Japan Man Suspected of Involvement in Laos Child Prostitution Blog

Tokyo, Jan. 29 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo police have arrested a 61-year-old man for allegedly registering a fake address to rent an internet server, with the suspect also believed to be involved in a blog suggesting child prostitution in Laos, it was learned Thursday. Arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department was Hiroshi Kida, a part-time worker in the city of Kawachinagano in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan. Kida is suspected of providing a fake address and phone number when renting the server on Oct. 2, 2022. He denied the allegations, saying that he just told his address to a man who got along at a bar in Laos. According to the police, the blog in question contained texts and photos that suggest child prostitution in the Southeast Asian country. The blog also had a link to a charged blog. Kida’s bank account had a record of receiving some 550,000 yen, believed to be a revenue from the blog. During a search on Kida’s home in March last year, the police found the same photographs that had been posted on the blog stored on his computer and smartphone. Kida has visited Laos 17 times, and some of the photos’ date matched his visit. The Japanese Embassy in Laos issued a statement in June last year, warning that there were some posts suggesting child prostitution by Japanese nationals in Laos and that such acts are not only subject to crackdowns by Laotian authorities but also punishable under Japan’s child prostitution and child pornography prohibition law as crimes committed abroad by Japanese nationals. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]