Police in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, have arrested a 25-year-old man for abducting a young girl and taking her to his home.
According to police, the parents of the teenage girl, who live in Miyagi Prefecture, filed a missing person report with police on March 16, Kyodo News reported. Police analyzed train station surveillance camera footage, which showed the girl getting on a train bound for Tokyo.
She was seen in the company of a man on a street in Chiba at around 2 p.m. on Thursday and they were detained.
Police said the man and the girl met on a social media site and that the man asked the girl to come and visit him in Chiba. She had been staying at his home since March 16.
The girl was not injured. Police said the man admitted knowing the girl was a minor.
© Japan Today
42 Comments
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BigP
Hold old exactly?
Aly Rustom
Police said the man and the girl met on a social media site and that the man asked the girl to come and visit him in Chiba. She had been staying at his home since March 16.
While what he did is illegal, it does not sound like an abduction to me.
Strangerland
In Japan, taking in a minor without their parent's permission is legally considered abduction/kidnapping.
sakurasuki
He is too young to be weird, he supposed to be 40s or 50s salaryman that has no life outside work.
Yamada Taro
"In Japan, taking in a minor without their parent's permission is legally considered abduction/kidnapping"
What part of the girl voluntarily using public transport alone, tells you she was taken? She went to meet him and texts will obviously reveal she understood the situation of going to meet a guy before leaving home. I hardly think they can throw the book at him for not taking her to Bikkuri Donkey then home to talk to her parents about why the lack of family communication led her to consult a stranger.
Aly Rustom
He didn't take her anywhere. She went to him.
exactly.
Strangerland
Huh? I don't think you read what I wrote correctly:
"taking in a minor"
Strangerland
And he took her in.
Which is the illegal part.
Aly Rustom
Huh? I don't think you read what I wrote correctly. when did I say it wasn't illegal?
I said
What he did was illegal but is not an abduction
Aly Rustom
Child abduction or child theft is the unauthorized removal of a minor (a child under the age of legal adulthood) from the custody of the child's natural parents or legally appointed guardians.
Child abduction - Wikipedia
Strangerland
And I pointed out that in Japan, legally, it's abduction.
Aly Rustom
And I pointed out the definition of abduction.
Strangerland
A generalized meaning of the word, not specific to Japan, nor it's legal system. Which is the legal system under which this suspect has been charged.
Aly Rustom
It is the CORRECT definition of the word.
Were does it say in the article he was charged with abduction?
Strangerland
Not when applied to the Japanese legal system.
The title: 25-year-old man arrested for abducting minor
In Japan, an 'arrest' is equivalent to pressing charges. It's why suspects often are 're-arrested' when they are already in jail.
Aly Rustom
I'm talking about what abduction actually means.
The Japanese legal system can also charge you with domestic violence for looking at your wife's phone without her express consent every time. Doesn't make you a wife beater.
Aly Rustom
No the reason they rearrest you is to force a confession out of you.
Gene Hennigh
Argue all you want but this was abduction. A minor can easily persuaded, manipulated, and tricked into doing all sorts of things. It's a law that exists in other countries and should be in all of them. To say otherwise is victim-blaming. If this was a kid, oh, let's say your daughter, would you think, "Oh, well, she wanted to do it. C'est la vie"? This man knew what he was doing and knew it was wrong. If it's not abduction what is it, kidnapping, capturing, or statutory persuasion? This was wrong everyway I can think of.
Gaijinjland
Wasn’t the age of consent raised to 16 from 13? Not agreeing at all but it doesn’t sound illegal in terms of Japan’s sordid laws at least. Am I wrong?
deanzaZZR
Japan is all in on facial identification systems. Criminals beware.
James
So he met her online convinced her to come to him maybe even paid for her train.. then without being authorized he took her into his home... Sounds like it fits with what Child abduction - Wikipedia says it is.
Aly Rustom
I would argue that what he did does not fit with what abduction is. I would argue it is more in line with coercion as he did not physically remove her from her home to his. At the end of the day, we can argue this until the cows come home. But Strangerland is 100% correct that under Japanese law he could be charged with abduction though. He probably will.
wallace
She was abducted by persuasion and being a minor without a fully developed brain was open to his suggestions. Stronger penalties for these cases.
Garthgoyle
Or maybe she was not 19 but 18?
Tamarama
The police, who have the full story, disagree with you mate, so stop flogging your dead horse. One possibility is that he invited her to his house and then refused to let her get back on a train to Miyagi - something that the Police would have established when they tracked them down in Chiba.
'Miss, are you OK?"
"No - this guy won't let me go home.'
"Jyaa...'
Aly Rustom
If so let them post here about what happened- unless you are one of them
Well its obvious that you don't have the full story either so please get off your high horse that I am flogging
wallace
BeyondTheBlossomsToday 12:59 pm JST
I haven't read any stories about the kidnapping of young girls.
James
I agree that coercion is a part of how he abducted her. Once he had her in his home even if she believes she came by her own free will she is a MINOR and she was 'even if not by force' removed from the care of her parents. which as described by Wikipedia is the definition of abduction.
Jonathan Prin
My little sister has been running away from home quite a few times. Like a few of her friends when teenagers.
Problem is nowadays she may lie about her age, ask a promise not to call parents and police...this is a common feature of young girls.
It lasts about 2 or 3 days usually.
Imagine you hosted the girl for one night with no harm, how do you force her then to leave your place without calling police and be considered a criminal in Japan ?
Not every situation is what you think, especially when no harm is done as it seems by reading the article.
Not victim blaming, just speaking about life.
James
As an adult, it would be your responsibility to make sure that she is not a minor before excepting her into your home. If she is asking you not to tell her parents or cops, it would be a pretty big red flag to me that she is a minor or a criminal.
Yet in this case the guy admitted to knowing that she was a minor.
Aly Rustom
I guess we are going to have to agree to disagree James. No doubt that this man is a criminal. I just think that calling this an abduction is inaccurate. Coercion, seems more accurate in my opinion BUT at the end of the day, we can agree that he is a predator and should be locked away.
John
This news sounds like a comedy. There’s no report of girl’s age. If someone going to another person’s house, it is not abduction. If she is a child, it’s wrong but not the way it’s written on the news.
nandakandamanda
The article does not give her exact age, but ays she is a teenager, and a minor. So how old does that make her, max?
nandakandamanda
Edit, 'ays' = says.
girl_in_tokyo
It's downright disgusting how many men think it's okay to prey on young teenage girls.
Mr Kipling
Sure..
They followed her phone.
Diego3
Maybe he was just helping her with math homework and they lost track of time....
starpunk
It's still by trickery and deception so what's the difference?
Paul
Another upstanding defender of the law!
Futaro Gamagori
These kinds of people don't exist abroad, especially western countries where people are mentally healthy
wallace
Futaro Gamagori
There are many hundreds of thousands of young women and girls in the West who are sex trafficked.