Japanese Man Arrested for Filming Sex with Minors, Victimizing More Than 12,000 Filipinos
A 64-year-old Japanese man, who served as junior high school principal, was arrested Wednesday by authorities in Japan for filming sex acts with minors and producing child porn.
Yuhei Takahashi is also accused of paying for sex with 12,700 women, including minors, in the Philippines, according to NBC News.
Takahashi was said to have filmed sex acts with girls between 13 and 14 years old at a hotel in Manila, Kanagawa Prefectural Police told NBC News.
These were taken using a digital camera and were stored in memory cards.
A raid at his home revealed about 400 photo albums containing photos of more than 12,000 female teens while some as old as in their 70s, the report quoted the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
About 10 percent of the women were below 18 years old, another report said.
A TBS News report said the photos were taken when Takahashi visited the Philippines 65 times since 1988. He taught in a Japanese school in Manila for three years.
The Japanese national was quoted as saying that every time he went to the Philippines, he would become another personality.
The Asahi report quoted Takahashi as saying that when he met women in the Philippines, he said the "price was cheap."
Takahashi also said deviating from moral behavior gave him a "sense of freedom."
The education board of Yokohama City apologized, stating that Takahashi began teaching in 1975 and became a junior high school principal until he retired in 2012.
"He was a principal and as someone who served at a post which requires responsibility conducted these acts — when we first heard it we just could not believe it," one official said, according to NBC News.
The board of education said because of the crime he committed, Takahashi should return his retirement pay of about 30 million yen (about $249,636).