Judgment: “Declination” against the defendant who was once called a “legend” for “indecent acts disguised as part of table tennis instruction”.

Yoshida, who has maintained his innocence

I believe that he is not guilty. I ask the judge to look into the case even more carefully so that we can get a good result.”

Kaihei Yoshida (Konishi at the time of his arrest), 44, a former representative of Japan’s national table tennis team, was charged with indecent assault and quasi-forcible indecency for indecently assaulting a student and the student’s mother at the table tennis school where he coached, he said in his final statement.

Yoshida’s sentencing hearing was held on January 21 at the Saitama District Court.

Yoshida was wearing a black sweatshirt with a black top and bottom. Unlike in the past, when he greeted his defense counsel with a smile on his face, he entered the court with a hard expression on his face. All communication at the trial was conducted through a Chinese interpreter.

Judge Kenichi Emi sentenced Yoshida to three years in prison (five years is the suggested sentence) on the grounds that he “committed indecent acts under the guise of teaching ping-pong, and that each act was despicable in that he took advantage of the victims’ position of being in a difficult position to resist.

Yoshida was first arrested on August 20, 2012.

On August 7, he was suspected of committing an indecent act against Ms. A, a woman in her 40s who is the mother of a student, in the baggage area of the “WEILAI Table Tennis School” run by his then wife, Anzu Konishi.

According to Ms. A, she went to the table tennis school after receiving a phone call from Mr. Yoshida, who asked her if she would like to come and watch a practice match between her son and Ms. A. After the match was over, Ms. A ‘s son and Ms . A’s mother were arrested. After the practice match was over, Ms. A’s son and his opponent went out for a run, and suddenly the massage began. Ms. A testified about what happened at that time in this way.

A number of acts of violence in the name of “massage.”

The defendant got down on all fours and asked me if I could get into a pose like this. When I got down on all fours as well, the defendant went behind me, put his hands on my waist, and pressed his lower body against mine.

After that, Yoshida said the defendant persistently applied his lower body to hers, calling it a massage.

Yoshida stated that he had been teaching the student’s mother how to massage and stretch with the idea that she wanted her child to have a massage at home, and at this time, “I just touched Ms. A’s body to correct her posture, and I had no sexual intention. However , there is a possibility that her lower body may have been hit when correcting her posture.

The defense attorney also asked Ms. A , “Do you think it is natural for Coach Kaiwei, who is an instructor, to take care that the penis does not accidentally hit you?” Ms. A replied, “I do not understand the meaning of the question.

Ms. B, a woman in her 30s who is also the mother of a student at the table tennis school, became a victim in early June ’19.

While her son was practicing his serve, Ms. Yoshida began massaging him in the baggage room, and when he was on his face down or on all fours, she pressed her lower body against him. He then said, “Can I put it in?” which implied sexual intercourse, to which Ms. B protested , “It’s not right,” she said.

Mr. Yoshida’s story is that he thought he could correct Ms. B’s posture when she was on all fours and tried to mount her, saying, “Can I ride you? He stated, “At the time, I thought about what was ‘funny,’ but I don’t remember what I said to Mr. B.”

Mr. B said that he did not tell anyone else that he had been victimized, partly because his son attends a table tennis school. However, she testified that when she learned of Yoshida’s arrest in the press, she decided to report the damage herself. As a result, Yoshida was re-arrested on suspicion of quasi-forcible indecency on September 30, 2012.

Ms. C, who was a junior high school student at the time of the incident, was victimized in July ’23.

During a massage, Ms. C. was directly touched on the buttocks and her ears were licked. She further testified that “the defendant told me to close my eyes, but I shook my head from side to side because I thought he was going to kiss me.

Yoshida admitted that his hand may have accidentally hit Ms. C’s underwear during the massage. However, he denied that he licked her ear, saying he looked into her face to see if she had fallen asleep. He also claimed that he told her to “close her eyes” because he saw something on her head that looked like a piece of trash and wanted to remove it.

The victims’ statements were accepted.

However, Ms. C’s mother, who appeared at the trial, testified, “As soon as my daughter came home (on the day of the victimization), she kept washing her ears in the bathroom, so I wondered what was wrong.

Since elementary school, Ms. C had spent much of her time playing ping-pong and had achieved excellent results in tournaments, and she had planned to go on to a strong ping-pong school in high school as well. However, after being victimized by Mr. Yoshida, table tennis itself became associated with the damage he had suffered, and in the end, “I decided to quit table tennis and focus on my studies,” he told the court.

The defendant was not prosecuted because he made a false statement to the police , saying that he had not given her a massage.

At trial, Yoshida consistently pleaded not guilty, claiming that he had no sexual intent, although his hands and lower body may have been accidentally hit. However, Judge Emi found that there had been sexual harm , saying, “The credibility of [the victim’s] statement is high, and even in light of the defendant’s denial of the existence of a series of acts, it is recognized that this fact existed.

While listening to the Chinese interpreter, defendant Yoshida looked at the defense attorney, looked up at the ceiling, touched his feet and face, and seemed completely unsettled.

After the court closed, when he was handcuffed, he walked out of the courtroom without making eye contact with the defense attorney, walking with a wide-legged gait. His demeanor did not seem to reflect on the crime he had committed, and he seemed to resent the fact that he had been sentenced to prison.

Yoshida is a legend in the Japanese table tennis world, having won three consecutive national men’s singles championships when he was a student at Aomori Yamada High School from 1997 to 1999, and has since been one of Japan’s top players.

What do the fans who supported Yoshida back then think of him now?