Nagano prefectural police have arrested a 39-year-old man on suspicion of sexually assaulting and robbing a woman in her 20s in her apartment in December.
Police said Keisuke Sato, a company employee, broke into the woman’s apartment in the early hours of Dec 19, local media reported. He is accused of waking the woman, sexually assaulting her, and stealing 28,000 yen from her wallet.
Police said the woman told them she does not know Sato who was arrested on Friday. No information was given on how Sato surfaced as a suspect.
© Japan Today
31 Comments
Yamada Taro
Why do they say "arrested" when they just let repeat rapist go because they can't remember doing it. It should bought in for coffee and an interview then set free to rape again. There are more sexual predators in Japan than Thailand because the Government refuses to adapt a sexual offender registry.
Lindsay
This is the kind of scum that prisons are made for. He’d be facing 10-15 years in jail in Australia for break and enter and sexual assault. Sadly, I fear the most jail time he’ll see in Japan is a couple of years, if at all.
chotto_2
Is that all?
In **** he'd be lookign at 20-25 years.
Stop comparing other countires and their judicial systems, and call it out for what it is - a horrendous crime for which he probably won't get a long enough sentence.
TokyoLiving
To the jail with that loser clown..
Norm
Hope he does good time for his heinous selfishness.
Not for everyone.
kohakuebisu
Horrible story. I wonder how he broke in.
Our eldest lives on her own in Nagano City. It's the third floor of three, which we hope makes it more secure. I'd have happily paid extra for an apartment block with an "autolock" lobby, but none were available near her college. We have had the odd comment from people who said they would not let their teenager daughter live alone, for reasons which will include personal safety.
wallace
Nagano City is still very safe.
kohakuebisu
On searching for Japanese stories, its unclear whether the door was locked and no evidence of forced entry.
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/9aebf61c5cc4d628c04ec0728b00141a6f13628d
daikaka
Arrested but not charged. In 99% of cases the prosecutors will drop all charges in a few months.
it is next to impossible to get a prison sentence for rape unless it results in death or grave injuries, even in that case the sentence will be lighter than typical murder or assault charges.
At most he may be charged for the 28,000 robbery.
girl_in_tokyo
wallaceToday 11:28 am JST
Would this be what you would say to a woman who told you she was raped?
If not, then why would you write it here, where women who have experienced rape and other forms of sexual assault can read it?
girl_in_tokyo
anonymouse Today 02:41 pm JST
This.
Also, may I point out that when there is an article about a woman who was raped because she was out late at night, or was alone with a guy she had just met, or left her door unlocked, the comments focus on the mistakes she made. These comments just drip with victim-blaming, and yet here you are bragging about how safe Japan is for women.
You can't have it both ways.
You can't in one breath talk about how safe Japan is and how rare sex crimes are, and in the next criticize women for being careless. If it were safe as safe as you claim, women would be able to walk alone at night, be alone with men without fear, and accidentally leaving the door unlocked would not be an issue.
Aslo? Not replying and just downvoting posts is characteristic of people who know they are wrong and also know they can't defend what they are saying.
wallace
A woman has made a claim she was raped, which is serious but that in itself does make Nagano City an unsafe city. Rapes happen in every city. Most go unreported.
I didn't say Nagano City was "safe" I said it was "still very safe".
We lived in Nagano for 10 years and from my experience, it is a safer city than many others.
This victim claimed she was raped at home. How much more caution could she have taken? More locks on the door?
A single-sex crime does not make Nagano an unsafe city.
Japan is not free of sex crimes.
wallace
Number of cases of forcible sexual intercourses and indecencies recorded by the police in Japan from 2014 to 2023
The figure for rapes has doubled since 2014.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/864883/japan-reported-cases-rape-and-forcible-indecencies/
wallace
The crime rates are an indication of the safety of a city as are the types of crimes committed.
In 2019 Nagano's crime rate was 4.10 compared with Osaka's 9.6. Nagano had the 31st lowest crime rate.
https://nbakki.hatenablog.com/entry/Crime_Rate_by_Prefecture_in_Japan_2019
girl_in_tokyo
/dev/randomMar. 17 07:35 pm JST
My question was, if you were face-to-face with a woman who told you she had been raped, would you say to her, "Well, Japan is pretty safe."
I know you wouldn't, because hopefully you would know better than to say something so incredibly insensitive.
Yet people here continually write things like this, knowing that there will be women who have been raped reading it. I would like to know why these people think it is okay to do that, as if their comments won't effect anyone.
I am here to tell you that your comments here, and everywhere else MATTER.
It is possible to make that statement without being accused of abusing victims though minimsation, if you are not making that comment in a thread that is about rape.
I suggest that before commenting, imagine you are speaking those words to a woman who has experienced sexual assault, and THEN decide whether you want to put those words out into the world.
Think about it.
Strangerland
The problem is, you don't think ANYWHERE on the planet is safe.
That's an extreme position, and it's hard to have rational discussions with those who take extreme positions.
girl_in_tokyo
wallace Mar. 17 07:51 pm JST
Correct. The estimation by sex crime prosecutors that is most-often quoted in the media and by womens' sexual assault support groups such as Spring (http://spring-voice.org/english/) is that only 4% of rapes are reported.
As such,
No, crime rates are not an indication of the safety of a city, because very few sex crimes are reported. From your link,
The number of recorded rapes in Japan increased to approximately 2.7 thousand cases in 2023 At the same time, the number of reported forcible indecencies also increased to about 6.1 thousand in 2023.
I also should point out that women don't read crime stats and think, "Oh, that means I'm safe."
Women decide what kinds of precautions to take by listening to their instincts, paying attention to their surroundings, remembering stories told them by other women, and of course, from their own personal experiences of sexual assault.
And who are you to tell them that they are wrong.
Are you a woman? Have you ever experienced sexual assault?
If not, then how can you possibly know how safe women feel in Nagano, or anywhere else?
Why would you ask this question.
girl_in_tokyo
I forgot to include the calculations. If this:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/864883/japan-reported-cases-rape-and-forcible-indecencies/
Is correct, then:
*The number of recorded rapes in Japan increased to approximately 2.7 thousand cases in 2023 from approximately 1.7 thousand cases in the previous year. At the same time, the number of reported forcible indecencies also increased from 4.7 thousand cases to about 6.1 thousand in 2023.*
2700 is 4% of 67,500.
6000 is 4% of 150,000.
Now tell me how safe Japan is for women.
Go on and downvote me instead of making an argument. You're just showing you are a coward.
girl_in_tokyo
@ Strangerland Today 08:54 am JST
You read this statement:
And rather than replying to it, you come back with this:
First, you need to justify why you would make such statements as "Japan is safe for women" in a comment section on an article about rape, where women who have experienced rape and sexual assault can read them.
Second, it is not an extreme position to say that women are not safe anywhere on the planet from rape and other forms of sexual assault, because they are not. And that includes in their own homes.
As stats show, women are far more likely to be raped or sexually abused by men they know.
Strangerland
I wasn't the one who made that statement.
But what I did say, stands; it's hard to have a rational discussion with someone who holds an extremist position.
You've stated in the past that there is nowhere safe on the planet.
girl_in_tokyo
StrangerlandToday 09:08 am JST
No, but you quoted it back at me, and you have made such statements MANY times in the past. So if you stand by those comments, justify them:
Why would anyone put such a statement as "this place is mostly safe for women" knowing that a victim of rape or sexual assault will read it.
No, let's be clear. I have stated that nowhere on the planet is safe for women because rape and sexual assault happen everywhere.
I have also explained why, but for some reason you can't come up with a counter argument other than, "it is an extreme position".
It is not extreme. It is merely a fact.
Strangerland
No I haven't. Making up stuff like that is only further reasons why it's hard to have a discussion with someone with an extremist position. You clearly aren't concerned with accuracy.
girl_in_tokyo
I can back up every statement I make with citations.
Look at the stats on crime - which gender shoots guns into crowds, gets into fistfights, and commits rape and sexual assault at higher rates?
Then tell me again which gender is overemotional and irrational.
The oldest silencing tactic in the book by misogynists is that women can't have rational discussions.
Pfft.
wallace
How did you arrive at those conclusions? Where does the 4% come from?
Japan is safer for women than many other countries. It is also safer for all people than in other countries.
Shall the government declare a national crisis telling all women the country is not safe for them and will most likely experience rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence?
girl_in_tokyo
StrangerlandToday 09:17 am JST
Yes, you have. We have gone round and round about it, many times, and I know you have a good enough memory for that.
I could go back though your posting history and post them here to prove it, but frankly, I don't have the time, and I know that you remember.
I don't need to make up lies when facts are right there.
girl_in_tokyo
wallaceToday 09:18 am JST
The stat originally came from a book written by a long-time sex crimes prosecutor in a book she wrote, and has since been widely quoted in the media. Unfortunately, I've misplaced the name of the book, but you can see the figure quoted here:
http://spring-voice.org/
https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/07/29/japans-not-so-secret-shame
https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/07/29/japans-not-so-secret-shame
But don't believe me - I see how you managed to find those other figures, so surely you can Google and find it for yourself.
So? Comparing Japan with other countries has zero impact on how women in Japan feel about their safety.
No one has to tell us that.
We know.
wallace
You are wrong.
Not all women know or realize that they are likely to be rape or sexual assault victims.
So what is your answer to make Japan a safe place for women?