Police in Tokyo have arrested an Asahi Shimbun journalist on suspicion of filming up a woman's skirt on the JR Yamanote train line.
According to police, Keisuke Matsuda, 35, a sports reporter, allegedly tried to film up a female passenger’s skirt while on the train between JR Tamachi and Hamamatsucho stations at around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Fuji TV reported.
Police said Matsuda used a miniature camera in a paper bag to film up the skirt of the woman who is in her 20s. Another passenger noticed Matsuda's behavior and detained him until the train reached Hamamatsucho where he was handed over to station staff.
Police said Matsuda has admitted to the charge and quoted him as saying he started filming up women's skirts using the same technique a few months ago and that he couldn't stop himself.
© Japan Today
40 Comments
Login to comment
sir_bentley28
I guess he was doing a topic on "frilly things"!
DickTaterTots
Wait, people are actually defending this because it's legal in some Western countries, yet Westerners like to label Japanese as perverts?!
This stuff gets into the news in Japan because it's illegal and he got caught red-handed. While it angers me that such perverts exist we should at least be thankful that it's becoming more common for bystanders to intervene and for these sleazebags to face the consequences for their actions. How can you blame the victim simply for wearing a skirt? How about instead we ask what is wrong with people who think that their desire to photograph other people without consent is somehow more important than those people's dignity? If you are trying to justify his actions you are part of the problem.
Jonathan Prin
@Jonorth
Do you know what sophism is ?
In your world, whatever photo you may take then you are violating a person...
My point is underwear is a cloth, like any and only kids (or immature grown persons) do that kind of games.
Is anyone hurt doing so ? (Take a photo for personal use). Answer is no. Who cares.
In my country, famous nice song to laugh about that : sous les jupes des filles, from Alain Souchon.
Real worry shall come from rape (number and year of prison sentences laughable), sexual harassment (Idol world...) and even everyday discrimination gender in Japan.
Grow up people !
Jonorth
@Jonathan Prin
There is a pretty obvious difference - the ladies in bikini choose to wear that in a way where others can see it. They have agency in what they show, it's their choice. When you take an up-skirt photo without someone knowing it, you remove that agency and violate their autonomy. You take their power away, do something to them without consent.
To be completely honest, it kinda scares me that a grown man doesn't see that.
Badge213
It's psychological, the people do it for some thrill or enjoyment of the act of doing it or they cannot help themselves. There is of course free AV material anyone can see but they still do it.
Like rich people who get caught shoplifting, they are rich , they can afford to buy the clothes no problem, but they still shoplift.
goldorak
Am probably not as virtuous as most readers on here who 'don't get' why a man would want to see an attractive woman's undies ( I get it) yet I condemn this bloke for violating someone else's privacy. It's just not on. Good ppl respect social norms; this bloke didn't and has to be punished for it.
That's the type of overreaction I do find silly. So most women you know/have met wear 'dirty old undies'? ok.
albaleo
Given Scotland's national flower is the thistle, I think you'll find it's a bit of a myth. The only guidance I remember was from my Mum - clean underwear, in case you have an accident and are taken to hospital.
Moderator
Back on topic please.
Monozuki
Now the Asahi Shimbun journalist can be too embarrassed to face his colleagues and any of others. What a fool he's been!
happyhere
Albaleo, are up-kilt photos much of a worry and do men get 'guidance'?
I understand underwear is for wimps!
albaleo
It raises many deep philosophical issues, not least the question of why women wear skirts. :-)
I remember a story from when my elder sister started secondary school in Scotland in 1965. The girls were given a "guidance" lesson on their first day. They were told not to wear patent leather shoes as the boys could see their underwear from the reflection. My sister thought this was hilarious, as did I when she told me about it. The problem would just go away if women wore trousers. But what problems and frustrations might that cause?
Alex Einz
I never get this obsession..,what do u gain to see at all? dirty old underwear ? wouldnt it be easier to just hire a girl.. tell her to bring 20 underwear pairs to hotel and just take photos as much as u like... it wouldnt even be prostitution....
Alex Einz
was he looking for news up there?
pudus
"These idiots risk everything just for a panty flash? "
Besides being super nosey; These idiots may risk everything for a myriad of things, and ways; I guess the nanny state micro-chip, is well embedded.
afanofjapan
I believe the issue is similar to a kleptomaniac who steals even though they can afford the item. Its the rush they get from doing something they know they would get caught for. Probably a similar situation for the train gropers. Not so hard to get a prostitute if you want to touch a woman, but knowing they wont complain probably doesnt give them the same rush.
Strangerland
Actually I believe in Japan taking a direct picture of a girl in a bikini on the beach without her permission is illegal. You can take pictures and have random people in the picture, as long as they are not the focus of the picture. If they are the focus of the picture it's illegal.
...or so I think. I'll admit I'm not entirely sure that what I'm speaking of is correct, I may be mixing it up with another country I've lived in.
Harry_Gatto
I wonder if the Asahi Shinbun will / did report it?
Disillusioned
This perverted pass time has always baffled me. What do they see? Panties? Woo! Hoo! They could go to a department store and see many more. These idiots risk everything just for a panty flash? Bwahahahaha!
Jonathan Prin
I don't see the wrong...
Please throw me to jail.
What would be wrong is to exploit commercially the photos without someone's consent.
Funny that if you take photos on the beach with hundreds of ladies in bikinis, no one will say anything while purpose could be the exact same in public space.
Being a journalist does not change anything to the point.
And being detained on mere suspicion is unlawful in my country, except by police.
Tokyo-Engr
Yes it is a sad addition and certainly not confined to Japan. As bad as what this guy did (and I do think it is bad) you have to admire this guy's candor after he was caught. Basically he admitted he had a problem, admitted he had been doing this for a while, and admitted he cannot stop. If he does get the counseling he needs probably a good chance he can get over this problem as he is willing to admit to it in the first place.
Toasted Heretic
A sad addiction. Not just confined to Japan. Males throughout the world are unsure, unable and unstable when it comes to interacting or just co-existing with females.
Let's hope he and his victims get the counselling they need.
In the meantime; the more stories like this come to light, the more likely segregated carriages becoming a reality.
Tokyo-Engr
Hey there Strangerland.
You and I are in full agreement. Seems to be so many people posting on Japan Today that do have a sense of cultural superiority.
This man filmed up a woman's skirt and was arrested, which he deserved.
Chikatilo
I meant to write, "self-gloating" above-you-all attitude.
DaDude
As a sports maniac, I would love to have his job. Instead the job goes to this nut. However, the sports newspapers here includes the porn page so one could say it goes with his job.
bones
So he wasn’t drunk at the time and doesn’t remember anything?
Michael Jackson
How could you possibly know what all Japanese people in the west view as weird? Did you speak directly to each and every one of them? Once again you're putting your opinion out there as if it were fact.
Moderator
Readers, please focus your comments on the story and cease bickering about "the West."
nakanoguy01
i think they usually mention the perp is "unemployed" in the 3rd or 4th paragraph (because it seems like all perps are unemployed in this country :-) . but i think in this instance, his employer is of importance or else this story woud not really be that newsworthy.
Strangerland
Gotta love Westerners with the arrogance of cultural superiority.
afanofjapan
Ahh... Journalists, always going the extra mile to get the story. I wonder what he was investigating? Perhaps an explosive report into the colors of womens underwear on specific days.
Dan Lewis
We MAKE the news! - Asahi Shimbun
It could be their new slogan...
Jeff Huffman
StrangerlandToday 07:57 am JST
And it strikes Japanese people in the West as weird that they don't mention the suspect's profession until the 4th paragraph.
You aren't trying to say the western way is better because it's western, are you?
He and/or she may not be, but I am and any Japanese journalist who has worked in the West will concur.
kohakuebisu
On the subject of the West, someone just got off for doing this in the UK because as things stand, it's not a crime. It's only illegal to take non-consensual indecent photos of someone, and upskirt photos have not been established as "indecent". That law is behind the times and needs to change, of course.
Strangerland
And it strikes Japanese people in the West as weird that they don't mention the suspect's profession until the 4th paragraph.
You aren't trying to say the western way is better because it's western, are you?
thetoleratedone
In Japan there are so many women in the AV Idol industry and pornography is often free and readily accessible on the internet, so why violate a womens privacy.
sensei258
With the abundance of free porn, why do something so stupid?