Latest news with #YujiMoriyama
Tokyo Weekender
2 days ago
- Tokyo Weekender
Two Japanese Elementary Teachers Arrested for Sharing Indecent Images of Students
Two Japanese elementary school teachers were arrested on June 24 for secretly filming underage girls and sharing the footage with other educators in a hidden group chat. Police say the videos, taken without consent, showed the girls undressing. According to police, the men took voyeuristic images of girls under the age of 13. The recordings were taken without the children's knowledge or consent. Investigators say the teachers used smartphones and hidden cameras, placing them beneath girls' skirts or in locations where children were getting changed — taking advantage of their professional access to violate students in spaces meant to be safe. The men produced and shared at least 70 images and videos, which were uploaded to a private social media group chat. That chat, police believe, included approximately 10 other educators, many of them also working in elementary or junior high schools. There, the footage was not only shared, but praised. Comments recovered from the chat include: 'This one's really good,' and 'I could stare at this forever.' The men used pseudonyms, but messages referencing school schedules suggest they were actively teaching children while engaging in this behavior. Among the materials uncovered by investigators were digitally manipulated images — what investigators called 'sexual deepfakes.' In at least one case, the face of a real child was digitally grafted onto the nude body of an adult woman, producing a highly realistic simulated child pornography image. The child's identity, police believe, came from the men's own students. A manufactured image of child sexual abuse, created with intent and care, was then distributed for group consumption. The Men Behind the Crime In March 2025, police detained an unnamed public school teacher on suspicion of property damage. But during the routine search of the suspect's smartphone, investigators uncovered something far darker: a private group chat filled with sexually exploitative videos and images of young girls. That discovery led police to two men: Yuji Moriyama and Fumiya Kosemura, both of whom had not only filmed underage girls without consent but shared the footage with praise. Moriyama, 42, taught at Kosaka Elementary School in Nagoya. He wasn't a homeroom instructor but held a senior position as a lead teacher, supporting the principal and vice principal in overseeing staff and student affairs. Police believe he also managed the group chat, placing him at the center of the abuse network. Kosemura, 37, taught at Hongodai Elementary School in Yokohama. He served as both a homeroom teacher and a grade-level coordinator, a role that put him in daily, direct contact with children across multiple classes. Both men confessed to the charges during police questioning. A law punishing voyeuristic photography and videos was enacted in July 2023. It was part of a wider overhaul of Japan's laws on sex crimes. Public Response and Institutional Failures Nagoya Mayor Ichiro Hirosawa addressed reporters after the arrest of the Nagoya teacher. Visibly shaken, he said : 'There are no words. I am truly sorry. I am filled with anger over what they have done. When someone who is supposed to protect children does something like this, what are the children supposed to believe in? We can no longer rely on the assumption that teachers are inherently good.' Just days later, at a June 30 press conference, Hirosawa appeared pale and unsteady. He was later hospitalized for low blood pressure, and the event was cut short. Hirosawa also acknowledged how difficult it is to spot these individuals in advance. He urged the public to report any suspicious behavior using the city's 'Mayor's Hotline,' an online and fax-based reporting system that allows residents to bypass bureaucratic channels and speak directly to the city. In addition, the city has announced plans to conduct a broad survey of teaching staff in an effort to identify potential risks and prevent future abuse. The method and scope of this survey is still being considered.
Japan Times
6 days ago
- Japan Times
Teachers sharing indecent photos of girls in a group chat elicits outrage in Japan
Parents of schoolchildren were outraged by the latest news that school teachers were allegedly taking indecent images of young girls at their schools and sharing them in an online group chat involving about 10 teachers. There have been isolated cases reported in the past of one teacher or a cram school teacher engaging in such acts, but a case of teachers doing so in a group is being seen as particularly shocking, undermining people's confidence in those in the role. More details have been revealed in the case . Investigators say the group chat members were using pseudonyms to hide their identities, suggesting they were largely unaware of each other's true backgrounds, NHK reported Friday. Aichi Prefectural Police are analyzing seized devices and data in an effort to uncover the full extent of the group's activities. Yuji Moriyama, 42, from Nagoya, and Fumiya Kosemura, 37, from Yokohama, are accused of secretly filming and taking photographs of the underwear of young girls at various facilities in Aichi and Kanagawa prefectures from late last year to this year. Police say both men admitted to the charges. Moriyama, an elementary school teacher who is suspected to have been the group's administrator, was in charge of making the school newsletter, and police suspect he may have been abusing his position to take photos, according to the broadcaster. The group consisted of around 10 members — mostly teachers at elementary and junior high schools, the Chunichi Shimbun reported Friday. Investigators say they used a high-security messaging app to share voyeuristic images, many of which were taken during school activities or field trips. Some of the images shared in the group were manipulated using artificial intelligence to produce sexual deepfakes. Chat records showed members praising each other's posts, with comments such as 'This one's really good,' according to Chunichi Shimbun, citing police sources. Moriyama was a senior teacher — effectively third in command at his school — and had responsibilities that included photographing students during school events, the report said. The school briefed parents in a closed-door meeting on Thursday evening following Moriyama's arrest, with many of them expressing anger. The school said some students who had interacted with Moriyama were visibly distressed and that counselors had been sent to provide emotional support. Before the meeting, the mother of a fifth-grade girl told the Chunichi Shimbun that her daughter said she didn't want to go to school the next day. 'Until I know it's safe, I honestly don't want to send her. She's at an age when a wound like this leaves deep scars,' she said. The education ministry announced Friday that it plans to issue written notices to boards of education across the country urging them to strictly enforce conduct rules for teachers. It also intends to hold online meetings with prefectural education officials to provide guidance to prevent a recurrence of similar cases. 'When I think of the children who have been harmed and the many teachers who work hard every day, I feel a deep sense of anger,' said education minister Toshiko Abe in a news conference Friday. 'It's absolutely unforgivable. Sexual violence by teachers against students is not something to be tolerated.' Yukiko Imai, an associate professor well-versed in criminal psychology at Nara University, said that it can be incredibly shocking when the perpetrator is someone the victim trusted — such as a teacher. The full scope of the psychological damage it had on the victims is still unclear, she added, due to the fact that the crime took place online, which entails risks such as data leaking outside the group chats. 'This case is especially concerning because it involves a group. These kinds of things happen in various places across the country, and we still don't know the full extent of the crime. It makes you wonder where else this might have been happening and whether other locations are safe,' she said. 'Regardless of what exactly was captured, the realization that a teacher — someone who was supposed to protect and guide us — may have been looking at (them) with inappropriate intentions is profoundly unsettling.' Sumire Nagamori, who heads the nonprofit organization Hiiragi Net that monitors child sexual abuse material online, said that the case may just be the tip of the iceberg, since cracking down on such insider communities is difficult. 'In Japan, we're still in a situation where (deepfake pornography) acts are virtually unregulated,' she said. 'This is something we adults need to take seriously and begin addressing.' Nagamori added that the lack of familiarity with digital platforms among older teachers also presents a challenge in checking for inappropriate content. 'If the content is on platforms like Discord or Telegram — apps they don't typically use — some (teachers) say they don't know how to access it. In other cases, school security systems prevent access to certain types of social media, which delays the verification process,' she said. 'Because digital sexual abuse content tends to spread extremely widely in a very short time, the speed of response is critical. I think some schools still face challenges in responding quickly enough.' Dr. Hiroki Fukui, a forensic psychiatrist and representative director of the Sex Offenders Medical Center (SOMEC), one of the few clinics in the country dedicated to providing therapy and support for individuals with harmful sexual impulses, said indecent conduct by teachers has been reported many times in the past. 'What was different this time was that it wasn't an individual — it was a group of teachers acting together,' Fukui said. 'That makes it much more serious — both in terms of intent and the degree to which it undermines the ethical standards expected of teachers. It's deeply disturbing. 'While the government has revised laws and introduced systems aimed at preventing teachers with a history of abuse from returning to the classroom, these measures remain far from sufficient,' he added. 'We need organizational systems to prevent abuse — not just individual monitoring.' But in Japan, treatment avenues for potential perpetrators remain limited. 'In Japan, treatment for paraphilic disorders isn't covered by public health insurance,' Fukui said. 'If these individuals had sought treatment early, we could have intervened and prevented it from escalating.'
South China Morning Post
6 days ago
- South China Morning Post
Japan police uncover ‘online paedophile group' of teachers
Two primary school teachers in Japan have been charged with taking photos of little girls in their underwear and then sharing the images with at least 10 more colleagues, in a case which has roused public outcry. On Tuesday, police arrested Yuji Moriyama, 42, a teacher at Kosaka Elementary School in Nagoya, and Fumiya Kosemura, 37, a teacher at Hongodai Elementary School in Yokohama. Around 70 indecent photographs and video clips were found on Moriyama's computer, along with up-skirt images and 'deepfake' composite images that combined children's heads with other sexualised pictures, the Asahi newspaper reported, quoting the Aichi prefectural police. Some appeared to have been taken in school. Both men admitted the charges, police said. The investigation has now turned to identifying the other members of the 'online paedophile group' who also received the images. Early investigations suggest the group was managed by Moriyama and was made up of primary and junior high school teachers with a similar fondness for pornographic images of very young girls. Primary school pupils head for classes in Osaka, western Japan. Photo: Kyodo/AP In Japan, the ages of primary and junior high school children range from six to 15.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Primary school teachers arrested in Japan for sharing indecent photos of girls
Two primary school teachers in Japan have been arrested for allegedly taking and sharing indecent pictures of girls. Yuji Moriyama, 42, a teacher at the Kosaka Elementary School in Nagoya, and Fumiya Kosemura, 37, from the Hongodai Elementary School in Yokohama, have been accused of violating Japanese law regulating the creation and distribution of certain types of sexual images. They were arrested on 24 June. The Aichi prefectural police suspect the two men of being members of an online chat group of schoolteachers with a shared interest in voyeuristic photography and videography. Mr Moriyama, the chat group's administrator, allegedly possessed nearly 70 photos and videos of girls changing clothes as well as images taken from under skirts. According to the police, Mr Moriyama took photos of a schoolgirl in her underwear in Aichi prefecture around September 2024 while Mr Kosemura did the same in Kanagawa prefecture around January 2025. They then shared the images with other members of the group. Mr Kosemura has admitted to the allegations. "I took pictures of female students in their underwear and sent them to people in the group,' the Tokyo Reporter quoted him as saying. The investigation into the two men began in March 2025 after another elementary school teacher was arrested for allegedly putting body fluid on a girl's backpack at a train station in Nagoya. A forensic review of his mobile phone led police to discover the existence of the group chat and evidence of shared content. The police have confirmed that 10 people in the group shared indecent photos and videos. They are now investigating how the group was formed. Japan has long faced criticism for the sexualisation of child models, many of whom are girls posed in lingerie or swimwear in ways designed to appear provocative. In 2023, the East Asian country introduced its first national law against the nonconsensual capture of sexually exploitative images or videos. The legislation, aimed at curbing what is commonly referred to as 'photo voyeurism', outlawed actions like 'upskirting' and covert recordings of sexual activity. Previously, such offences could only be prosecuted under individual prefectural laws, which varied widely in terms of scope and enforcement. The legislation, part of wider reforms to the country's sex crime statutes, including an expanded definition of rape, marked a significant shift. The new provisions made it a criminal offence to take, share or possess images of another person's genitals without their permission. They also prohibited photographing individuals who had been unknowingly manipulated into sexually suggestive positions. Notably, the law banned the filming of children in sexually suggestive contexts without a legitimate reason. Those found guilty under the new law could face up to three years in prison or fines of up to £17,500. In 2021, Japanese police recorded over 5,000 arrests for illicit photography, the highest ever and nearly triple the number reported in 2010, according to the BBC.
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The Independent
7 days ago
- The Independent
Primary school teachers arrested in Japan for sharing indecent photos of girls
Two primary school teachers in Japan have been arrested for allegedly taking and sharing indecent pictures of girls. Yuji Moriyama, 42, a teacher at the Kosaka Elementary School in Nagoya, and Fumiya Kosemura, 37, from the Hongodai Elementary School in Yokohama, have been accused of violating Japanese law regulating the c reation and distribution of certain types of sexual images. They were arrested on 24 June. The Aichi prefectural police suspect the two men of being members of an online chat group of schoolteachers with a shared interest in voyeuristic photography and videography. Mr Moriyama, the chat group's administrator, allegedly possessed nearly 70 photos and videos of girls changing clothes as well as images taken from under skirts. According to the police, Mr Moriyama took photos of a schoolgirl in her underwear in Aichi prefecture around September 2024 while Mr Kosemura did the same in Kanagawa prefecture around January 2025. They then shared the images with other members of the group. Mr Kosemura has admitted to the allegations. "I took pictures of female students in their underwear and sent them to people in the group,' the Tokyo Reporter quoted him as saying. The investigation into the two men began in March 2025 after another elementary school teacher was arrested for allegedly putting body fluid on a girl's backpack at a train station in Nagoya. A forensic review of his mobile phone led police to discover the existence of the group chat and evidence of shared content. The police have confirmed that 10 people in the group shared indecent photos and videos. They are now investigating how the group was formed. Japan has long faced criticism for the sexualisation of child models, many of whom are girls posed in lingerie or swimwear in ways designed to appear provocative. In 2023, the East Asian country introduced its first national law against the nonconsensual capture of sexually exploitative images or videos. The legislation, aimed at curbing what is commonly referred to as 'photo voyeurism', outlawed actions like 'upskirting' and covert recordings of sexual activity. Previously, such offences could only be prosecuted under individual prefectural laws, which varied widely in terms of scope and enforcement. The legislation, part of wider reforms to the country's sex crime statutes, including an expanded definition of rape, marked a significant shift. The new provisions made it a criminal offence to take, share or possess images of another person's genitals without their permission. They also prohibited photographing individuals who had been unknowingly manipulated into sexually suggestive positions. Notably, the law banned the filming of children in sexually suggestive contexts without a legitimate reason. Those found guilty under the new law could face up to three years in prison or fines of up to £17,500. In 2021, Japanese police recorded over 5,000 arrests for illicit photography, the highest ever and nearly triple the number reported in 2010, according to the BBC.
