Suspect in Osaka kidnapping case says he 'saved' victim

Maybe in his warped mind he did save her. It does not look like we are looking at mentally healthy people here.

Kidnapping is now saving someone from trouble. This is the land of euphemisms.

Didn't her mama tell her not to talk to strangers? Well,, that's what happens. Lesson learned.

Uh, no. She was probably unhappy at home and at school - and most likely there were family problems. Predators like this guy prey on exactly those kinds of girls. They are unhappy at home, so they offer them a refuge.

Without details, it's hard to know whether her parents were at fault or whether it was entirely adolescent issues. Either way, the result was the same.

That's why I encourage parents to keep a line open to their kids, and not let walls of silence get built. Sometimes easier said than done with some teenagers.

Ito told investigators he was aware that details about the search had been broadcast by the media, and police believe he disabled her phone to avoid the girl's location being tracked.

Please, lock him up for a very long time, if he gets out again he will do this again.

Ibaraki prefectural police visited Ito's house and questioned him voluntarily in July after the 15-year-old girl's family had reported her missing in June, but they were not able to confirm the junior high school student was or had been there.

But why was he a suspect in the first place? The police is lucky the girl was still alive after 4 months.

Question:

If he took away their handphones, why weren't the police able to pin-point the last location that the signal came from?

Without details, it's hard to know whether her parents were at fault or whether it was entirely adolescent issues. Either way, the result was the same.

According to the news, the child was kind of able to go around at her free will. Though it said the mother called police around lunchtine, typically she came home after 11pm from friends' houses and obviously had the freedom to use her smart phone at will. Perhaps the lack of attention at home made her reach out to someone who acted like they cared to lure her in.

He is a criminal. The girls were frail and he took advantage of them, fortunately they are safe now but they need better communication with their families. It's not normal accepting to meet an adult man.

The 12-year-old girl has two older siblings -- the mother may have been relying on them to look after their younger sister. If the mother has to work until late every evening, and if she is in fact a working single mother, it would help to explain why the kidnapping victim was searching for a father figure to fill a void in her home life.

Although I'm usually the type of cynic who says that some people often put themselves in bad situations and aren't always innocent (even if they don't deserve what happens to them), even I can't find any fault to the victim. She's 12 for crying out loud, an elementary school student! Her mind is not fully developed and a 35 old creep can easily manipulate her, I'm sure this guy has plenty of skeletons in his closet which will surely be revealed since no normal person gets the idea to "invite" a preteen to his house on the other side of the country.

When I was a kid my parents were paranoid about public chat rooms and messaging services, taught me never to trust anyone on them and never give personal information. Unfortunately in this modern world where even an elementary school kid can sign up for SNS sites, it's more important than ever to teach our kids that there are a lot of bad people who aren't who they say they are. Lots of sickos out there and it's easier than ever for them to prey on innocent and trusting kids.

I've heard of some weak defenses and lame excuses before, but this one... wow!

commanteer:

1- She is 12 years old. Is it OK to take a toddler home with you if they seem happy to come?

Waitasecond.... 12 years old is a toddler in your mind??

Ibaraki prefectural police visited Ito's house and questioned him voluntarily in July after the 15-year-old girl's family had reported her missing in June, but they were not able to confirm the junior high school student was or had been there.

So, this latest kidnapping could have been avoided if the police had done their job correctly with the investigation of the missing 15-year-old. I see.

Didn't her mama tell her not to talk to strangers? Well,, that's what happens. Lesson learned.

Yeah. No sympathy for the kid. A lesson learned is worth whatever it costs, right?

Ibaraki prefectural police visited Ito's house and questioned him voluntarily in July after the 15-year-old girl's family had reported her missing in June, but they were not able to confirm the junior high school student was or had 

I don't normally like to criticise the local police, but this just doesn't sound right.

If he was a suspect in the 15 year old's case why did they not investigate further? A search with warrant in hand carried out at night would surely have found her there.

Unfortunately the Japanese police are often too meek and polite.

JP: 'Did you kidnap the teenage girl?'

Suspect: 'No, I didn't'.

JP: 'Oh, I see. We sincerely apologize for having inconvenienced you. You may go home now'.

Get tough please!

This is a weird case, and quite a few question marks remaining. If they arranged a meeting beforehand and she voluntarily went with him, it's not exactly kidnapping, is it?

1- She is 12 years old. Is it OK to take a toddler home with you if they seem happy to come?

2- He took her shoes and phone to prevent her from leaving.

3-It was kidnapping.

She is 12 years old. Is it OK to take a toddler home with you if they seem happy to come?

1) False equivalence.

2) My question wasn't whether it was "OK" (?), but whether it's technically "kidnapping" since she wasn't forced, threatened or tricked into going anywhere.

He took her shoes and phone to prevent her from leaving.

Which is why I said "If he did somehow threaten her to make her stay afterwards, I'm sure they could charge him for that".

It was a child, a minor, and the law says it is kidnapping.

The fact that she's a child/minor had nothing to do with my question, but the second part of your comment does, so thanks for that.

Also, I love how I was simply asking whether it's "kidnapping" from a technical standpoint, but people chose to interpret it as me defending the suspect's actions and explain to me that children are stupid instead.

If they arranged a meeting beforehand and she voluntarily went with him, it's not exactly kidnapping, is it?

It is according to Japanese law. Coercion of a minor to meet without the permission of the parents is covered under articles 224-229 of the Japanese Criminal Law, Crime and Human Trafficking (https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%95%A5%E5%8F%96%E3%83%BB%E8%AA%98%E6%8B%90%E7%BD%AA).

When reading news about Japan in English, it's important to remember that Japanese and English are unrelated languages, and therefore many words, if not most, will not have one-to-one translations between the languages. In this case, kidnapping in English, is not a one-to-one equivalent of 誘拐 (ゆうかい yukai) in Japanese. It may seem then as if a different word should be used, but in cases where words do have an official translation - such as law - it's important that the official word be used. It would be nice however if an explanation of the difference in meaning were provided by the author of such articles in English, though it's possible that the author's don't know this themselves in many cases.

Looks like he took the manga/tv drama “One Room of Happiness/Sachiiro no One Room” as if it were real. Similar plot.

Another Japanese guy with serious issues towards women. I wonder how those developed? It couldn't be from being raised mainly by a mother with little interaction with dad and the hyper-sexualization and objectification of girls and young women here, could it?

Fed them once a day. Let them bathe every second day. Death to kidnappers, especially of children.

This is a weird case, and quite a few question marks remaining. If they arranged a meeting beforehand and she voluntarily went with him, it's not exactly kidnapping, is it? If he did somehow threaten her to make her stay afterwards, I'm sure they could charge him for that, but "kidnapping" just doesn't really fit.

Didn't her mama tell her not to talk to strangers? Well,, that's what happens. Lesson learned.