Man arrested for cutting schoolgirl's skirt in train car

And the loony of the day award goes to....

Look at the set on this dude....He's shamelessly admitted that he's a pedophile and totally proud of it....oh please put this guy away.

The good news is that he's caught.

Considering how short the skirt is worn by middle-high schoolers, 3cm might have been enough to take a peek at her undies.

@ Farmboy - I think this creeps "honesty" may be related to the J-cops, ahem... special "interrogation techniques". I hope this dangerous sicko is put away and is forever banned from being in the vicinity of kids.

Makes me shiver every time i read stuff like this. Some creep trying to get a peek at underwear....

"He's shamelessly admitted that he's a pedophile and totally proud of it...."

No. He's shamelessly admitted that he's sexual attracted to young teen girls. He can't actually be chategorized as a pedophile by any legitimate definition of the word. Pedophilia refers to a sexual preference for prepubescent children, i.e., before puberty. A 12~15-year-old is not prepubescent.

This doesn't make the guy any less creepy, of course. But it bears mentioning.

The saddest thing is, he is not the only one! One should expect this kind of loonacy in a country where 14 year old girls are pop idols. So, who is your favorite AKB member loon?

@LFRAgain

A 12~15-year-old is not prepubescent

Oh, so its okay to act on your sexual fantasies about 12-15 years. HES 41 years OLD, and he's trying to look at a junior high school aged girl's underwear. This is pedophilia!!

Oh, so its okay to act on your sexual fantasies about 12-15 years.

In the sentence immediately after he/she says it's not OK...

The American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary states, Pedophilia is the act or fantasy on the part of an adult of engaging in sexual activity with a child or children.

Japan does a world class job of producing perverted weirdos.

@Neneswsw

Considering how short the skirt is worn by middle-high schoolers, 3cm might have been enough to take a peek at her undies.

Do you really think that parents and school boards would allow for school uniforms to be that short? The actual school uniform skirts goes a little above the knee line. The girls roll up the skirts themselves to make them shorter. (For having witnessed this a lot at a school I once taught at) As for why they roll it up, well look at what they see on TV everyday leading them to believe that showing more skin is what cool people do.

One less pervert out in the streets, how many left?

What this guy did was inexcusable. Most junior high school girls that I come across wear full-length skirts. It's usually the high school girls who wear them extremely short. A guy who cuts off the skirt of one of these girls or tries to cop a cheap feel on a train certainly is a pervert but don't call me one for looking at what they are trying hard to show.

I believe that he wanted to be caught. He seems more like someone who is acting on his softer fantasies, afraid that he will also act on or that this will escalate into something worse. He did it three times without getting caught. This time he makes sure to get caught and owns up to three other attacks. I hope he gets help.

Yeah, another terrible attack, and all, and of course probably scary for the girl, but, does this quote seem strange to anyone else?

“The girl was so cute, I thought how nice it would be to see her underwear. I have done the same thing on three other occasions.”

No-one I know talks like that, and no, I don't mean the sexual harassment part, but the sudden offering up of having done it on three other occasions in that kind of wording. Certainly a criminal wouldn't talk like that...

Is this bad translation? A really really odd guy? Or a forced confession?

I can't tell...

Mirai,

Oh, so its okay to act on your sexual fantasies about 12-15 years.

Uhhh, no. Didn't say that even remotely and I can't imagine why you would think I did.

Also, no, it's still not pedophilia. You're just redefining an actual clinically diagnosed condition to fit, as best as I can tell, your visceral and very emotional rejection of the thought of this creep getting worked up over a 12-15-year-old. Fair enough. I agree with you. It is indeed creepy.

But it's still not actual pedophilia.

FYI, the American Heritage dictionary also defines "child" or "children" as "person between birth and puberty."

So, he's a creep. He's a pervert. But he's definitely not a pedophile.

You can't simply toss around the word "pedophile" this casually. It implies something far more dark and troubling than a skeevy old man with clear issues getting hot and bothered about a teenage girl.

Words matter. Their meanings matter. They aren't subject to revision based on your discomfort with the subject being so great at to prompt you to look for the worst possible word you can find to define it, accurately or not. It's akin to being so angry with the police after getting nicked in a speed trap that you call them jack-booted Nazis. Uh, no. The Nazis were actually pretty bad people.

If you can't use the word correctly and in the correct context, then don't use it at all.

Thanks Emilie, but I already knew that.

Here's my take on this kind of thing.

I honestly don't what to make of guys like this. I'm more concerned about stopping him from continuing what he did or possible escalation. Punishment takes second priority.

Let's look at a recent case, that of Peter Truong and Mark Newton. These sickos bought a baby and took him around the world to be subject to abuse by others. That kid is now 6 years old and the only "parents" he has known are these monsters.

He's also the same age as the boy who recently got suspended from school for kissing a girl in his class - I remember swapping notes in Grade 3 so I wonder what would happen to me in this PC crazy world. Seriously, if it's not harmful, just leave kids alone!

I really think people should lose the hysteria and think more rationally. There's mild stuff and there's really bad stuff. People who engage in the latter should be locked up for good. It's harder to judge the former, at least for me. I did have some nutjob touch me when I was younger. Back in those days, nobody cared. (If I was a girl, they'd trip over themselves playing hero) . Now I'm a lot older, I don't hate the guy. I think he should be assessed by professionals to determine how big a threat he is. As for punishment, make him do some community service if they determine he's learned his lesson. Otherwise lock him up, not to punish him, but to remove him as a threat. This is what must take precedence.

The guy in question? She's probably too young so how about her parents deciding? Tie him down and let dad do his best for a minute or two, with the understanding that permanent injuries are not allowed. Or tie him to a post in public for a day or two and let people spit, etc on him. My guess is he'll reform real quick, but let him know that a mandatory sentence, in jail or an institution is waiting if he wants to try his luck.

The reason for his honesty is because he doesn't think he did anything wrong. Based on how often this kind of thing happens, like skirt flipping or taking under skirt shots but even J-cops, you have to wonder if there is something very wrong with Japanese men or at least how they are raised. Some schools have started allowing girls to wear trousers as part of there uniform. The skirt may go the way of the hakama or maybe the hakama of Meiji and Taisho will return.

It is indeed creepy

No, here what's creepy: A man (any age) cutting up a skirt of a grown woman (any adult age) so that he could see her underwear.

What this guy did goes beyond just "creepy". He cut up a child's skirt to see her underwear. When I say child, I mean, under aged, not an adult, still developing mentally and physically....this is isn't just "creepy", it's child abuse and molestation. Just imaging if your 12-13 year old daughter comes home from school with a cut up skirt and tells you that some middle aged man on the train tried to get a peek at her underwear. Is your response really going to be "oh, that's creepy, but you're too old for it to be considered pedophilia?

I think you are too locked in on chronological age. SHE'S A CHILD, and by law she will continued to consider a child until she is 20 years old (in Japan), and by that definition alone, this man (who is more than twice her age) should be convicted as a child molester.

"What this guy did goes beyond just "creepy". " @Mirai. Jeez, relax a bit! No one has supported or condoned what this guy did. We all agree---a rarity on this board---that the guy is a pervert and should be punished. And LFRA's definition of "pedophile" but again no one is supporting what this guy did.

Whoah, weirdorama...!

So many people here seem to not be able to behave themselves and control their urges. I am sure this has something to do with all the social stigmas Japanese like to apply to themselves.

Mirai,

When you say "put away", what do you mean exactly?

Mirai,

I think you're too emotionally invested in this to rationally see anything other what you want to see.

No one here is condoning what this guy did. No one here is saying it's more or less devastating in any way emotionally to the girl it happened to.

What I am saying, however, is that it's not pedophilia. That's a highly charged word that gets bandied around way too much these days by folks -- like you -- who can't seem to find the proper words to express your distress over truly distressing stories like the one above.

Call him a pervert. Call him a weirdo. Call him depraved. But stop calling him a pedophile. It's completely inaccurate, no matter how passionately you feel about making sure others are as offended by what he did as you are.

A pedophile is someone who expresses sexual interest in prepubescent children. There is no other definition for it. The girl he assaulted is not a prepubescent child. Accept that and move on.

I am with LFRAgain.

A sick and perverted individual.

This article is primarily about the sexual interest in prepubescent children. For more in depth information on the sexual act, see Child sexual abuse. For the primary sexual interest in 11–14 year old pubescents, see Hebephilia. For the primary sexual interest in mid-to-late adolescents (15–19), see Ephebophilia.

<http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedophilia >

Readers, please stay focused on the story rather than bickering about the definition of pedophilia, which is not relevant to this particular story.

While I feel sorry for the girl, it really says something that this story gains far more attention than some poor guy getting murdered the same day.

She wasn't hurt. Let's be grateful and hope she gets over it soon.

What I want to know is who caught him? Did the poor girl see or feel him do it? A passenger opposite? I mean someone just whips out a pair of scissors and starts hacking away at the girl's skirt.

Perverts like him need banged up in a cell while wearing a straight-jacket... and with walls plastered with AKB posters. The torture alone would break him.

Yes, funny how forthright peoples"confessions" are after being arrested by the police in Japan. Ive never once heard that comment "refuses to talk". Having said that, I hope they throw away the key with this guy.

I very much would like to have all trains in Japan fitted with cameras. Maybe that might help stop people like him from brazenly doing such things.

thank god I don't wear miniskirts... lol

Seems like he had a panty fetish which is a separate paraphila from pedophila. In and of itself a panty fetish is not a crime. Damaging someone else's clothing without their permission in order to feed your fetish, however, IS a crime. Fetishes amongst consenting adults is fine, but when you can't restrain the urge to satisfy your fetish and do so against the victim's will REGARDLESS of their age, you've gone from "fine" to "criminal behavior".

Guy with scissors is an unhealthy hebephile. This seems more a case of the suspect needing medical observation away from society for a long time. I feel sorry for the kid though.

As to the difference in American and Japanese culture — I can think of at least one US celebrity who likes his a bit too young and serially repeats his behavior when he tires of the flavor of the moment.

Let's be happy "Scissors Man" is out of the picture.