50 Cases in 2 Years: 49-Year-Old Man’s Morning Train Molestation Horror

I did about 50 molestations over the past two years.”

The man is said to have stated this in response to police questioning.

On January 8, the Honjo Police Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested Kazuhiro Minegishi, 49, a restaurant employee in Yashio City, Saitama Prefecture, on suspicion of non-consensual sexual intercourse. At around 7:30 in the morning on September 21 last year, he allegedly touched the lower half of a teenage high school girl’s body in a running Keisei Line train. He admitted to the investigation that he did it to relieve stress from work. When this magazine’s photographer filmed the transfer, he quickly fell on his face. I would like to look back on the incident that led to his arrest.

He shook her hand and ran away.

At the time of the incident, the train was packed with commuters. Minegishi allegedly approached the high school girl from behind, put his hand inside her skirt, and touched her lower body. The high school student was so terrified that she was unable to speak.

A male passenger nearby noticed something was wrong, grabbed Minegishi by the arm, and got off at the next stop with the high school girl. When he tried to hand her over to the station staff, Minegishi shook off the male passenger’s hand and ran away. The station attendant immediately called 110, and based on security camera footage, he was arrested.

As mentioned at the beginning of this report, Minegishi had repeatedly molested a man about 50 times in the past two years to relieve stress.

He was disguised in a shirt and slacks, the kind of clothes a restaurant employee would normally wear as a salaryman. He was probably trying to be inconspicuous on the morning commuter train. Some of the women resisted, saying, ‘No, please don’t,’ but they couldn’t move in the crowded train. The Keisei Line station is far from Minegishi’s home, and it is believed that the suspect took the trouble to ride the crowded morning train for the purpose of being molested.

With the examination season about to get into full swing, there is a possibility that more molestations will target students who are rushing to the exam venue before the exam. The police recommend the use of “Digipolis,” a crime prevention application that displays messages such as, “You are being molested, please help us” on smartphone screens.