<figure id="attachment_209902" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-209902" style="width: 2751px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="1c91638a"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2021/10/higaisya.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-209902" class="wp-caption-text">Many women cry themselves to sleep even after being victimized (Photo: PHTO: Afro)</figcaption></figure>
<p><strong> The defendant&#8217;s actions were outrageous, disregarding the dignity of the victims and using them as an outlet for his own sexual desires.</strong></p>
<p> The presiding judge condemned the defendant&#8217;s despicable behavior.</p>
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<p> On September 4, the Tokyo District Court (presided over by Ken Nomura) sentenced Kenjiro Maruta, 33, a former Recruit Group employee, to 25 years in prison for the crime of quasi-forcible sexual intercourse. Maruta is alleged to have sexually assaulted at least 10 college girls who were looking for jobs over a period of several years by forcing them to take sleeping pills.</p>
<p><strong> According to the verdict, &#8220;From April &#8217;17 to October &#8217;20, Maruta used a drink containing a sleeping pill on college women who were seeking advice on job hunting. The students were unable to resist. Maruta is said to have committed indecent acts at a hotel in Tokyo and at his home.</strong></p>
<p> In an article distributed in FRIDAY Digital on October 13, &#8217;21, nonfiction writer Kota Ishii reported in detail on &#8220;rape drugs&#8221; based on the Maruta defendant&#8217;s case. We would like to reproduce the article and reconsider the deep darkness and raw reality of the issue (the content has been revised and titles have been abbreviated).</p>
<h2> 700 Sleeping Pills from Home</h2>
<p> In the past few years, the number of sex crimes involving sleeping pills, known as rape drugs, has been increasing worldwide. Japan is no exception.</p>
<p> One of the most recent cases involving the use of rape drugs in Japan is the serial rape-drug rape case committed by Maruta (30 years old at the time of his arrest) in 2008.</p>
<p> Maruta, an employee of Recruit Communications, used a job-hunting app&#8217;s alumni matching function to call on female job-hunting students one after another, offering to &#8220;guide&#8221; them in their job hunting.</p>
<p> Why did these girls readily agree to these calls?</p>
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<p> Not only is job hunting at COVID-19 crisis a difficult task, but for female students who had no alumni to visit, Maruta must have been the person they wanted to reach out to, no matter what it took. Maruta skillfully exploited the psychology of these job hunters, falsifying information such as the university they attended and luring them out by saying that if they left the job hunting to him, the job hunting would be fine.</p>
<p> Maruta then took them to his hotel or home under the guise of &#8220;job hunting guidance&#8221; or &#8220;help with assignments. The female students, too, were limited in where they could go because of the COVID-19 crisis, so they probably went to the designated places with the hope that they would be able to find something to help them.</p>
<p> He treated them kindly and put them at ease. He then gave them cocktails containing rape drugs and other drinks. After a few sips, the girls lost their memories. Maruta committed sexual crimes against these female students.</p>
<p> After his arrest, a total of 700 sleeping pills of 10 different kinds were found in Maruta&#8217;s house. In addition, photographs of approximately 40 female victims were found on his smartphone and other devices. The victims were put to sleep, and video and still images were taken of them as they committed the crimes.</p>
<p> As of October of this year, the police have arrested Maruta 10 times, but it is estimated that the number of women actually victimized by him is far greater.</p>
<p> When questioned by the police, Maruta is said to have stated, &#8220;I won&#8217;t say whether I admit or deny.</p>
<p><strong> I won&#8217;t say whether I admit or deny. I feel very sorry that I neglected the women.&#8221;</strong></p>
<p> The case of Maruta raises a number of questions about sex crimes involving rape drugs.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" A Surprising Reason for the Low Number of Recognized Cases"></div>
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<p>First, as is well known, this type of crime is rarely exposed. Although I mentioned at the beginning of this report that the number of cases is increasing, only 15 cases were recognized in 2011, and even though the number has been increasing in recent years, the number of cases recognized in 2008 was only 60.</p>
<p> While it is true that the number of cases is increasing, in the U.K., where the population is much smaller than in Japan, there are about 500 similar cases a year. Considering this, we should consider that there are quite a few cases that are buried in Japan.</p>
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<p> One of the reasons for this is the high hurdle for female victims to appeal to the police.</p>
<p> It is unbearable to rush to the police immediately after being sexually victimized, to be questioned in depth, and to be subjected to various tests. And if a police officer asks her why she went with the man, she feels blamed and is emotionally scarred.</p>
<p> Another thing to consider is the fear that women have.</p>
<p> In many cases of this type of incident, men have personal information about the women. In addition, in crimes involving rape drugs, the sexual acts are sometimes captured on video or other means. This is evident in the fact that Maruta possessed images of as many as 40 women.</p>
<h2> He wants to continue to dominate women through these images.</h2>
<p> Why do perpetrators take images? A person involved in the correctional program for sex crimes at the prison said, &#8220;The reason why perpetrators take pictures is because they want to control the women.</p>
<p><strong> There are two main reasons why perpetrators take pictures. The first is that if they take pictures of themselves naked, it can be used to keep them from talking. Second, many sex offenders have an inflated desire to dominate women as a reaction to being repressed by their mothers and other women when they were young. They have a strong desire to dominate them and play with them as they please. So not only do they want to put them to sleep and commit crimes, but they also want to obtain images and continue to dominate women.&#8221;</strong></p>
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<p> In addition, they may upload their criminal videos to adult websites and exchange images with other similar perpetrators. By doing so, they are trying to inflate their warped self-esteem by saying, &#8220;I did a great job.</p>
<p> The problem is that these videos are not properly policed.</p>
<p> I once covered the first case of revenge pornography in Japan, and the police admitted that it was impossible to completely erase such videos from the Internet. It is very difficult to gain access to the operators of foreign sites and have them removed.</p>
<p> However, with such a large number of incidents related to rape drugs and revenge pornography, it is not a problem that can be left as &#8220;impossible. Why should many victims have to cry themselves to sleep because of the police&#8217;s word &#8220;impossible&#8221;?</p>
<p> There must be more that can be done, such as imposing restrictions on major websites and properly examining the leaked images to find the perpetrators. Even if it is not perfect, it is better to do it than not to do it, and it will reduce the number of victims.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The potency of the drug that renders women unconscious for hours"></div>
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<p>An additional factor contributing to the crime is the ease and affordability with which rape drugs can be bought and sold, as evidenced by the fact that Maruta, a 30-year-old office worker, was in possession of 700 pills of 10 different kinds.</p>
<p> The crime involves the use of sleeping pills that are so powerful that they can render the person taking them unconscious for hours. The pills are not the kind of drug that can be easily prescribed, even at a hospital, but they are widely traded privately on the Internet.</p>
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<p> I once covered this trade, and a dealer in his twenties not only told me about the potency of the drugs, but also told me where and how to use them to commit the desired crimes. It was like a social circle.</p>
<p> The perpetrators felt little guilt for selling and buying rape drugs. However, they are just as vicious as methamphetamine and other illegal drugs in that they tear the lives of their victims to shreds.</p>
<p> Despite this, the police do not enforce this type of drug dealing as strictly as they do with illegal drugs. If they were to crack down as hard as they do on illegal drugs, or at least make it impossible for people to buy drugs over the Internet, it would probably reduce the number of victims.</p>
<p> The same lack of effort goes for the companies.</p>
<p> Some pharmaceutical companies have colored their drugs when it was pointed out that their drugs were being used for rape drugs. When put in water, they dissolved and turned blue. They thought that would make people realize that their drinks had been laced with drugs.</p>
<h2> Destroying Women&#8217;s Hearts and Minds</h2>
<p> However, when an assailant laces a drink or food with a drug that is difficult to distinguish by its color, it may not work as a warning. In fact, one of Maruta&#8217;s female victims testified that she woke up in the morning with her upper body naked and her tongue stained blue. It is highly possible that this &#8220;blue&#8221; is due to the medication.</p>
<p> Even so, this kind of innovation in medicine may have a certain deterrent effect on crime. The problem is that only a handful of pharmaceutical companies are making such efforts. Many sleeping pills do not have such innovations. In other words, some companies know that sleeping pills are being used as rape drugs, but do nothing about it.</p>
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<p> Sex crimes involving sleeping pills have been occurring for decades. It has been said for decades that this is just the tip of the iceberg and that there is a huge number of victims in our society.</p>
<p> Nevertheless, why is this crime on the rise?</p>
<p> It is because the police, businesses, and society have neglected this problem for so long. So it can be said that we have allowed the crime to increase more and more as private sales through the Internet spread.</p>
<p> It is known that many female victims of sex crimes suffer from some kind of aftereffects, including PTSD. Some of them are unable to even survive, let alone reintegrate into society. One of Maruta&#8217;s female victims also testified that she suffered from mental and physical abnormalities.</p>
<p><strong> Murder of the soul.</strong></p>
<p> Sexual crimes are so called because they destroy the victims from the inside out.</p>
<p> In October, the state of emergency was lifted (as of October &#8217;21). With this, there is no doubt that opportunities to drink outside will increase. It is precisely because of this that society as a whole needs to think squarely about how to stop sexual crimes such as the one committed by Maruta.</p>


 Afro

 Born in Tokyo in 1977. Nonfiction writer. Graduated from Nihon University College of Art. He has reported and written about culture, history, and medicine in Japan and abroad. His books include "Kichiku" no Ie - Wagakko wo Kajiru Oyasato Tachi" ("The House of 'Demons' - Parents Who Kill Their Children"), "43 Kichiku no Kyoi: In Depth in the Case of the Murder of a Student in Kawasaki," "Rental Child," "Kinship Murder," and "Kakusa to Segregation no Shakai Chizu" ("Social Map of Disparity and Division").

 Kota Ishii

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