crime

Okayama teacher arrested for taking nude pictures of 15-year-old girl

36 Comments

A 49-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday under anti-child pornography laws after he allegedly took nude photos of a 15-year-old girl in a hotel in Kurashiki City last November.

Kenji Yamamoto, a teacher at a public junior high school in Tsuyama City, is accused of taking photos with his cell camera of the third-year junior high school girl he met through an Internet gaming site. Police said Yamamoto pretended to be a teenage boy by sending the girl a picture of a boy's face he took from a high school graduation album. When they met, Yamamoto told the girl he was the boy's father and that his son was at the hotel.

Yamamoto was initially charged with extortion in December, after he allegedly threatened a high school girl that he would upload her name and the name of her school along with nude pictures he had her send him previously.

He was re-arrested on Tuesday under anti-child pornography laws after police found pictures of about 30 girls in his cell phone. Yamamoto told police that he started using the Internet gaming site in 2008, and had about 100 girls send nude pictures of themselves via their cell phones.

© News reports

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36 Comments
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this dude is just plain stupid!

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this dude is just plain sick. His punishment should be doubled for using extortion.

Looks like he was a one man crime wave.

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The last sentence is puzzling to me. Just how did he get 100 girls to send him nude pictures of themselves to him via their cell phones? Were they selling the photos? I'm glad I am not the father of a teenage girl in Japan.

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No doubt that this guy is a manipulative, perverted, scum-bag. The fact that he is a teacher just makes it that much more nauseating.

But I've also got to ask why were these young women sending nude photos of themselves to a total stranger they had only met on the internet. Aren't parents teaching their kids any kind of morals these days?

Add to that, what kind of message is society sending to these men and women when it's legal to possess child pornography and girls can be groped & molested on the train and no one does anything. Plus there are magazines and manga with nude & pornographic images depicting young girls. It tells men that women are merely sexual objects and tells girls that they are meant to be sexual objects. Fundamental changes are necessary!

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I bet most of the nude pictures were not of the girls themselves, but of others found on the net. Weird place, but it happens all over the world.

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I am with you Dolphingirl! He may be a scumbag and I hope he gets justice, but WHY oh WHY do these girls send naked pictures via cell phone to someone they do not know??? It is a world wide problem which is supposed to be illegal but just keeps growing. More disgusting perverts and more girls who want to be seen as sexy. Sorry girls but you are not women but still just girls. If my daughter ever sent nudie pics via her cell (she is only 10 now), she would no longer HAVE her cell. Parents need to also wake up and do their jobs to teach their daughters more self esteem.

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wrong

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This guy is a total scumbag! Why does a 15 year old, who should know better, do these things? They should know by now that they are setting themselves up for huge, life long embarrassment, and possibly, an even graver consequence. Where are the parents of these girls?

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When they met, Yamamoto told the girl he was the boy’s father and that his son was at the hotel.

and she's not the sharpest tool in the shed, obviously

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Where are the parents of these girls?

well there's a good chance the dads are busy trying to pick up other 15yr olds from internet dating sites...the moms, who knows...host clubs maybe

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Kapuna: Unfortunately, teenagers don't often see the connection between their actions of the present and the consequences in the future. It's up to parents to teach their teens that their actions do have consequences.

In today's world of internet and cellphones, parents really have to be aware of what their kids are doing, not only in the physical world but also in cyber space.

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Yeah, she may not be the brightest girl, having apparently sent the man nude pictures of herself, however I have to give her credit. If she hadn't come forward, he might never have been caught. So good for her.

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Sexting is a growing problem. Girls are under increasing pressure to send photos to boys their age who ask for them. So it is not surprising that some perv has tapped into this trend.

It is just one more piece of evidence that women are being reduced to objects, not only in Japan, but around the world. Our current pop, dare say pop culture, is not about intelligence, moral standing, talent etc... It is frequently just about appearance and much of that is about sex appeal.

If girls think their value rests only in their cuteness or sex appeal, then trends like sexting will continue to arise. But if women can be taught to care first about who they are and have respect for their intellect and talent over looks, then this will drop off.

But our media culture is largely to blame for this trend and as long as it continues to promote this kind of culture, we will see girls exploited like this.

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Urgh. A 'teacher' to boot. I wanna puke.

Someone should punch this guy in the face and castrate him. If I were the father of that girl, that 'teacher' would barely be alive.

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haha, pretended to be the guy's dad

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Perhaps it's amusing that this guy is so lame. But how many other 'men' like this are out there taking advantage of and exploiting young women? My guess is lots. The scary thing is that boys are raised with no moral character, no respect for women and later become these perverted predators.

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I don't know if it's just J-girls, but they can be pretty dense sometimes.. My friend told me a story about the time when she was in high school and some guy posing as a photographer got as far as taking obvious upskirt photos before she realized he was bad..

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Sexting is a growing problem. Girls are under increasing pressure to send photos to boys their age who ask for them. So it is not surprising that some perv has tapped into this trend.

I fail to see how this is a problem. You can always say NO. Nobody makes someone push that send button. This cat is clearly reprehensible but teens who pass revealing pictures amongst themselves need to learn how to resist peer pressure. It's no different than drinking, or drugs, or any other ill a teen can get wrapped up in (and probably a lot less harmful than the two I just mentioned).

Anyway, it's good this dude is caught, hopefully if he is guilty he gets a serious and meaningful punishment.

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It mis time for all teachers to be screened by the police every three years, issuing with a police ID. This way they could be tracked down. Internet is destroying our young generation, because money is kighty God in this world. Teacher concerned should be put away for a long time. Being a teacher is a badge to protect our children. Who can we trust when our kinds are handed over to learn their future? Mum's and Dad's are working hard to offer their children the best they could, and we have a scumbag that is destroying love for our children.

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If around 100 girls got that far they exposed themselves to him, how many girls did he even contacted in total (thus did not send pictures etc)??? At least 1000? Yuck...

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The gals sexting him probably thought he was just another teenager. At least he didn't touch their bodies, right?

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"This cat is clearly reprehensible but teens who pass revealing pictures amongst themselves need to learn how to resist peer pressure."

bzzzzt wrong answer. There was no peer pressure here. He lied to her over and over and then tried to coerce her. There is no reason to expect a child to be able to see through carefully constructed and manipulating lies. That is why they are children. That is why they are not allowed to give consent to ANYTHING that might endanger them or impinge on their rights.

If you are speaking to the wider problem, then ok, but this girl did nothing wrong, only something foolish. I would expect any kid to do something stupid once, and they sure do. It is not children behaving like children that is the problem, though. It is adults behaving like children.

Hitori. You said it. This guy was playing percentages, not just having a little fun. Just like Pokemon, he wanted to catch em all. I think any dedicated pervert could do what he did, which is why I say that HE is the problem, not the rest of society.

Dolphingirl, you are right. Misogyny. That is the ugliness of it. I think many men do not see women as people. They are vulnerable little sex animals or unapproachable goddesses to be feared. No wonder Japanese men are so lonely. They are competing with half the people they know (men) and the other half (women) they don't even acknowledge as human.

And BBLeo.. I really like your last sentence there. Right on. I hope that the victims can overcome this and find something as normal and healthy as love. This guy did not just sneak a few pictures, he ruined people's self images and innocence. All people deserve to be able to hold onto that as long as they want to. He probably smirked and grinned to the police, and they probably shrugged, but there is real sickness tied up in this.

This stuff makes me feel really old. I am glad I do not have to be around these people who do things like this.

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Gosh darn these stupid age of consent laws.

Why do we suddenly have to stop desiring 15-year-old girls just because we reach the age of 18?

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Molenir: "I have to give her credit."

For what... allowing herself to be shot in the buff by some stranger who says he's the dad of a guy she met on an online site?

5SpeedRacer5: "There is no reason to expect a child to be able to see through carefully constructed and manipulating lies."

Now, if it were simply the guy having OBTAINED the pictures and tried to assault the girl, I could agree with you, but in this case she clearly went into the hotel room with the perv and allowed him to take pics, knowing where she met 'his son'. These lies might have been carefully constructed and manipulated by the man, but the girl basically looked at the forest and asked where the trees are. I am NOT defending the man in this, don't get me wrong... anyone who has been on this site for a while knows my stance on Japan and its pornography laws, as well as how much I loathe those who defend criminals, but the girl knew what she was getting into when she peeled her clothes off -- she just didn't know for whom.

I hope she wizens up after this, and the man spends a decent stint behind bars. He's no celeb., so I reckon there will be no suspended sentence... only compensation payment (new form of dating in Japan?) and he's let go, or he does a year or two.

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anderstung: "Why do we suddenly have to stop desiring 15-year-old girls just because we reach the age of 18?"

I don't see an 18 year old in the story.... what I see is a 49 year old PRETENDING to be a highschool kid.

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If you are speaking to the wider problem, then ok, but this girl did nothing wrong, only something foolish. I would expect any kid to do something stupid once, and they sure do. It is not children behaving like children that is the problem, though. It is adults behaving like children.

I was referring to the larger problem, not this particular case. This guys is (allegedly) nothing short of an awful, manipulative human. It's bad enough for a regular Taro, but for a teacher? Ugh.

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Molenir: "I have to give her credit." For what... allowing herself to be shot in the buff by some stranger who says he's the dad of a guy she met on an online site?

I believe I answered that question in the portion of my comment you missed. I give the girl credit for having the courage to come forward, and report this perv to the police. Most girls wouldn't do that, being too embarrassed and afraid. She did, so yes, she made a stupid mistake, sending the guy naked pictures of himself, but she made the right call, reporting him to the cops. For that I applaud her.

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18, still a kid... with more responsibility. 49, just plain creapy!

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Molenir: "I believe I answered that question in the portion of my comment you missed. I give the girl credit for having the courage to come forward, and report this perv to the police...."

Didn't miss that part at all, just questioned the rationale behind praising it. Now, I'm definitely no 15 year old girl, but I wouldn't take off my clothes for someone I've never met to have my picture taken and only THEN report it well after the fact, when I realized it wasn't my online highschool (graduate) I'd never met.

In short, you're praising a moron for doing what ANYONE would do. Better yet, for Japan anyway, she probably did it because the 'enjou-kossai' cash promise never came through (can you define that in other languages that is used regularly?). :)

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"the girl knew what she was getting into when she peeled her clothes off -- she just didn't know for whom. "

OK. Fair enough. Having said that, we all know that if you find two naked 15 year olds, you might call their mothers. If you find a naked 15 year old and a 37 year old, you call the cops.

I will repeat that this girl was coerced and deceived into the lewdity, if not the nudity. That is bad. The guy was an old perv. That is very bad.

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In short, you're praising a moron for doing what ANYONE would do. Better yet, for Japan anyway, she probably did it because the 'enjou-kossai' cash promise never came through (can you define that in other languages that is used regularly?). :)

Did you even read the article? The cops originally arrested the guy for extortion. As in he coerced her into taking naked pictures of herself, then blackmailed her into paying him. There was no prostitution mentioned at all. Yes, she might have been involved in it. Who knows with kids these days. You do hear about that stuff all the time, but in this specific case, its not mentioned. And no, I don't think anyone would have come forward. I've known women who were too scared for whatever reason. She did, so again yes, I applaud her for that, not for her previous bad decisions.

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Does Japan spend more police resources on the War on Sex than the War on Terror. America sure does.

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These are such common stories here. Sad to say. That's what happens when everything, most especially socializing, is done via technology. Easy way to get into a bad situation.

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My daughter is starting elementary school in April, so I ahve started teaching her the importance of "stranger danger", respect for yourself and others, etc etc.

ast night she came to me and said she didn`t want to live in Japan anymore because "there are too many bad people here". It broke my heart. Whilst there are bad people the world over, how do you balance giving your kids protection with not making them feel terrified?

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Girls: DON' T TAKE NUDE/REVEALING PICS OF YOURSELVES, NOR LET THEM BE TAKEN!!!

MEN: DON'T BE PERVERTS!!!

PARENTS: Parent your children well.

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Aquaman; how about DON'T send the pictures to someone you've never met! As for the men, we'll always be perverts, it's more about the ability to control it.

Well, at least the guy was a teacher so she could trust him

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