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Man arrested for attempted voyeurism of neighbors having sex from balcony

35 Comments

Police in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, have arrested a 30-year-old man on suspicion of voyeurism after he attempted to film a man and woman having sex in the apartment next door, from his balcony. 

Police said Kensuke Sugawa, a carpenter, is accused of using his smartphone camera to film the couple in the living room of their apartment at around 11:50 p.m. on July 15, Sankei Shimbun reported.  

The man noticed Sugawa leaning over his balcony and pointing his camera into his living room and called 110.

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35 Comments
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The man noticed Sugawa leaning over his balcony and pointing his camera into his living room

That couple didn't close their curtain before they doing their act?

-14 ( +12 / -26 )

@sakurasuki

And why is that the issue for the couple.

Closing the curtains is not the first thing i would think about.

19 ( +26 / -7 )

@Albert

Closing the curtains is not the first thing i would think about.

Well you should public indecency 公然わいせつ is punishable crime in Japan.

Let's say you are in first floor with bed room facing toward a street and you have school kids just going home after school and they saw your act, that incident can be prevented only by using simple curtain.

-24 ( +6 / -30 )

Hope he posted the vid on Youtube or similar before the cops arrived :)

Really under the circumstances both sides should have received a stern warning from the police and that should have been the end of it. An arrest was unnecessary.

-2 ( +13 / -15 )

That the accused filmed it took a level up from any dismissal with a warning.

2 ( +7 / -5 )

Not closing the curtain is dumb, it’s not a crime. I’d be more worried about neighbors in an adjacent building being able to see, not someone filming over from my balcony. An arrest is warranted.

10 ( +15 / -5 )

They all should have agreed to upload and make some profit from it. 1/3 each. Win/win

At my previous apartment there was no other building closer than about 600 meters or more that would have even been able to try and see in my living room balcony doors. That was one reason I chose it, I had a bit of view over the area, and people didn’t view me. I spend 4-5 months of the year naked in my apartment due to the heat. The Mrs loves it!

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

Well, Albert makes the best point so far. There are times when you are in your home and, well, things like this happen. Curtain? There are curtains?

Someone decent would have told them that they should be more careful about what people may see when you act without caution.

Filming them is just plain vile. Not only was the arrest warranted, there are laws against being a Peeping Tom.

14 ( +14 / -0 )

He’s a sexual,deviant who is obviously addicted to online pornography. He needs all his devices looked at and his risk to the public determined by the law. If he is a serial offender, a long stretch required, testi removal and lifelong tagging and ban from going online.

-21 ( +1 / -22 )

Well you should public indecency 公然わいせつ is punishable crime in Japan.

Doesn’t apply if you’re in your house - or if you don’t get caught. hehehehe I’ve done it outside in very public spaces no problem. It’s quite liberating! 5/7 would recommend!

5 ( +11 / -6 )

He’s a sexual,deviant who is obviously addicted to online pornography. 

If he was addicted to interwebz pron, ya think he’d just look at the internet, where porn is free and legal?

The main reason these deviants resort to illegal methods to get their rocks off, is because they desire an element of “forbidden fruit” that the Internet can’t satisfy.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Well you should public indecency 公然わいせつ is punishable crime in Japan.

Doesn’t apply if you’re in your house

If you can be seen from a public or common access space, you may be found guilty of public indecency.

There was a (in)famous case of a couple that got a bit handsy at a home party, and left the door half open. Another party guest saw them as he passed in the hallway and sued for indecent exposure and mental anguish for being “forced by circumstances to witness a lewd act.” She won an out of court settlement for an undisclosed amount.

https://www.bengo4.com/c_1009/guides/1454/#:~:text=%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%81%9F%E3%82%B1%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B9-,%E8%87%AA%E5%AE%85%E3%81%AE%E7%AA%93%E3%81%AE%E8%BF%91%E3%81%8F%E3%81%A7%E8%87%AA%E6%85%B0%E8%A1%8C%E7%82%BA%E3%82%92%E3%81%97,%E3%81%AF%E3%81%82%E3%82%8B%E3%81%AE%E3%81%A7%E3%81%97%E3%82%87%E3%81%86%E3%81%8B%E3%80%82

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

If you can be seen from a public or common access space, you may be found guilty of public indecency.

I dunno. Proof? Take a photo and now you are breaking the law. Sounds tricky to me.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

First thought was that the guy had a view of their flat and they should have closed the curtains if they wanted privacy. But, no, he was next door. He would have had to lean out over his balcony and poke his face into theirs. So, yeah, I can see calling the police in that case.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

By all means, enjoy the sounds as best you can, but never take it any further without invitation.

We don't know what floor their apartment is on. If they're high up, then I suppose it's fairly reasonable to not bother about the curtains, especially if the lights are off.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

I don’t understand the argument between whether this is a crime and a ground for an arrest or not, the article says he was arrested. Who knows, he could easily be the one taking pictures of women up the stairs everyday with the nerve and audacity to move over to an adjacent balcony to do so.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

in the apartment next door, from his balcony.

so the man was standing on his own balcony?

leaning over his balcony and pointing his camera into his living room

And leaning over his balcony or their shared balcony?

So I am assuming he was still actually standing on his own property... maybe he should have been the one to have called the police and complained they were putting their acts of sex on display, I mean if all he had to do was lean over his balcony to see them... they are lucky he didn't have kids. It could have been them leaning over the balcony...

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

So I am assuming he was still actually standing on his own property... maybe he should have been the one to have called the police and complained they were putting their acts of sex on display, I mean if all he had to do was lean over his balcony to see them... they are lucky he didn't have kids. It could have been them leaning over the balcony...

That's a pretty weird stance to take.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Neighbor vouyerism in national headlines..

Proving again and again that Japan is one of the safest countries to live in the world..

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

He probably thought it was a robber, LOL.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Should have had sex on the balcony as well and get few LIKES and followers too.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

having sex on balcony?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Tokyoliving,

How does a crime story about a pervert secretly filming his neighbours having sex prove that Japan is a safe country?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

@sakurasuki.

You don't know what you mentioned.

Public and in house are different things.

It is dumb to leave curtains open but is not illegal.

I wonder why you so obsessed with rules and all your links which nobody reads.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I think the phrase many are missing here is "next door". These apartments may have a view into nature giving the expectation to the couple that no one would have the opportunity to see them. I imagine that if the voyeurs and couples balconies are close enough that he could lean from one over the other to film, the walls between apartments must be pretty thin.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

How does a crime story about a pervert secretly filming his neighbours having sex prove that Japan is a safe country?

It doesn't. It's the extremely low crime rate, placing it at less dangerous than almost every other country on the planet, that proves Japan is a safe country.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

It seems to me that if you can see it from your balcony it is fair game for video. Period. If you expect privacy close your drapes or blinds. What the couple did was, to me, a public exhibition.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

purposely going out of his way to invade their privacy and video them without their permission is the issue here.

Anything visible from your own premises is fair game. It isn't private if you can be seen from outside. Seems like a simple concept. The US Supreme Court has ruled that there is no expectation of privacy when someone is outdoors. So this couple is doing the tube steak boogie with the drapes wide open so their neighbor(s) can see. Too bad for them if somebody take a video. Next time close the drapes.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Anything visible from your own premises is fair game. It isn't private if you can be seen from outside. Seems like a simple concept. The US Supreme Court has ruled that there is no expectation of privacy when someone is outdoors. So this couple is doing the tube steak boogie with the drapes wide open so their neighbor(s) can see. Too bad for them if somebody take a video. Next time close the drapes.

That's law. Looking in someone's window is more than just a matter of law, it's a matter of morality. While it may be legal to lean over and look into someone's window, morally it makes you a creep.

Without a diagram to show what happened here, it's hard to judge whether these people were having sex in an openly visible window, or a creepy weirdo was making an effort to peer into their home from his.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Next time... take a quick picture and call the police... and then pray the police do not arrest you for voyerism but arrest them for semi-public acts of lude conduct.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Sakurasuki - public indecency?

There's no such thing as public indecency for things done inside your own house, 20 meters above the ground - this is Japan, not China, where you have no privacy inside your home.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

That's a pretty weird stance to take.

Very much so, and one that would get you a sore neck as well as a criminal record.

I lived in a second floor apartment and there was no way anyone could see me unless they up the mountains in the distance with a powerful telescope.

But I suppose technically the neighbour could have somehow stretched over the barrier and seen with a mirror (phones weren't so advanced in those days).

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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