Man arrested for abducting four young girls for 17 hours

Tuesday 13th October, 01:11 AM JST

IBARAKI —

A 35-year-old man was arrested Sunday for allegedly abducting minors after he reportedly picked up four girls, between the ages of 8 and 11, and led them around for nearly 17 hours in Amimachi, Ibaraki Prefecture. The girls were not injured when they were found, police said.

The suspect, identified as Koji Goto, has admitted to picking up the girls, but was quoted as saying, “It wasn’t kidnapping.”

According to police, Goto approached the four girls at a supermarket on Saturday at around 6 p.m. and offered them candy. The four girls are friends who were playing together. One girl lived nearby Goto and had met him before, police said.

Police said that Goto convinced the girls to go with him to his residence, a supermarket and other places, before letting them go at 10:40 a.m. on Sunday.

Police received a call from the girls’ mothers on Saturday night after they did not return home. On Sunday morning, police spotted the group of five walking together near the supermarket, which is about one kilometer from Goto’s residence.

Wire reports

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Latest 15 of 43 Total Comments Show All

Mz at 08:10 AM JST - 13th October

For goodness' sake they are children! So posters here think they weren't kidnapped because they were enticed by candy? Wake up people please!
Sarge at 08:15 AM JST - 13th October

"On Sunday morning police spotted the group of five walking together near the supernarket"

Seems the girls were in no hurry to go home.

Goto is nuts.
kawaiipineapple at 08:36 AM JST - 13th October

Strangers have the best candy.
bdiego at 09:02 AM JST - 13th October

Well as the article clearly states, this guy wasn't a stranger. He knew them. It's still illegal though, just not against their will. As minors he cannot simply have them over at his house overnight without their parents permission. If he got permission that would have turned out a different story. He sounds lonely in any case.
nuju at 09:54 AM JST - 13th October

It does not matter what country your from; when it comes to dealing with kids and strangers it is the parents responsablity to teach and guide their children. How a child turns out has something to do with their upbringing( not solely but a good basis). For a child to know good judgement they have to see it at home and have been taught and explained it. If the parents dont teach it then who will TV, the Internet or maybe the schools or even better yet Strangers.
InTheKnow at 12:33 PM JST - 13th October

Do Japanese mothers instill in their kids from infancy, "NEVER go anywhere with a stranger!"
dolphingirl at 12:48 PM JST - 13th October

Totally creepy and bizarre. I find it hard to believe that these girls went with him completely 'willingly'? If they really went without any force, wouldn't they have thought to call their parents or say they have to go home for dinner? The poor parents must have been freaking out when their kids were out all night! He must have threatened or coerced them in some way. This guy sounds very dangerous! The fact that he denies it was kidnapping is even more disturbing.

Also, it says that they weren't 'injured' but how well did they check these girls out for signs of sexual abuse? Did the girls get to talk with a psychologist or counsellor?

I agree with what many people are saying about safety edudation. Police officers should be going into schools to tell children about the dangers of talking to strangers and other issues. And I'm not blaming the parents here, but it sounds to me that these girls were lacking any kind of good judgement or common sense and it IS up to the parents to be teaching their kids those things.
fishy at 03:28 PM JST - 13th October

Geez, even my 8-year-old knows he needs to come home for dinner. The oldest girl is 11, and she didn't even think that they needed to go home? Besides, it's already dark outside around 6pm and they were supposed to go home at that time. I am curious what the guy said to the girls to bring them back to his house.

Maybe this guy was lonely and no adult women cared about him, so he wanted to enjoy the evening (innocently) with the young girls.. Weirdo. Thank God these girls returned safely.
Altria at 03:38 PM JST - 13th October

Sounds this guy was known as the neighbourhood 'go-to' guy for candy.
isthistheend at 09:48 PM JST - 13th October

I wonder if being Ibaraki has anything to do with it. That is, country behavior different than city behavior? Still 8-11 year olds not coming home for dinner is just unacceptable. As a child I would have been shaking with anxiety at not returning home without getting permission. I get the feeling "permission" from parents might not be the norm in this country, or shall we say, from people in parts of this country? Its one part of the unpredictable nature of these people. They seem to suddenly do things (like say some derogatory comment about being a gaijin to you right in your face) or not do things (like apologize for dropping their a strap of their bag against your glasses in the train) that belies a true concept of "wa". What do you think? Was that what happened in this case. They felt because there was four of them together that they didn't need anyone else's permission? Somethings gotta be behind the act. If they were 13-15 that's another matter, but 8-11?
peachy871 at 11:02 PM JST - 13th October

Dolphingirl...I thought the same as you a little over 24 hours ago.

Then I had the bizarre experience of some of the kids in my neighbourhood suddenly taking an interest in me. Last night, they followed me, in the dark, tittering and giggling, almost all the way to the train station. Today, they followed me almost to my door in my apt building. The only reason they didn't get as far as my door was that I refused to go up until they left. I didn't want them knowing which door was mine. I also, having read this story the day before, didn't want people to see kids following me up the stairs. They don't know me and neither do their parents. They are about as street wise as a potted plant! Parents and schools really need to teach kids more about the dangers of talking to people they don't know. Hell, at their age (about 8 or 9) I was taught not even to accept drives from people that I DID know in our neighbourhood! But to ask a stranger for candy??? That's really a worry!

I now see how the kids would have gone with him willingly. As for staying with him that long, maybe since they trusted him from the beginning, they probably totally believed whatever he might have told them.
Icewind007 at 02:23 AM JST - 14th October

This story... is just weird.

And candy? Seriously? That's pretty old fashioned.
Investigator at 09:21 AM JST - 14th October

Who is more sick, the guy who neglects to inform the parents that he is having 3 children enjoying a sleep over at his place, or people who read about it and just have to imagine sex was involved? You just cannot put the words "man" and "girls" in a headline without JQP entertaining a lurid sex image on the spot. Sad people. And sick.
anthony39 at 09:39 PM JST - 15th October

Investigator said -

'guy who neglects to inform the parents that he is having 3 children enjoying a sleep over'

are you living in peter pan fantasy world???
Miyaratmosphere at 12:50 PM JST - 17th October

anthony39 wrote: Japan - a country which allows people to possess child pornography.

Maybe he just wanted to add to the sick collection of images of children been abused, that is not considered a crime in Japan.

I won't suggest why 4 pre-pubescent girls went to his apartment overnight, apparently not under duress.

It would be strange if his intentions were entirely innocent but he was still jailed, when he could have photos of the children been raped entirely legally!!

(or is it only foreign children been raped that Japanese pedophiles are allowed to look at?)

TOTALLY GROTESQUE AND CRIMINAL. How Japanese!