel is that its servers are located outside Japan.

Watkins has been in ownership of BBS Pink, an adult sister site of 2channel, via N.T. Technology, and managing 2channel’s servers as well. Now he says he controls the whole site.

Indeed, the domain name 2ch.net, which Nishimura claimed to have given to Singaporean company Packet Monster Inc. in 2009, was handed over in 2012 to Race Queen Inc., a Philippines-based IT company whose contact name is Jim Watkins. So both 2channel’s servers and its domain name are under Watkins’ control. 2channel’s top page now lists Race Queen’s contact information.