Sexual grooming” of a junior high school boy he met in a video game was revealed in court.

Masao Takeuchi (43) was arrested in November 2023 for committing obscene acts with a male junior high school student he met through an online game and was charged with non-consensual intercourse. His trial was held on August 6 at the Tokyo District Court.

“Takeuchi recruited members for the popular online game ‘Knives Out’ and created a group with male elementary and junior high school students. He established rules for the group, calling himself the ‘commander,’ and made the members follow them. For those who did not follow the rules, he called it a ‘mistake’ and demanded they send nude images or videos of themselves masturbating as punishment. He further threatened to expose these images or videos on Twitter (now X) and called the junior high school student to his home to commit obscene acts,” said a reporter from a national newspaper’s social affairs department.

The defendant Takeuchi appeared in court with a shaved head and a large build, weighing nearly 100 kilograms. He wore a black T-shirt with Snoopy printed on it and black sweatpants. His attitude was quite intimidating as he scanned the audience with a sharp gaze, showing no signs of remorse.

According to the indictment, Takeuchi targeted not only women but also male students from elementary to high school, focusing on recruiting elementary and junior high school students. He would call the members who made “mistakes” to his home and say things like, “If you kiss me, I’ll forgive your mistake,” and then commit obscene acts.

Regarding Takeuchi’s heinous acts, the prosecution condemned them as “acts to satisfy his own desires without any legitimate reason.” When asked to plead to the charges, Takeuchi admitted to the acts but denied parts of them, stating,

“Regarding without any legitimate reason, I was sincerely involved with him. As for satisfying my own desires, it was to satisfy both of our desires.”

He responded in a clear and firm tone.

“Takeuchi had the victim join the group when he was in elementary school and sent congratulatory messages on his birthday and when he entered junior high school. He initially approached gently, grooming the victim before engaging in sexual acts. The large-built, over-40-year-old Takeuchi controlled elementary and junior high school boys and committed these acts. It is extremely malicious,” said a reporter from a national newspaper’s judicial department.

Takeuchi, who claimed to have sincerely been involved with the victim, had multiple victims and repeatedly made self-serving claims about other victims, saying he thought they were in a relationship.

“There is a very high possibility that more crimes will come to light, and investigations are ongoing, so the schedule for the latter part of the trial has not been decided. Cases of children being involved in crimes through online games are increasing. Offenders disguise their identities and approach children as game friends.

Once they become somewhat close, they make the children send nude images as punishment games. They then threaten to spread these images on social media, demand money, or force sexual relationships. This arrest is just the tip of the iceberg,” said the reporter.

While online games are not inherently dangerous, parents need to understand the risks of easily interacting with unseen individuals.