Final Suspect Held in Teachers’ Child Porn Case in Japan

Nagoya, Nov. 7 (Jiji Press)–Police have arrested an elementary school teacher in the western Japan prefecture of Okayama, marking the seventh and final arrest in a group of teachers who shared voyeuristic videos of schoolgirls on social media. Arrested by the prefectural police of Aichi, central Japan, on Thursday for allegedly violating the law banning child prostitution and pornography was Mizuki Kai, 27, a teacher at a municipal elementary school in the Okayama city of Bizen. He is suspected of possessing at his home the same day a video showing a girl changing clothes. Kai, from the city of Okayama, admitted the allegation and told investigators that he could not dispose of the video because it was like a treasure although he had been anxious about getting arrested someday, according to the police. The suspect said he obtained the video on the internet. While admitting that he was a member of the group, Kai said he has never filmed such videos himself. The group was created by Yuji Moriyama, 42, a former elementary school teacher in Nagoya, the capital of Aichi, around August last year. In soliciting members, Moriyama, one of the suspects in the case and now on trial, wrote that he hoped to talk about various things with others freely although their conversations can never be opened because of their profession. Shared videos attracted comments from members, such as “It’s really good,” “It’s nice” and “I want to film it someday.” The suspects other than Kai worked at elementary and junior high schools in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, Tokyo, Kanagawa, adjacent to Tokyo, and Aichi. They have already been indicted. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]