‘I saved it thinking I would see it again’…Indecent middle school principal ‘filmed himself touching a female student’ in horrifying candid photos.

I was subjected to indecent acts by a teacher in the past.

The incident was uncovered by a single phone call to the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education’s “Third-Party Consultation Service. The caller was a female victim. After several rounds of communication with the person in charge, the woman consulted the police. On September 10, the police investigated the workplace and home of the current junior high school principal whom they believed to be the perpetrator, and found a video camera in his desk in the principal’s office that contained nude images of a female former student.

On September 11, the Metropolitan Police Department’s Investigation Division 1 announced the arrest of Hisayoshi Kitamura, 55, principal of a junior high school in Tokyo’s Nerima Ward, on suspicion of violating the Child Prostitution and Pornography Law (possession).

The suspect admitted to the crime, saying, “I have no doubt that he was in possession of a camera containing images of a female student’s body being touched and naked,” according to the police. He said the following about his motive and the situation. ‘I saved (the images) thinking I might see them again,’ and ‘I was taking images of the female student’s lower body being touched.

The female victim was a student at a junior high school in Tokyo where Kitamura used to work. Kitamura said he ‘had a liking for her. Her image was not the only one stored on the video. A video of another girl was also found, and the police are now investigating the suspect for additional crimes.

From a Prestigious Tokyo School to a National University

The suspect Kitamura went from a prestigious public high school in Tokyo to a national university. At the university, he studied in the education department and focused mainly on science research. His reputation among parents and students was not bad.

In interviews with various media outlets, graduates of the school where he worked and others responded positively, saying that he was “bright and kind” and “always smiling.” After graduating from a national university, Kitamura worked at a junior high school in Bunkyo Ward. In April ’19, he became the principal of a junior high school in Nerima Ward. He was an enthusiastic teacher who also served as an advisor for the kendo club.

In response to the incident, the Nerima Ward Board of Education held a press conference, at which Superintendent Kazuo Hori apologized as follows.

We are deeply sorry that the principal, who is in a position to teach and lead children and is the chief administrator of the school, was arrested. I would like to extend my deepest apologies to the victims, students, parents, and residents of the district.

In recent years, there have been a number of indecent assaults by teachers at schools and cram schools; on September 11, a former teacher at Yotsuya Otsuka, a major cram school for junior high school entrance examinations, was arrested again on charges including indecent assault.

The Child and Family Agency has indicated that it intends to make available a “Japanese version of DBS,” which can check criminal records, based on the British system. This system will allow schools and cram schools to check the criminal reference system when hiring teachers and instructors. A related bill is scheduled to be submitted to the Diet this fall.

On the homepage of the junior high school where he works, Kitamura wrote, “All staff members will make every effort to create a ‘school built on a strong relationship of trust. Unable to control his own desires, he ruined the “relationship of trust” with students and their parents.