Fire department official arrested for paying 15-year-old girl for sex

First of all this is just so wrong! Second, why do people engage in activities such as this when they know that most here will "spill the beans" when asked or confronted. For those foolish enough to do this sort of thing take heed and just don't do it!

Cell phone matchmaking. I think cyberpatrol should take measurement to control or stop such things. Well another fire depat personal in fire scandal. Fired him

not condoning what the guy did for a second here but shouldnt she be charged with prositution.you can read between the lines of this vaguely written story and imagine how it happened.surely she knew from contacting him that he was much older than her and she accepted money from him before sex.many unanswered questions again..did he know her real age?etc..why isnt he charged with statutory rape instead of breaking anti-porn laws?

The girl should be charged as well, while of course the guy receives no mercy. TOO often you read about cases like this in Japan, moist poignant among them the recent case of the guy arrested for pimping out more than 100 high school girls, some of whom said they willingly slept with more than 100 guys for pocket cash.

Sick. Shut down these sites.

"TOO often you read about cases like this in Japan, moist poignant among them the recent case of the guy arrested for pimping out more than 100 high school girls, some of whom said they willingly slept with more than 100 guys for pocket cash." AND Let's not forget about the lude cell phone picture perfect keystones, gropers, and stalkers...

These stories never fail to make me sad. I know someone's going to ask "what's the big deal, she consented", but if the day ever comes where 15 year olds selling themselves is considered normal or not a big deal, I will give up on humanity for good.

No surprise when you consider that 60% of emails sent by Japanese teenagers are sent to people they have never met.

Both parties knew what they were doing. Oldest trade in the world. Not condoning what the guy did, but it's more than likely that the girl instigated it. Maybe for a new Louis Vuitton to match her friends?

The girl is under 20, so she is a minor, she can't be charged with anything, as crazy as it is.

Roppongi: "AND Let's not forget about the lude cell phone picture perfect keystones, gropers, and stalkers..."

Exactly. This is just a sad example of supply and demand, with the law enforcement not doing a very good job of stopping the problem at the root. Until they deal with stifling the demand, the supply will always be waiting within cell phone reach.

It's sad that young people will sell themselves and open themselves to dangers for a quick buck, new handbag, etc., and it's a sad society that allows it to occur.

This is the one thing about Japanese society that I simply cannot understand. I know there is teenage prostitution everywhere in the world, but it seems to be so widespread here without the poverity to justify it.

Eyeblack, poverty has little to do with it, in Japan. It all boils down to having the pocket money to buy whatever you fancy.

Oldest trade in the world Fallacy! If the first cave woman to ply this trade exchanged her services for, .....say a fish.......and got paid first, that would make fisherman the oldest trade.

... in a car parked in a dried-up river bed

With a setting like that, at least he is very romantic! And he is such a gentleman to pay her up front.

They did not say if he knew she was 15. Some of the high school students walking past my house look pretty adult to me.

JKanda; Are you for real?

Anyone who pays for sex is a loser and choosing akid is a loser criminal. lock the dirty git up.

A lot of it boils down to the fact that schoolgirls and uniforms are highly sexualized in Japan. You see it all the time in advertising, even for mundane, unrelated stuff like car insurance or cough medicine; the girl in the adverts will invariably be some sexy girl/woman in a high school uniform. When you grow up with this day-in-day-out for years, I can see how a market for schoolgirl prostitution is possible. 99% of the girls doing it know full well what they are doing. Perhaps more equal wages for women might help. Rather than getting paid 150,000yen per month for working in an office 40 hours per week, I can see why some girls would prefer to earn 150,000yen in a few days just by agreeing to sleep with someone. The bottom line is, the situation is never going to change. Never.

Teen prostitution is more rampant in Japan than in any other society, that's simply coz the kids just get away with everything... no discipline at all levels. Feels like if I were to commit a crime I just need to tip a "kid" to do the job. Sad case... but true.

Teen prostitution probably has less to do with Japan than it does on Asia's views towards sex/exploitation of women. If you Google the "Most Livable Countries" you'll find only one of the top 10 countries is an Asian one (yes, Japan) and in fact the only one with a wide-spread teen prostitution problem. Let's not forget that in Japan the legal definition prostitution is sexual intercourse, and that's it.

It is a proven fact that this is out of control in Japan, and as has been said it's not out of desperation or poverty -- it's for pocket money -- with pretty much everyone taking the 'see no evil, hear no evil' attitude. Do parents not notice the kids expensive new clothes or handbags despite not giving them money and them not working (hooking aside, I mean)?

Agree with said poster above -- the police are simply not interested in investing the man-power to actually solve this problem; they just catch the guys who wave it right in their faces.

@smithinjapan

Do parents not notice the kids expensive new clothes or handbags despite not giving them money and them not working

thats an excellent point..maybe these parents are too busy working to care about their kids(see other JT article on balance between work/home life today) next time i see an average kid with an LV/Prada handbag,i can guess where it came from. but if there are that many child prostitutes/compensation daters in japan then only dealing with the guys is not solving the problem at all..only at one end.is the girls use of sex for money driven by the need for material goods like bags,shoes and the latest must-haves in magazines?

I don't understand how guys like this get caught. He paid her, she did the act, then she later decided to tell the cops about it? That doesn't make any sense. Or she got busted for something else and turned on him?

Moral of the Story: Always carry a fake ID and use a fake name when using those dating sites, and always pay in cash.

techall, excellent point.. ha ha

I thought the going rate was much higher.

And I find it strange that no-one asks how hers and other girls info gets on matchmaking sites that are supposedly for over 20's only?

Guess works the same as many nightclubs overseas that allow underage girls in to attract customers.

No surprise when you consider that 60% of emails sent by Japanese teenagers are sent to people they have never met.

And you got this number from ...?

What? Only 15,ooo yen?

Well you deflation and all...

It's the 40 year old in this story who is more to blame. He chose to be a pedophile ... so don't go putting all the blame on the 15 yr old.

Despite heightened media attention and public expressions of disapproval, the Government and society in general appear to take a lenient attitude toward teenage prostitution and dating for money, which may or may not involve sexual activities.

Sex with those under 13 years of age is prohibited, but consensual sex with a 13-year-old is not prosecutable under the Criminal Code. According to current laws, in order to prove rape and forcible sexual contact with a minor age 13 or over, the prosecution must prove that the attacker threatened or used violence against the victim.

Currently, laws regarding prostitution with minors over 13 years of age are covered only by prefectural government ordinances.

Under the present Prostitution Prevention Law, selling the sexual services of children is illegal, but purchasing those services is not.

There is no law that directly prohibits the production and sale of child pornography. In 1996, 5,378 teenage girls were taken into police custody for sexual misconduct, of whom 562 were engaging in prostitution. According to a police survey of those girls, 46.8 percent said that they wanted spending money, while 29.6 percent said that they acted out of curiosity.

As always things are misunderstood. You aren't paying for the sex, you're paying for them to go away after the sex.

This mid-aged guy might have been in draft of sexless marriage. But caught for being pedophile.

Sex is what people want, the number of assumptions people are making here is unreal. But if I make one myself, he wasn't getting any at home. at 15000yen, this girl has done this before i think.

I'm not going to condemn either party, I just wonder how the police got tipped off to what actually went down.

The headline would seem to indicate if he didn't pay for it, it wouldn't be illegal. Is that actually true?? WTH!!??

The age of consent in most of Japan is way higher than most places, including most states in the USA. In most prefectures it is 20 years old. I only mention that since some people seem confused. That's right, sleeping with someone before their 20th birthday is illegal in most of Japan.

bdiego, you need to get with linro and compare notes. There is a wide gap in your assessments of when consensual sex is permitted.

15 is old enough in most Western countries to do what ever you want, so it is strange that this be considered illegal in Japan, the most western Asian nation in the world.

15,000 thousand? Couldn't he banter and get some for 10,000...

I saw in another on-line news paper that this guy was a fairly high level "senior" fire department "official" (i.e. Dept head) with around 2/3 of his career under his belt towards retirement. I wonder will he go to jail, get fired, and lose his retirement benefits? BTW his wife, and kids are probably very pissed off too. VERY SAD Story...

Teen prostitution is NOT more rampant in Japan than in any other society, that's simply coz the kids don't just get away everything... some discipline at all levels. Doesn't feel like if I were to commit a crime I just need to tip a kid to do the job. Sad case... but true.

It may not be more rampant here but what is disturbing is that these girls don't really see anything wrong with selling their bodies so they can buy the latest designer clothes/bags. The police really need to get after the people who are promoting teenage prostitution, parents really need to pay more attention to what their teenage daughters are doing, and girls need to be taught that this is not a road that they want to take. They need to be encouraged to develop self-esteem so that they have enough self respect to pursue better avenues.

And men don't see anything wrong in using these girls to satisfy themselves. The problem needs to tackled from both sides. Punish the guys who want to have sex with children/do something to help the teenagers see sense.

dolphingirl,

people who are promoting teenage prostitution

I know you mean the pimps, but the people really promoting teenage prostitution are the advertisers who use short-skirted high school uniforms, movies that glamorize sexy 14-year-olds, and the music industry that serves up teens and pre-teens as sex objects. Plus, if the girls see nothing wrong with selling their bodies for a bag, jailing the pimps isn't going to stop them.