Japan High School Ballplayers Suspected of Spreading Obscene Video

Tokyo, Feb. 12 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo police sent papers on two members of Third Senior High School of Nihon University’s baseball team to prosecutors including for allegedly making a female student send an obscene video, investigative sources said Thursday. The video is believed to have been shared among team members around the time when the team finished as runner-up at last summer’s “Koshien,” a prestigious national high school baseball tournament. Of the two, a 17-year-old member is suspected of having a 15-year-old female acquaintance send him a total of three obscene still and video images between March and April last year, in violation of the child prostitution and child pornography prohibition law, according to the sources. The other member, 16, is suspected of receiving one video between April and October of the same year and forwarding it to another student. The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the possibility that the video may have been shared with dozens of members of the team via free messaging app Line and other means and that over 10 team members may have been involved in the misconduct. During voluntary questioning, the two members referred for prosecution told the MPD that they did something they should not have done and that they deeply regret their thoughtless actions. This case came to light when a guardian of the female student consulted with the MPD about the possible spread of the student’s video. The high school in western Tokyo is known as a baseball powerhouse, having competed in the Koshien championships a total of 40 times across both spring and summer tournaments. It won the summer championships in 2001 and 2011 and the spring tournament in 1971. According to the National Police Agency, 1,265 children under the age of 18 were victims of child pornography in 2024. Of them, 462 victims, the largest group, were deceived or threatened into taking pictures of themselves naked and sending them by email or other means. Of the 1,424 perpetrators in such cases detected by police, teenagers accounted for 781, the largest share, including 407 high school students. “In cases where the perpetrator is under 18, there are instances where they spread images without knowing that their actions violate the child prostitution and child pornography prohibition law,” said Megumi Oka, director of Paps, a nonprofit organization that supports victims of digital sexual violence and other crimes. Shingo Shiota, associate professor at Shizuoka University’s Faculty of Education, said: “When asked by someone they like or trust, junior high or high school students may underestimate related risks. It’s important to be aware that photos they send could be misused.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]