Police in Niigata City have arrested a 51-year-old man on suspicion of violating the child prostitution law after he allegedly paid a 16-year-old girl to engage in sex acts with him.
According to police, the suspect, a company employee, is accused of having sex with the girl, whom he met on a social media site, at a hotel in November last year, local media reported.
Police said the suspect has admitted that he knew the girl was a minor (under the age of 18).
The incident came to light after the girl told her parents who then contacted police.
© Japan Today
59 Comments
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Mr Kipling
So was it "Hey mum and dad, I've been having sex with middle aged perverts for cash" or they found her with cash and wondered where it came from?
tora
Obviously the latter
MiuraAnjin
Or he stopped paying the cash, and the girl took umbrage.
Alongfortheride
So does that mean she will also be arrested for prostitution?
falseflagsteve
51 years old! Can you believe it? What an absolute pervert! Why no why would a man of that age have an interest in a girl young enough to be his granddaughter.
Geoff Gillespie
@ Alongfortheride
No, no, no...she's the "victim" here, isn't she?
sir_bentley28
I always fail to understand the thought process of these sickos! He KNEW she was below the age of so and so. And he KNEW the consequences, yet made it even worse by paying her. I'd say give her father/brother/uncle(s) 20mins with him in a closed room with the camera off.
Michael Machida
16 years old. Still by all definitions, still a child.
Cards fan
that's not the national law. Prefectural is higher, usually 17 or 18. Statutory rape.
Yubaru
If you notice, there was no mention of rape, which means the family chose to not press charges. There was a case here in Okinawa a few years back, where an underage girl had sex with a member of the military. As the story unfolded, it became known that the girl, 18 at the time, had a history of sleeping with American's in the military, and the family did not press charges, so the guy walked free.
The laws changed, and the cops can charge rape, even without the consent of the "victim", but it's on them to actually prove it.
I will bet the cops waited this long, as they probably tried to get the parents to file rape/assault charges and since they didnt, and they couldnt prove it, they got with the only charge that may stick.
Mark
But officer, I swear she told me she was 18, LOL
gaijintraveller
*16 years old. Still by all definitions, still a child.*
No, that is not true.
Michael Machida, we are talking about law here. Laws vary throughout the world. In many countries it is possible to get married under sixteen. In many you can join the army under sixteen. In many countries in many instances such as voting and signing document you are a child until a lot older.
Rape and consent also have varying definitions. Statutory rape and actual rape are not the same.
Laws change, definitions change. As other have said, the age of consent, one legal definition can depend on prefecture as well as the nation.
Speed
Big deal.
Mark
New Laws need to introduced to also punish underaged Girls and Boys!!!!!!! for knowingly and willingly getting involved in these acts for $$$, it is NOT solely the adult fault.
Prostitution is illegal regardless of age, or isn't it???
Fighto!
Always disturbing how certain people come out of the woodwork when these stories come out and suggest that paying for sex with schoolchildren is somehow OK.
It is NOT OK.
Michael Machida
Irrespective of what the legal framework may suggest, it is evident from the perspective of rationality that a young adolescent cannot be deemed as an object of sexual gratification. A female teenager, owing to her tender age, can be rightfully classified as a juvenile and not a fully matured woman. Although it may be argued by certain individuals that engaging in hedonistic activities with an adolescent who has not yet attained complete cognitive development is permissible, in my community, authentic and genuine relationships are exclusively limited to individuals who have reached full adulthood.
justasking
They get a kick out of it. Same reason for all the kinks and fetishes out there.
Chico3
Hey! Double-edge sword.
Seigi
In Europe, parents would just call this as a "phase" in a teenage girl's life...
Lindsay
Of course this guy is a creep but it takes two to tango.
girl_in_tokyo
The Venn diagram of men who think it's okay for older men to pay for sex with teenagers and men who would pay for sex with teenagers if they thought they could get away with it are two overlapping circles.
The Venn diagram of the men who put all the blame on young women who are paid for sex by older men and the people who fully blamed the older man who took sex in payment for making teen boys famous are also two overlapping circles.
Chottobaka
Never rule out the possibility that she is one of those types who is 16, going on 30. Not so uncommon.
Fighto!
Almost sounds like you are justifying someone having sex with a child because "he/she seems older".
CPTOMO
In Japan, it's the paying part that in most cases makes this illegal.
Alan
16 not 6
She knew what she was doing and getting into, and took the cash before telling her parents.
She should have kept away as soon as he made contact with her.
Both to blame .
Sven Asai
You can’t and won’t have higher birth rates while restricting or forbidding all potential relationships. It’s surely a dilemma, especially in those cases that are very far from the morally or ethically tolerated or acceptable norm, but that’s all to it. The time will quickly come when society has to decide from which side they like to chose, almost extinction or almost perversion.
John
Unless there is a change in japanese culture, we will be reading similar news often. Culture of child sexualisation needs to be stopped.
Dave Fair
"51-year-old man arrested for allegedly paying minor for sex"
is this really newsworthy at a national level?
John
why was she allowed on social network site. Shouldn’t parents and authorities be penalised for not taking the measures to prevent underage children registering such websites?
Paustovsky
It would be interesting to see a truthful figure for what percentage of Japanese 51 year-old men are so emotionally and sexually immature that they would be more than willing to pay for sex with a child ?
I've heard numerous times from men here how they are disinterested in grown-up women or that they are outright scared of them.
If you don't know what to do you with a woman then a child will make you feel more dominant.
William Bjornson
One more year and she is eligible in the U.S. to become a trained, uniformed mass murderer, but... sex? Oh Heavens no! Jumpin' Jehosaphat! She's just a tender young rosebud who, were it not for evile, horny old men would NEVER have had a thought about nasty sex ...
Jonathan Prin
@Sven Asai
Truthfully true.
I don't understand why people see sex as a bad thing. They were agreeing on what they were doing.
It is morally wrong in my opinion of course but I am no saint to judge others.
A Japenese girl of 16 is fully looking like a woman and cannot like in any way like a "child" biologically.
Does that mean you have to ask the ID, even if you were 22 ?
Be objective to all that you see morally wrong but which is lawful. Learn from the world.
So a pity sex is viewed as bad, they probably had a good time ! Do you hate when people are having a good time at that age volunrarily and knowingly.
In the not so distant future, I foresee a wild back to normal.
rcch
Today 06:53 am JST
“ So was it "Hey mum and dad, I've been having sex with middle aged perverts for cash" or they found her with cash and wondered where it came from? “
And
that’s your main concern…;
smdh…;
me? I’m more worried about the sexual predator.
GillislowTier
Listen up dirty old men, there is no what aboutism here. Dude admitted he knew she was underage. That’s the end of it. There’s no victim swapping here. He was in the wrong, knew it, did it anyway.
David Brent
Oh, pull the other one. At 16, she knew what she was doing (for money).
nandakandamanda
They both told the truth.
diagonalslip
because she's young enough to be his granddaughter.
Khuniri
"Seigi
In Europe, parents would just call this as a 'phase' in a teenage girl's life..."
There are irresponsible parents in (northern) Europe, particularly in the supposedly "educated" upper-middle classes, who put their unmarried daughters on the pill at a young age. But even they do not condone prostitution.
Paustovsky
Anyone defending this man is talking noncesense !
Yuuju
Sven AsaiToday 12:11 pm JST
Well, you see, it takes much more to decently bring up children than resorting to perversion or just instincts.
I dont know the truth behind these relationships (just sex for money or true attraction) but even with the latter the experience shows bringing up children as it should be requires other important factors and more often than not, plain instincts are not enough. It takes a fully developed personality from both sides not only physiologically but mentally, culturally and spiritually.
桜川雪
falseflagsteveToday 07:39 am JST
I knew someone who was 60 and married to a 25 year old. Still young enough to be his grand daughter, but society accepts that. The age difference isn't the issue, its the being a minor part.
桜川雪
one_consciousnessToday 01:49 pm JST
That would put the love hotels out of business and make the industry more underground.
virusrex
Sad to see that there are still commenters trying to justify this by blaming the minor.
Yubaru
It's not. Dont think for a second that everything you read here is in the national news. It's not, and far from it.
Stories like these dont make the national news, and many times, not even the local news either.
Clay
Crazy, sign of the LOUSY times was pulled? Such behavior certainly reflects societal moral failure!
Clay
Even more so morale failure, given it's being 'defended' by so many here. Why's age of consent SO LOW in Japan, that's REAL question, this is all legal after all!
Rodney
If she advertised her sexual services and willingly went to the hotel, then she must pay income tax and he must pay service tax to the government.
Clay
True but for most it's clear societal morale failure, that's LEGAL?! Those in power being 'paid off', keeping it legal.
BIG business, tough times indeed for morally depraved, another clear sign of collapse let there be no doubt!
kurisupisu
if there weren’t so many places all over Japan offering prostitution then I would be surprised.
There are many so I’m not…
ThonTaddeo
@diagonalslip
Wait, a 16 year old being a granddaughter of a 51 year old implies at least two generations in a row of teenage sex and pregnancy. Is that something we see as positive? Are 16-year-olds capable of making their own decisions about sex (and pregnancy!) on their own, or not?
Nihon Tora
Teen boys being groomed by someone in a position of huge power over their lives, who can decide whether or not their dreams of fame and wealth will come true or not, inviting them to his apartment to stay over and then sneaking in their room to sexually abuse them - that is completely different to a girl choosing to advertise on a website to get older blokes to pay to sleep with her. The former would have been an outrageous abuse of power irrespective of the boys age, the girl's culpability in the latter case is purely an issue of her age/maturity.
Obviously the guy is in the wrong here and he bares the most responsibility, the girl is probably too young to understand that 30,000 yen isn't a lot of money in the grand scheme of things or to really get a grip on the full gravity of what she did and how it might affect her. But she is old enough to know what was going to happen in that hotel room and that sleeping with someone you are probably repulsed by for money isn't a good thing, yet she made the choice to go out and do it anyway with someone who presumably had otherwise no power over her. I'm not having it that just because someone is just 16 years old, or because they are female, that gives them automatic immunity for any responsibility for poor choices that they have made.
Red suns
Ask this question again in the context of (biological) sex change in order to align it with their (percieved) gender... and yes… gender and sex is separate in this clown world known as the west.
TokyoLiving
Because Japan is one of the safest countries of the world..
runner3
He's just a dirty old man. And she knew exactly what she was doing. Her taking money for sex makes her even more guilty. In most countries this wouldn't be news.
James
As in America the law changes in each state. It is also the same for Japan the law changes in each prefecture. whats not to get?
Yohan
This man is an idiot. There is no shortage of girls, Japanese and foreign, 18+ everywhere in Japan in clubs, bars and online willing to offer sexual favors to men against cash money.
About this girls, I do not consider her to be an innocent victim and I see no reason why only this man should be blamed.
This girl who is 16 was signing up with social media, was online in contact with this man and agreed to meet him in person in a hotel offering him sex in return of money. She was clearly understanding what she is doing and police should questioning her if she was acting alone or together with some of her girlfriends and if this is the first time she is doing this.