57-year-old Saitama tax chief arrested for taking pictures of naked 9-year-old girl

Tuesday 12th May, 10:05 AM JST

SAITAMA —

A 57-year-old man arrested under a Saitama Prefecture public nuisance ordinance last month - accused of taking pictures of a naked 9-year-old girl as she was playing in a river in Hidaka City – had his case referred to the District Public Prosecutor’s office in Kawagoe on Monday, police said.

Police said the suspect, who heads the Saitama City resident tax department but whose name has not been publicly released, is accused of taking pictures with a digital camera of the girl as she played naked with a friend in Koma River in Hidaka City on April 11. Another man noticed him taking pictures from behind a bridge pylon on the riverbed and called police. The caller kept an eye on him until police arrived.

Police found several pictures of the naked girl in the camera and said the man told them he had come to the river to take pictures of girls. Police searched his home and found more than 100 photos of young girls naked or in underwear, believed to have been taken at Koma River over a number of years.

Saitama City officials told police the man explained to them in late April that he had gone to the river to take pictures of cherry blossoms, and that while his actions may have been careless, he did not think they were illegal.

News reports

› Login to comment

Latest 15 of 104 Total Comments Show All

MildredRoper at 11:38 AM JST - 13th May

Hey Grafton. An adult interested in pre teens is a definite pedophile and should be removed from society until he is no capable of being a danger.

This pervert deserves hard time and i hope the perverted old guy gets it.

Giving it to you straight.
nandakandamanda at 11:49 AM JST - 13th May

Well, legally they may not be able to lock him up. Should they give him drugs to cure him? Care in the community? Laser surgery on his eyeballs? There are lots of borderline people like this walking around who haven't actually been proved to have harmed anyone yet. The police are generally aware of them, and many have been pulled and cautioned, but as they are repeat offenders the cops probably don't feel too much enthusiasm for them.
likeitis at 11:54 AM JST - 13th May

Oh dear. likeitis has contradicted himself again.

hoserfella, today is a special day. For once, you have nailed me dead to rights for flubbing my words. Congratulations. I can only disagree with you assertion of "again."

I regretted that post minutes after I typed it. I thought to correct it, but I honestly thought that either no one would notice, or they would understand what I actually meant to say.

What I should have said and what I actually meant was that they were lucky that SOMEBODY did not grab one and haul her into the woods.

That being said, I would not be surprised if this man did in fact have such a desire. But if we go the direction of jailing or watching people for their desires, then we may has well lock up every man on the planet, because if they have not thought of little girls, then they surely have contemplated rape, murder, assault, bank robbery etc. And you never know when one of them is going to put their desire into action.
likeitis at 12:17 PM JST - 13th May

PaulieWalnuts: in your first post on this thread you were suggesting this guy was a step away from dragging the girl into the woods and molesting her. what gives?

Actually, its more like I was suggesting they were lucky that he was not that type of guy, because he or somebody else very well could have been, and taken the opportunity. In no way did I mean to suggest he was " a step away" from anything. I don't claim to read minds. Its possible he was, but there is no way to be sure and therefore, no sense getting medieval on the dude.
blackbagger at 12:36 PM JST - 13th May

All I know is we're going down a dangerous road. Yes, I think a dude taking pics of a naked kid is bad, and he deserved being questioned maybe, arrested... I don't know. He wasn't assaulting anyone and wasn't distributing his pics online, but I can't defend him either. On the other hand, we hear all the time now about cops being on the lookout for a guy who said hi to some kids at a station, or other things that went from being friendly or neighborly 10 years ago to being dangerous in the minds of the typical person today.

But that's just the way things are. People would rather read news stories about dangerous pedophiles, cyberstalkers and bullies, foreigners, or any of the other hot targets of the day than actually hear about truly dangerous stuff. You know, in the US not once did anyone ever really find a razorblade in a piece of Halloween candy, but look how long and crazy that scare went.
dennis0bauer at 03:23 PM JST - 13th May

Japanese are used going to onsen being naked, and i find it kind of funny how they stare or point at me, when i cleaning or soaking in the hot water. i do not see a problem of little kids playing nude by the river, it is the adults who project sexual meaning to their nudity.

i also have no problems with people making pictures of the scenery and there are playing naked kids in them.

But if you focus your zoom lense pure on the naked little kids then yes that is suspicious.

Although i agree in the west the recent years there has been an overreaction when it comes to these things.
likeitis at 04:48 PM JST - 13th May

MildredRoper: An adult interested in pre teens is a definite pedophile and should be removed from society until he is no capable of being a danger.

This is such an extremist opinion, and in my deleted post, I nailed it dead to rights. It is bizarre that this board allows such an opinion as jailing people NOT for what they have done, but for what they think, and that opinion cannot be completely torn apart for the backward and extremist opinion that it is. All my comparisons were dead on the money. But I guess we have a bandwagon to ride around here.

Moderator: You didn't nail anything except yourself. You (and other readers) have to learn to refute other posters' opinions without being impolite to them or going off topic.
womanforwomen at 12:26 PM JST - 15th May

So the 9 year olds were having fun in a public place without supervision? As for the pedophile, I have no comments. Cane him in public so that others will learn a good lesson.
lutfreak at 05:01 AM JST - 16th May

Maybe he just thinks little naked and semi-naked girls are cute, as Annie Liebovitz, above, does. I can see that. There are lots of naked little kids in classic European pantings. I can't see little boys being cute. They catch cats and put lighter fluid on them and light them and knock other little kids down, etc. Some parents don't like their kids being photographed. And if he ever thought of doing a commercial exhibit, he would have to go through the great hassle of getting permission of all the parents.
Brunobear at 05:34 PM JST - 16th May

Someone suggested a "suspended sentence". Did you mean from the bridge?

If you carried those pictures into Australia you would be charged with a criminal offence, publicly ostricized, and gaoled. You cannot even take a picture of children playing sport in Australia with many sporting groups. 100 compromising photographs of children, even deleted but on your hard-drive memory in your computer and you would be prosecuted. It is considered bad manners to take public photographs, with identifiable people in them without their expressed permission. As for men who secretly photograph nude nine year olds, of course they know it is evil, that is why they do it sneakily. As for those who attempt to rationalise such behavior and blame the bathing child or parent, who is maybe unaware, that is a bit rich. The man who called the police and waited for their arrival to arrest the culprit is the good side of this tragic incident.
kview at 02:52 PM JST - 17th May

I think alike dennisObauer and noborito my hero. Its true that Japanese don't have hang ups about being naked as western values. Europe and Australia have their nudist beach. He is not Mr. Spencer Tunick in the making. Refer to his nudist colony work in Newcastle 17/07/05. This taxman should be charged accordingly if not warned and publicly shamed for what he's done.
notimpressed at 11:30 AM JST - 18th May

well, If we are so aware and concerned about pedophiles, and feel that this guys actions mean he must be one, and that he is a threat to children and should be arrested, then I think it should be obvious that it is not ok, or safe for 9 year old girls to be naked in public. Why give sexual predators the opportunity? He may not have touched anyone yet, but how long before his fascination with naked children goes to the next level? Dont give him free shows for goodness sake! With that many photos, he has to be taking them for a unsavoury purpose.
likeitis at 11:33 AM JST - 18th May

womanforwomen: As for the pedophile, I have no comments. Cane him in public so that others will learn a good lesson.

What crime are you suggesting he be caned for? Again, I think its not for taking the pictures, but for "possibly" having a sexual interest in little girls even if its worst manifestation is taking pictures from a distance. In other words, I think you want to cane him for what is in his head, not what he did. Am I right?

So the 9 year olds were having fun in a public place without supervision?

You know what happens when you play with matches, don't you?
womanforwomen at 08:11 PM JST - 18th May

You are absolutely right likeitis.
likeitis at 10:49 PM JST - 18th May

womanforwomen: You are absolutely right likeitis.

Okay. So do you honestly think you can cane him into not thinking of little girls anymore? And I mean exactly that. I am not talking about caning him into not touching them, which he did not do, or not taking pictures of them from behind a pylon, I am talking about caning the thoughts out of him, or caning him into a new sexual interest. Do you really think you can do that?