Police in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, have arrested a 28-year-old man on suspicion of violating the child prostitution and pornography law after he allegedly sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl and filmed himself committing lewd acts with her in May.
Kazuma Inoue, a company employee from Otsu, was arrested on Tuesday, Kyodo News reported. Police said he has refused to talk until he speaks with a lawyer.
According to the warrant, Inoue solicited the girl in April on the internet for a modeling job in May. When she met up with him at a hotel in Otsu, she refused the offer upon learning that the job involved wearing a swimsuit. The suspect then warned her that she would have to pay him a 200,000 yen penalty if she declined the job or do sex-related work if she couldn’t afford the fee.
Inoue is accused of then sexually assaulting the teen and filming obscene acts at the hotel from May 11 to 12th.
The case came to light after Inoue was arrested over another extortion case, and incriminating footage was found during an analysis of his smartphone.
© Japan Today
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Sven Asai
In doubt better chose that damned swimsuit.
Lindsay
Another predatory creep of his leash. Japan really needs to stiffen the penalties for these creeps using the internet to groom minors.
Legrande
Yep as usual filmed and no doubt uploaded.
Jonathan Prin
I would never understand why those girls go on their own.
Friends ? Boyfriend ? Brother ?
So many in the wild in need to be given natural punishment with fists first if required.
blahblah222
A friend of mine was hit with a 10M JPY penalty for the same thing, which she was forced to sign when she was 14. Now she is over 20 but still paying off that debt because there was a 10% / month interest on it. There's nothing the police or the Japanese justice system willing to help with those kind of cases.
Jonathan Prin
@blahblah222
You cannot agree legally to a contract if not adult.
Some people are dumb enough it seems.
blimeylimey
@blahblah222
I don't see how that could possibly be legally enforced. She shouldn't have paid them a single yen.
drlucifer
Unbelievable, common sense not so common. How can everybody around be so dumb
as to know she can't be forced to pay for something she signed when she was a minor.
How is it even possible.
painkiller
blahblah222Today 05:26 pm JST
Just stop paying.
Will be near impossible to enforce repayment.
Mark
parents be ware. So many young boys and girls are being tricked and manipulated to enter a contract online and join these so called modeling agents and most of them end up in debt to the advertiser, then in order to pay the debt they get pushed into the sex industry, shame shame shame on you Japan for not protecting your own kids.
Nemo
These predators prey on girls that usually have no solid adult figure (usually but not exclusively male) in their lives who would very likely sniff this a mile away and steer them away from it.
They certainly have never run into a vengeful father.
painkiller
RedstormToday 07:32 pm JST
I signed a bunch of contracts in Japan--just the other day too, and my parents are still alive so . . .
Mark
Such a gross generalization. I personally have an acquaintance who often takes photos for families and young women who post them on Instagram. I've always been impressed with his lighting, you can't emulate it with just an iPhone.
smithinjapan
Give him a decade or so in prison to reflect on things and see if he becomes a model of his own with the other men.
Also, I know there is a strong desire to be seen and to become famous for many young men and women (or boys and girls, technically, by law), but please check things out a little before agreeing to meet these "talent agents".
CaptDingleheimer
He'll likely rot in jail never seeing the light of day again for 4-6 months.
girl_in_tokyo
It's sad that sex is such a taboo subject in Japan that girls often grow up naive and with a lack of understanding of the danger they are in from predatory men like this one.
They are trusting of adults and taught to respect authority, and often do not question even when there is no logic to what they are being told to do.
That poor girl. If only ...
And this being Japan with its lax laws on sexual assault, that man will probably only get a slap on the wrist and will continue abusing girls and women.
Michael Machida
This kind of " Photographer " gives real Photographers a bad name. Outdoor photoshoots are better and much more safer. Never go to an indoor photoshoot if you do not know the photographer well.
purple_depressed_bacon
This shouldn't hold weight at all because as a minor, any contract she agrees to is null and void due to her age.
Also, not to victim blame but I feel like youths in Japan really lack awareness and understanding of online dangers. Who meets up with a complete stranger they met online at a hotel without bringing a friend? What did they think was going to happen? There needs to be more transparency and education on online stranger danger in Japanese schools because more often than not, cases like this keep popping up in the news.
girl_in_tokyo
Wil Today 09:34 am JST
I'm not sure where your impression came from, but really, Japan absolutely is quite conservative about sex, though of course, in different ways than western countries might be. And parents very often don't give their children the information they need to keep themselves safe or make well-informed decisions later in life. Honestly, this is not unique to Japan, as parents in the UK are often reluctant to talk frankly to their kids about sex. But unlike the UK, the sex education the kids get in school here is very very basic, nowhere near comprehensive, and they never ask questions - so if parents don't fill in the gaps, kids don't learn until it's too late.
And they certainly do not teach girls about the need to protect themselves. People just do not talk about sex in the blunt, straightforward way that is really needed to help young girls and teens understand that there are men out there who will use their inexperience and naivety to their advantage. Some women even find it difficult to discuss the topic even among themselves. I've known Japanese women who were raped, but didn't even know enough to call it that at the time.
And no, religion has nothing to do with this. It has more to do with other aspects of Japanese culture, such as the culture of shame, the emphasis on self-restraint and self-discipline, which of course we don't need to go into here. You can easily ask a friend or read up on that for yourself.
If you want the research, I doubt you'll find it very easily and it won't be in English. You'll just have to take the word of women who have lived it. And really? That should be enough for you. Believe what women are telling you.
girl_in_tokyo
WilToday 02:41 pm JST
I'm not a social psychologist, so why would I be familiar with research in that area, or even know if such research actually exists? Sorry, can't help you.
I'm saying that girls and teens in Japan generally don't get the kind of comprehensive sex education, particularly around the issues of safety and consent, that they need to keep themselves safe and to be able to advocate for themselves in face of pushy aggressive predatory men who use their standing and authority, as well as superior physical strength, to scare and take advantage of them.
In fact, this is not just a Japan problem. It happens everywhere. It's just a bit worse in Japan because the culture here is more patriarchal.
My experience as a woman does give me general overall understanding of the experience of women. That's what "experience" means. So if I am telling you that I had such-and-such experience, and a lot of women I know also had such-as-such an experience, it shouldn't require a research project for you to believe it. But hey, knock yourself out. :)
lostrune2
Lesson: don't leave things in your smartphone lol
The purity of Nadeshiko
purple_depressed_bacon
You too must be extremely naive and gullible if you believe that meeting up with a stranger, never mind what he said and what he claims his profession is, at a hotel will lead to anything but bad intentions. All I'm saying is that the girl, who is 17 should have enough common sense and instinct to be wary of the entire situation. The mere fact that she blindly trusted a complete stranger's word and went to meet him in an enclosed private space speaks of serious misjudgment. Children are taught from young never to go away with a stranger. A 17-year-old should be old enough to exercise some common sense.
girl_in_tokyo
purple_depressed_baconToday 08:11 pm JST
For someone who said "I'm not victim blaming" you sure do like to blame women for their own rapes.
Nice guy. Bet women are just lining up to take you home to meet mom.
purple_depressed_bacon
@girl_in_tokyo - if a woman were to be walking home at night, minding her own business and someone jumps out and sexually assaults her then yes, absolutely, she is not to be blamed. She did not orchestrate the event at all; was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.
In this article's situation, I am merely pointing out that the 17-year-old should not be completely absolved of all responsibility because she made the conscious decision to meet up with a complete stranger online. Who does that? And at a hotel room. The mere fact that he wanted to meet at a hotel room should be cause enough to ring several alarm bells. I take issue with her serious lack of judgement and common sense. Should a person shoulder zero responsibility when they touch a hot stove knowing that they'll get burned from said hot stove? They way you're all coddling her and defending her is not going to help her learn from her mistakes. She needs to understand that her actions and lack of judgement exacerbated an already shady and suspicious situation.
Strangerland
Society has decided that statutory rape laws need to exist, as minors, due to underdeveloped brains and lack of the requisite life experience to be able to understand the consequences of their actions, require protection from coercion by those who have fully developed brains and more life experience, creating a very distinct power balance. Society does this to protect our children.
You sir, are victim blaming. Contrary to your assertion, she actually is completely absolved of responsibility, because we (modern) society does not place responsibility to not sleep with minors, on the minors. The responsibility is 100% on the adults.
girl_in_tokyo
purple_depressed_baconToday 01:33 am JST
I see. So it is the 17 year old girl's own fault that she was raped by an older, more experienced man, because she should have known, despite her naivete and inexperience, that this particular man was lying and planned to rape her.
What do you propose her punishment should be? Because it sounds to me like you are just DYING to punish her for having the temerity to think she can trust that men won't rape her.
Or maybe, just maybe, we shouldn't blame the victims and just punish men who rape. Ya think?
Strangerland
Quite the exaggeration. While I don't agree it's her fault at all, you've taken it to a ridiculous extreme. Let's look at what he actually said:
Hardly "dying to punish her".
girl_in_tokyo
StrangerlandToday 09:09 am JST
Punishment comes in all sorts of forms, including, but not limited to slut shaming and victim blaming, which men on this forum are quite happy to engage in.
So yes, he is all ready and eager to punish her, as well as all women, by spreading victim-blaming rhetoric.
Strangerland
The problem with your extremist arguments girl in Tokyo, is that they cause the valid points you make to get drowned out by your rhetoric, which in the end doesn't accomplish anything.
girl_in_tokyo
WilToday 09:12 am JST
I did. You didn't believe me.
Your attitude is so very typical of men that it doesn't surprise me at all, and I know better than to waste more of my time on trying to explain.
Strangerland
I think intelligent humans in general want actual evidence of a supposed trend of a society, rather than an anecdote that does not prove it. I'm not sure if that's a male/female thing as much as an intelligence/lack of intelligence thing.
Strangerland
Me too. The problem is she thinks that misandry is an appropriate response to misogyny.
girl_in_tokyo
I shouldn't, but can't help one last parting comment. An angry reaction to sexism is not akin to misandry, Mr. Strangerland. Grow up.
I told Wil what I have learned over my years of living in Japan talking with other women about what and how they were taught about sex, and I explained how sex education in Japan is generally taught. He didn't believe me. And instead of looking it up for himself, which he can obviously do, he decided it was MY personal responsibility to "prove" it to him. This is akin to me saying "It's sunny outside" and him responding "show me the research on sunny Japanese summers" instead of looking out the bloody window.
No woman thinks her experience is universal. We well know other women have experiences that are better, or worse, than her own. So when a woman tells you of her experience, you don't just dismiss it because "all women have difference experiences". Your experience of how society treats women, reacts to women, and how women move though this world and deal with sexism is limited. Because of this, you aren't the best judge, which means you need to listen and believe women instead of arguing with them.
Now, if you have the opportunity to speak on an extreme personal level with dozens of women, if they are willing to tell you about their sexual experiences in detail and not censor themselves out of fear of male judgement, then I would encourage you to do that. In fact, I hope you do, because it will open your eyes.
And yes, I'm sorry, but arguing with a woman who shares her experience with you is a sexist reaction. You may not mean to be sexist, and you may not be always behave in a sexist manner, and you might otherwise be a great stand up non-sexist guy, but that particular action WAS sexist.
So go talk to more women. Ask them pointed questions. Ask them about rape. If you approach them in an open-minided non-judgmental non-argumentatitve way, they might even open up to you and tell you the whole truth. Good luck.
girl_in_tokyo
Should have mentioned:
Women tell one another intimate details about their sex lives that they would never share with men who are not their boyfriends or husbands. That is, women will talk to each other and share intimate experiences with each other very naturally, with automatic trust. They don't do that with men because, of course, they can't trust men - they fear the exact reaction I got from Wil: disbelief, scorn, mansplaining. As I said, if you can keep your mouth shut and just listen, instead of questioning and arguing, you might learn something. But first you gotta be the kind of man a woman feels she can trust, and if your reaction here is any indication, you aren't there yet.
Jonathan Prin
@girl in Tokyo
I agree with the men side. Sorry again.
You end using the "Men can´t be trusted" theme.
One also needs to distinguish victim blaming and law acceptance.
It is not because some say, like me, that this girl should have been more careful that the law shall not apply.
Prevention is as benefecial as action.
I told my daughters to ask their parents advice if wishing to go somewhere or do some special activities on their own.
Law punishment has never stop criminal activities, and never will.
If you can avoid by common sense to be assaulted, do it.
I never scorned women but you do on men as a general view.
There is no age to evolve please. If some men can´t be trusted, some can. Same with women. The only difference is that men look actively for sex while most women don´t. That is part of our species definition, it is not a flaw.