3 men held for accommodating two 13-year-old runaway girls in return for sex

Wednesday 24th June, 10:16 AM JST

NAGOYA —

Aichi prefectural police said Tuesday they have arrested three men under the Child Welfare Law and sent their case to prosecutors, with each of them accused of engaging in indecent behavior with a minor.

Police allege that Takahiro Sumi, 34, became acquainted with two junior high school girls via an online bulletin board for runaway children. The girls, both 13 at the time, had written comments on the board since November last year asking if anyone could provide them with accommodation. Sumi made an offer to the girls to stay at his apartment in Nagoya City, and the girls met him on March 23. They stayed at his apartment until March 30, during which time he is accused of having sex with both of them.

Police said Sumi wrote a message on another bulletin board toward the end of that week, saying that he could no longer afford to accommodate the girls and asked if anyone could provide accommodation for them.

Shuji Okuno, 30, replied to the message and met the girls at Nagoya station on March 30. They both stayed at his place, also in Nagoya City, until April 21 when one of the girls left. This was after Okuno had posted a message online asking if someone could take one of the girls. Yuzo Fujieda, 29, is believed to have met the girl in Nagoya City on April 21 and is accused of engaging in indecent behavior with her the next day.

Both Sumi and Okuno have admitted to engaging in indecent behavior with a minor, and told police that they expected sex in return for providing free accommodation. Fujieda has denied the allegation and told police that he never met the girl.

The three men never met each other, police said.

News reports

› Login to comment

Latest 15 of 53 Total Comments Show All

Molenir at 03:16 AM JST - 25th June

Having sex with a minor child, and yes, to me a 13 year old girl falls into this catagory, is nothing less then pedophilia. Sure its not a 4 year old, but nevertheless, the girls are children. As such, they cannot consent to having sex. So the guys are as I said before, pedophile rapists. Even if the crime is merely statutory rape. Even if the girls, who can't legally consent, consented. Its still rape. And these guys should have known better. I honestly can't believe anyone here is trying to justify their actions.
womanforwomen at 08:30 AM JST - 25th June

fusedentropy, beavercleaver I totally must agree with you. This is Japan and Japan is having a serious psycho-social issue on childporn.

So posters are not capable of doing anything about it. And your posts on this issue and other news item point clearly that you are unable to distinguish what is acceptable and what is not. 13 year old is a child and a 34 year old is an adult in any part of the world. Rape is a rape and is not acceptable in any country and culture. There are countries in Africa and other developing nations where the laws regarding rape etc are not clearly spelt. Yet, the society has some sort of protection and prevention measures to avoid this crime to a great extent. Japan is an isolated island and so what happens here is nobody's business is a worng noting that you seem to have.
Molenir at 08:32 AM JST - 25th June

MOlenir - WHy are you an authority now? You say, "To me....". As if you're the only one on earth who makes rules?

Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was being so offensive. Merely because I'm echoing what pretty much everyone in the civilized world would say, I guess that offended you. Though since again, pretty much EVERYONE in the entire civilized world would say the same thing, I don't think I'm the only one who is making these rules. Think what you like though. If you want to have the right to rape underage girls, and call it something else, well forgive me if I continue to disagree.
womanforwomen at 09:10 AM JST - 25th June

worng noting i meant wrong notion
GW at 10:41 AM JST - 25th June

People there are clearly some posters on this thread you need to make sure you keep yr daughters away from as they cant tell right from wrong, scary
jonnyboy at 12:06 PM JST - 25th June

when you have a stiff, largely age-defined social hierarchy with those at the top (the oldest) having absolute power over those at the bottom (the youngest) this sort of thing is inevitable. elevate some women and younger people into positions of authority and there might be a chance of changing things. as for now the only people with power to change things are exactly those with the least reason to do so (ie. dirty old men)
BAYANI98 at 09:33 PM JST - 25th June
*...a 13 year old is a child... in any part of the world. *

Are you SERIOUS? Countless innumerable ethnic tribes all around the world marry off their youth at around this age . Google it if you don't believe me.

*Merely because I'm echoing what pretty much everyone in the civilized world would say, I guess that offended you. Though since again, pretty much EVERYONE in the entire civilized world would say the same thing, *

The mere fact that there are people , and quite a number of them , disagreeing with you disproves this hyperbole.

Japan is an isolated island and so what happens here is nobody's business is a wrong noting that you seem to have

Again, I'll say, that if the Japanese THEMSELVES by-and-large have no problem with something that involves ONLY them and NO foreigners , why should any foreigner have the right to criticize and condemn them for it?! By analogy, that's like having Arabs coming to America and lambasting Americans for allowing women to have the same rights as men .
- I honestly can't believe anyone here is trying to justify their actions.*
There are MORE things in Heaven and Earth than exist in YOUR philosophy. Maybe if you actually tried to see things from the Nihonjins' own point of view instead of forcing your Gaijin morality on the natives, you'd possibly be able to relate.

when you have a stiff, largely age-defined social hierarchy with those at the top (the oldest) having absolute power over those at the bottom (the youngest) this sort of thing is inevitable. elevate some women and younger people into positions of authority and there might be a chance of changing things. as for now the only people with power to change things are exactly those with the least reason to do so (ie. dirty old men)

Now this is simply delusional . Do you actually think that it's "dirty old men" who are forcing the younger girls , as well as the older women , of Japan , to do such things of this sexual nature? Of course not! They're doing it purely OF THEIR OWN VOLITION and FREE WILL . Who do you think invented the practice of Compensated Dating in the first place? It wasn't men! If more women and youth got into "positions of power" like you imagine , the EXACT OPPOSITE of what you think will happen will occur. Seriously , this statement betrays both ignorance of both human nature and japanese culture.
womanforwomen at 09:58 PM JST - 25th June

bayani you have made a good effort to say something. But what is your stance on the incident with the 13 year olds and the 34 year old adults?

You do sense that there is something not very right here by saying that 'the Japanese THEMSELVES by-and-large have no problem with something that involves ONLY them` . Good.

To be honest, I cannot understand what you are trying to say here.
womanforwomen at 10:50 PM JST - 25th June

You are right about the girls. Many posters have noted that above. It is a little too obvious here that they do not seem too innocent. That is one thing. But that does not mean that those men should have taken advantage of that. I think that in another country and another city and in another society it will not be easy for a young girl to deceive an older man to get free accomodation. The man would definitely know that she has a serious motive behind this and ofcourse the penalty for an offense like this can doom his career and his life. So very rarely a man would entertain a guest like that.

This kind of thing could have happened in any country and any city. Why do people in Jland take it serious that information on the online bulletin boards could easily be faked. Just like you noted, the girls are far from innocent. So the society should not give room for such things to take place. Anyone should be able to point out to such girls that they cannot get too far with their tricks. If only those men were smart enough they would not be in the predicament they are in now.
Molenir at 02:02 AM JST - 26th June

MOlenir - Civilized world? HAHAHa Your "Civilized" world has a 50% divorce rate. History has shown just how the "Civilized" world is constantly wrong.... Christans killing muslims. White men converting "heathen" africans. "Civilized" world my rear end....

Interesting attempt to change the subject. Pathetic of course, but interesting. So, back to the issue of 13 year old girls being preyed upon by 34 year old men. And how in just about any other jurisdiction, that would be rape...
jefinner at 01:23 PM JST - 26th June

Are you SERIOUS? Countless innumerable ethnic tribes all around the world marry off their youth at around this age

The key word here is MARRY. They enter a contract with their husband who provides them food and shelter. They are not used and thrown out like garbage.
polarmalik at 10:11 PM JST - 26th June

Why did the 13-year-old runaway girls want to runaway - where are the parents and why did they create a situation where these girls decided to runaway from home...this is a serious matter and the authorities should find the cause and reason behind all this. The parents should be reprimanded and the schools should keep a check on students. In this case the men are guilty of taking undue advantage of the situation and should be punished accordingly.
helloklitty at 03:52 AM JST - 30th June

The Prophet Mohammed of Islam married a nine-year-old.
RandomTask at 01:45 PM JST - 30th June

The Prophet Mohammed of Islam married a nine-year-old.

Which says more about changing times than anything else...

Maybe it isn't rape, the girls might not have been forced into it, but it should be considered a major crime. I think a lot of people are getting stuck on terminology.
Lamborghini at 04:52 PM JST - 30th June

1) Did the girls agree to sex? if so then it is not rape!

2) Mother nature said old enough to bleed old enough to bred

3) If you look on the interpol site it says the legal age of sex in Japan is 13 years old set by the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT of Japan. Prefectures set it at 18 years old. So under Japanese Law going by the INTERPOL web site the legal age is 13 years old, so these 3 men under Japanese Federal Law did not do anything WRONG, but under Prefecture law did do something wrong.

The 13 years olds should also be getting in trouble for this. I know if I had a 13 year old daughter and she did this she be grounded until she was 40!