Ex-METI Bureaucrat Sexually Assaulted Six Women with Sleeping Pills at Shrines and Internet Cafes

He said, “What you did is more serious than you think. I want you to take it more seriously.”

The judge admonished the defendant.

On May 13, the Tokyo District Court (Presiding Judge Yoshihisa Nakao) sentenced Dai Sato, 34, to 10 years in prison for crimes including quasi-forcible sexual intercourse and quasi-forcible indecency. Sato is a former career bureaucrat at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. He is alleged to have sexually assaulted six women in a six-month period from July to December 2010.

The defendant apparently gave the women drinks containing a sleep inducing drug to make them unable to resist before committing the crimes. The locations were various, including a private room in an Internet cafe, a hotel, and the precincts of a Shinto shrine. Sato settled with the three victims and showed remorse at the trial. However, the presiding judge ruled that the crime was ‘outrageous and disrespectful to women’s dignity,’ and sentenced the defendant to prison.

In an article distributed on January 23, 2011, “FRIDAY Digital” reported in detail on the incident committed by Sato. We would like to reproduce the article and review the defendant’s despicable criminal technique using drugs and his words and deeds (some parts have been corrected).

On Christmas night: ……

I’m going to the bathroom.

It seems that this happened just after the woman left the private room. The man put drugs in her glass. When the woman returned, she sipped her drink and suddenly began to feel dazed. The man begins to toy with the woman’s body, which is unable to resist.

On January 19, 2011, the Metropolitan Police Department’s Investigation Division 1 arrested Sato, a resident of Katsushika Ward, Tokyo, on suspicion of quasi-forcible indecency. Sato is an elite bureaucrat in the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry. The incident occurred on Christmas night, December 25, 2010.

Sato and a female acquaintance in her 20s, Ms. A, were drinking together at a tavern in Adachi Ward at around 5:00 pm. After 7:00 p.m., they moved to a private room at an Internet cafe about a 3-minute walk away. While watching a movie, Ms. A was hit by a strong sleeping spell and lost her memory.

When she regained consciousness inside the cafe, Mr. Sato paid the bill as if nothing had happened and they parted ways around 11 p.m. Mr. A and Mr. Sato had had dinner several times in the past, but they were mere acquaintances and were not in a relationship.

Mr. A had not been drinking alcohol at the Internet cafe. Despite this, Ms. A suddenly felt drowsy and her memory was interrupted, and she also felt uncomfortable with the condition of her clothing, so she consulted the police. In addition, she felt that a man she was with might have committed an indecent act on her, and she called the police.

Upon investigation, Sato denied committing the crime, stating. He denied committing the crime, saying, “I lightly patted her on the head with her consent. I don’t remember which part, but I touched her body over her clothes. I don’t remember giving her sleeping pills, but I don’t remember doing it at all.

Sato is a career bureaucrat. He studied at a famous private university and a prestigious school in the U.S., majoring in law and diplomacy.’ After joining the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in 2005, he was steadily promoted.

”He was selected as an assistant section chief in his fifth year at the ministry, which shows the high expectations placed on defendant Sato. However, his spectacular career took a turn for the worse after his arrest.” On January 19, 2011, he was assigned to the Secretarial Division of the Minister’s Secretariat.

The former elite bureaucrat, who could not restrain his own desires, will now spend a long time reflecting on his actions.