One usually inane but occasionally fun thing about the Japanese media is that they almost always list the professions of those who appear in news articles. This really made the headlines pop today as a number of randy men who happened to work in either the public sector or in some kind of care profession got caught red-handed in unfortunate incidents.
A head clerk at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries was arrested June 19 for groping a woman on a train while riding the Kawagoe Line in Saitama. Over a period of about 10 minutes, the man reportedly touched the left breast of an 18-year-old woman sitting next to him. A man sitting across from the pair noticed what was happening, and succeeded in restraining the suspect when he attempted to run. The man denies the accusation and says he was just sleeping.
An employee at a tax office in Kanagawa was arrested June 20 for groping the breast of a female acquaintance while at an izakaya. The man denies having touched her on purpose, saying she came and leaned on him.
A grimmer tale: Police apprehended a 47-year-old elementary school teacher on June 19 for distribution of child pornography. Police say between March 16 and 19, a shared folder on the Aichi man’s computer, visible through eMule, contained a porn video with what appeared to be an elementary-aged girl in it. The man admits to the charges, saying he had shared the video so others would share files with him. The school district superintendent made a public apology to the town, and said it feels like the district has been betrayed.
In Wakayama, an ear, nose and throat doctor went to trial June 16 for charges of attempted indecent assault of a female office worker at the clinic. During the incident, which happened last July, the doctor is accused of molesting the woman during a staged tuberculosis examination.
In similar news, we occasionally hear of bad behavior in the SDF, but this one is grimace-worthy: A 22-year-old private in the Maritime Self Defence Force was arrested for public obscenity and assault in Kyoto prefecture after he reportedly flashed his man bits at a 55-year-old woman then splashed what police believe to be urine on her back. All this in a public library.