Police in Osaka said Thursday they have arrested a 43-year-old man on suspicion of kidnapping a 13-year-old girl in Kagawa Prefecture.
According to police, the suspect, identified as Mitsuo Sato, waited outside the girl's home on Tuesday, TBS reported. At around 9 p.m., the girl left home to visit her grandmother. Police said that Sato talked the girl into getting into his car, and then drove off to Osaka.
After the girl failed to return home, the mother called police on Wednesday morning. Just after midday, she received a phone call from her daughter telling her she was in Tokyo.
At about 10 p.m. Wednesday, police found Sato and the girl in a hotel in Osaka's Nishi Ward. Following his arrest, police said Sato denied having kidnapped the child. He was quoted as saying, "We were just driving around and having a little chat."
Police said Sato had visited the girl's mother on Monday and introduced himself as the father of one of the girl's classmates who had had recently moved to Tokyo, and gave her his cell phone number.
© Japan Today
27 Comments
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Kobe White Bar Owner
!!!chemical castration!!!!
5138008
@Kobe
Totally agree, far too many of these lolikorns around, i wonder how big his kiddy manga collection is?
Disillusioned
He is definitely a Scumbag! However, what was the girl doing? She didn't ignore his advances and seemed to be willing to do whatever he wanted.
Wc626
The girl is an IDIOT for entering the vehicle. How friggn' gullable, even @13.
Mirai Hayashi
As much as she lacked common sense for the decision she made to go off with this pedderass, I don't think that blaming the victim and calling her an idiot is cool. Children make mistakes, and luckily she has the opportunity to learn from this one. The real IDIOT is the waste of skin, who lured her into his car.
Richard E Semelka Jr.
It sounds like the girl was curious about him and what was going to happen to her, but the guy was definitely working on something, hopefully she's alright and a little smarter. As far as the guy, yes, castration is a good solution. But don't ever blame a victim!
nath
It's a sad state of affairs when a 13 year old girl is called an idiot for being too trusting.
CrisGerSan
I am glad she is ok, and I hope the man gets life without parole
FightingViking
If the girl was home at that time, she must have surely thought that everything was OK since he had talked with her mother. I would probably have trusted someone who had been talking with my mother when I was her age.
slumdog
Yes, this was probably his plan. Scary.
Hopefully the girl was not hurt and will not suffer any lasting effects from the ordeal.
CGB Spender
The overreaction among JT commenters is astounding! Nobody was seriously harmed and people are screaming "castration" and "the girl is an idiot". I can only say "face-palm" to that.
tallpinedog
Hmm.. the girl disappeared around 9:00 p.m. Wednesday and her mother reported her missing the next morning?
DaDude
from Tokyo you mean right?
Wc626
Bad man for initiating contact with the 13 yr old girl. Yes. But, stupid girl for voluntarily entering the vehicle of a stranger. She must be too gullable or very adventurous. Or perhaps she was thinking how much ¥¥ she could be compensated for after the car windows get steamed-up. C'mon people. This is Japan. The scenario i've just described is very common.
Tahoochi
hmmmm.... it does make one wonder what the girl was thinking, getting into the car, and even making it to a hotel with the guy??? ...which no doubt was a "Love" hotel. And why wouldn't the mother call the grandmother after her 13 yr old daughter didn't come home at night? Surely, if she realized earlier that her duaghter was missing, she would would have contacted police earlier??? No doubt the man should be arrested and punished, but something isn't right.
Wc626
Thank you Tahoochi. Indeed. Something aint right. IF the girl was smart, she would've refused any small-talk or to enter that man's car. She should've went straight to granny' s house.
Does anyone know how much underage prostitution goes on in this country?? (since bubble era, especially.) Go to Ikebukuro, Shibuya, Roppongi, Omiya, (your local station) a soapland etc, etc . . . Yet, japanese society, as a whole, will deny this & pretend it doesn't exist.
Scnadal.Lova
I wouldn't call willing to get in a strangers car kidnapping. bad on the girls part.
jmgcruz
"smooth talker" I guess?
lostrune2
They were probably just negotiating.............
toshiko
Lucky she phoned, Police can request phone call tracing to telephone company to find exact place where she called.
Fadamor
You're right. It IS a sad state of affairs. But that's the world we live in today. 13-year-olds in Japan have (hopefully) already received the instruction on how not everyone in the town/city has their best interests in mind and to not trust people simply because they are an adult. If not, then the Board of Education has failed their students yet again.
toshiko
.Police said Sato had visited the girl’s mother on Monday and introduced himself as the father of one of the girl’s classmates who had had recently moved to Tokyo, and gave her his cell phone number.
This guy fooled the girl.
The young girl thought she was going to Tokyo. And she called home from Osaka thinking she was in Tokyo. Now, Japaneae schools and parents have to tell students never get in any cars that is not driven by their family members. .
Wc626
Wow. Then this girl is really an idiot. The plan was to go to grandmas house REMEMBER. Not drive around all the way to tokyo. Stupider of her to phone home frm Osaka when she THOUGHT she was in Tokyo. How do you NOT know you're in the nation's captal unless your blindfolded.
Mocheake
Mom should have smelled a rat when this guy just dropped by out of the blue to introduce himself. Lock the creep up for a few years minimum and order him to keep away from school-age children.
Wc626
Yeah. & teach young girls to say, "No." Then Go! & tell someone.
toshiko
It may not be typical; kidnap but by accusing him as a kidnapper, he will get lengthy sentence in crime court.
Hampus Björklund
There is no posible way she didn't know she wasn't in Tokyo. It doesn't even take an hour by car from Kanagawa to Tokyo but there is at least a 6 H drive to Osaka, She most likely knew she was in Osaka and lied to her mother. Heck why would she willingly go in to a Hotel ? with a 43Y old man ? I mean she is 13, she clearly knew what was going on.