Did he do it so much that he “doesn’t remember”?　Elementary School Teacher Arrested for Indecency with Student, Neighbors Feel “Strange”

He indecently assaulted a younger girl.

“I had a devil’s advocate.”

A teacher who indecently assaulted a female student at the elementary school where he worked reportedly gave this motive during an interrogation.

On January 8, Saitama Prefectural Police Sayama Police Station arrested Kodai Furukawa, 26, an elementary school teacher, on suspicion of indecent assault. The suspect is suspected of committing indecent acts, such as touching a girl in the lower grades, between September 1, 2010, and March 24, 2011, in a classroom of a public elementary school in Saitama Prefecture, where he was working at the time.

Furukawa denied some of the charges, saying, ‘I have touched a girl at school in the past, but I don’t remember the details of this case.

At around 8:00 a.m. on January 9, Furukawa was taken into custody by the prosecutor’s office. When Furukawa appeared at the Sayama Police Station’s convoy entrance and noticed the camera, he hurriedly pulled up the collar of his sweatshirt to hide his face. Inside the convoy, Furukawa bent forward and showed signs of not wanting his face to be photographed.

The incident came to light when the guardian of a female child, different from the victim girl, consulted the school. A reporter from the Social Affairs Department continued, “In December 2013, the school was notified of the incident.

In early December 2013, the elementary school where Furukawa worked received a report from a guardian that her child had been subjected to indecent behavior by a teacher. The school investigated and found that Furukawa had indecently assaulted another girl. After receiving a report from the school, the parents of the girl reported the incident to the Sayama Police Department on the 17th of the same month, leading to the arrest of the suspect.

The Sayama Police Department is investigating the case on the assumption that there are additional crimes, since there have been several reports from children at the school that they were subjected to indecent acts by Furukawa.

We asked the school board.

The suspect Furukawa lived in a newly built condominium about a year and a half old, about a 10-minute walk from the nearest station. When we showed a photo of Furukawa to a woman in her twenties who lived in the same condominium, she told us this.

She said, “I think we had passed each other a few times. I don’t have any particular impression of him, except that he seems to be serious. However, some time ago, a piece of duct tape was put on the mailbox (in Furukawa’s apartment) to prevent mail from getting in. So I was wondering if something had happened.”

Since it was a newly built apartment building, residents in the neighborhood said that they did not know anyone living in that apartment building at all, but a man who lives across the street from the apartment building recalled, “Now that I think about it, I’m not sure if there was anything wrong with it.

He said, “Late last year, there was a car parked where I could see the entrance and exit to that apartment building, and there were two men sitting in the driver’s seat and the passenger seat. I thought it was the police, but since it was the end of the year, I thought they might be on the lookout for some kind of incident.”

What kind of teacher was the suspect Furukawa?

When we contacted the elementary and junior high school personnel division of the Saitama Prefectural Board of Education on February 2, they told us that they “cannot disclose” Furukawa’s background because it is personal information.

He continued, “We are still in the process of confirming the matter, and we are still in the process of confirming the matter. We are still in the process of confirming the matter, so we are not able to discuss it at this time.

During the interrogation, Furukawa admitted to having touched a girl at school in the past, but stated that he “does not remember” committing the crime against the girl. Has he repeatedly committed indecent acts against so many of his students in the past? If so, it is not just a matter of “having a devil’s advocate”.

There is a possibility that he will be arrested again in the future for additional crimes. It may be some time before the full extent of the damage is revealed.

FRIDAY Digital welcomes information and tip-offs from everyone. Please send your information to the following information form or to the official X.

Information form: https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/tips
Official X: https://x.com/FRIDAY_twit