KOBE —

Police on Tuesday arrested a 24-year-old man on Tuesday on suspicion of violating juvenile prostitution and pornography laws after he allegedly paid a 14-year-old Kobe girl to have sex with him at a hotel in Himeji back in June.

According to police, Manabu Ueta has admitted to the charge, but said the money was a loan, not payment for sex.

News reports

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  dolphingirl at 02:19 PM JST - 24th September

  I don't really have a problem with prositution. It has always existed and probably always will. What I DO have a problem with is an older man having sex with a girl who is so young. That is pretty much pedophilia and NOT acceptable behavior. The government has to enforce laws to protect children and parent's need to know what their kids are doing!

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  elbudamexicano at 03:58 PM JST - 24th September

  The 24 year old perv, well he is bad, but a 14 year old girl, is already a mini prostitute and she should also be arrested!

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  barristerwolf at 05:02 PM JST - 24th September

  They probably can't arrest the girl, giving up her john was probably apart of her release! He probably was the only one who gave his real name and they could find.

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  jaystak at 07:51 PM JST - 24th September

  I simply don't understand how the guy was caught. There has been a string of these cases recently, and I am left wondering if the police are actually more competent that I gave them credit for. Not that I have any objection to prostitution. If the girl wanted to sell and the man wanted to buy, let them at it, if you ask me. As for catching them, it's not in the girl's best interest to offer the information to the cops. And it's certainly not in the man's best interest. So I am left to conclude that the cops are monitoring areas where schoolgirls are known to 'do business'. Then they follow them to the hotel and bust them after the sordid deed is done. Any other theories out there?

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  sensei258 at 07:56 PM JST - 24th September

  I was wondering the same thing. Set aside the moral issues for a moment. How did he "get caught"? More information please.

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  jaystak at 09:46 PM JST - 24th September

  Does anyone have a link to the Japanese version of this story?

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  jaystak at 10:01 PM JST - 24th September

  http://www.iza.ne.jp/news/newsarticle/event/crime/304715/

  It doesn't add many details, other than that he met the girl through a cellphone website. Nothing about how they were caught.

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  ultradodgy at 07:30 AM JST - 25th September

  This isn't prostitution, it's pedophilia. Let's make sure we're talking about the right topic.

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  jaystak at 07:36 AM JST - 25th September

  Of course it's prostitution. It was a consentual agreement between a girl accepting money for sexual services and a man who paid for them. That's prostitution. The age of the girl complicates matters, but saying "This isn't prostitution" is plainly wrong.

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  ultradodgy at 10:02 AM JST - 26th September

  Wrong, plain wrong. In no industrialized country would this 14 year old be able to enter into a binding contract let alone a business proposition without adult consent. The reasons are obvious - mental capacity, experience, etc.

  To say that it is prostitution - effectively, a business deal - is impossible.

  To say that it is normal sex for an older man to be with a barely-teenage girl is sad, sick, and wrong.

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  jaystak at 01:33 PM JST - 26th September

  Nobody said it was normal. And nobody said it was a binding contract. It was an agreement between the two. The girl accepted money for sexual services. Plain and simple. That's what prostitution is. And that's why the guy is being prosecuted under the "juvenile prostitution laws". To say that it's not prostitution is ridiculous. You can argue the morality of it all day long, and that's perfectly legitimate. But don't try to distort the definition of prostitution because of your moral outrage.

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  ultradodgy at 09:03 PM JST - 26th September

  And so your position would be that the man is not a pedophile, since she is a prostitute? Whatever, dude.

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  jaystak at 11:05 PM JST - 26th September

  No, that's not my position. My position is that prostitution occurred.

  "Prostitution: the act or practice of engaging in sexual intercourse for money." ( http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prostitution. )

  You said "To say that it is prostitution is impossible".

  You are wrong. That is my position.

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  Beelzebub at 11:14 AM JST - 29th September

  As the Japanese economy implodes, a lot more women will be turning to prostitution, including married women who do it with their husbands' knowledge and/or approval. As long as it involves consenting adults in private, police should leave them alone. In the case of juveniles, a lot of the problem involves peer group pressure. If more details of the story are forthcoming, it's almost certain that the 14-year-old girl ran with a group that was looking for johns.

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  dbung10 at 02:40 PM JST - 29th September

  All adults have a responsibility to look after children and not abuse their power - this guy did and deserves to go to jail for a long time, as does roman polansiky.

  Ultradodgy - just to be as pedantic as you, a pedophile is someone that is sexually attracted to pre-pubescent girls or boys - i doubt a 14 year old falls into this category. The man is more likely an ephebophile - still very much a bad person, but basically I didnt like your tone ultradodgy and wanted to tell you that you are wrong.

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