Arrested Teacher Allegedly Told Student to Bring School Uniform—Hidden Side and Shocking Details Reported

“Bring your uniform,” he demanded

Around 7:30 a.m. on April 2, a young man with handsome features emerged from the Kitazawa Police Station. Perhaps unable to withstand the glare of the flashbulbs, he walked with his eyes slightly downcast—a look that, oddly enough, suited him. As a high school teacher, he likely had many female students who were his fans. I wonder what they would think if they knew he had been arrested for committing indecent acts against a high school girl the same age as his students.

On April 1, the Kitazawa Police Station announced the arrest of Keisuke Imaeda (29), a teacher at a Kanagawa Prefectural high school, on suspicion of violating the Kanagawa Prefectural Ordinance on the Protection and Development of Youth and the Act on the Prohibition of Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (production).

“Suspect Imaeda is suspected of bringing a 17-year-old girl to his home between the night of December 1 and the early morning of December 2 last year, engaging in indecent acts with her, and filming videos and taking photos with his smartphone.

The two met on social media in November. The girl was a student at another school and reportedly told him via message before they met that she was a high school senior. When inviting the girl to his home, Suspect Imaeda told her, ‘Bring your uniform.’ The incident came to light when the girl, after leaving Suspect Imaeda’s home, visited a police box in Setagaya Ward asking to borrow money for transportation. A police officer, finding this suspicious, questioned her and uncovered the incident.

During questioning, Suspect Imaeda admitted to the indecent acts, stating, ‘I had a relationship with her to satisfy my desires,’ but reportedly gave vague testimony regarding whether he knew she was under 18.” (Social Affairs Reporter, National Newspaper)

Suspect Imaeda had been honored in the “2025 Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award for Outstanding Educators” announced by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in January. Furthermore, he was recognized as a “Prefectural Outstanding Teacher for Classroom Practice” by the Kanagawa Prefectural Board of Education last October, so the shock among school officials must have been significant.

The Kanagawa Prefectural Board of Education commented, “While we have not yet confirmed the details, we deeply regret that a teacher has been arrested. We will respond strictly in light of the status of the investigation.” Suspect Imaeda was released on the 3rd, and the investigation is continuing on a voluntary basis.

Social Media: Turning the Teacher-Student Relationship into a “Black Box”

Incidents of sexual violence against minors by teachers continue to occur. According to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 281 teachers received disciplinary action for sexual crimes or sexual violence in fiscal year 2024. Of these, 63.3% were punished for acts committed against students (including those aged 18 and older), and 48% of the victims were students at the schools where the teachers worked.

In recent years, while schools have been on high alert to prevent teachers and students from becoming too close, there has been an increase in cases where inappropriate relationships develop through social media.

“Because there is a relationship of trust between teachers and students, the barrier to exchanging LINE contacts is low. Relationships on social media tend to shift from teacher-student to person-to-person, and they fall outside the school’s oversight. Since it’s a ‘black box’ invisible to other teachers and parents, mistakes are more likely to occur.

On March 27, disciplinary actions against two teachers were announced in Aichi Prefecture. One was a 24-year-old male elementary school teacher who communicated with a female student from his school via social media, met her off-campus, and hugged and kissed her. The other was a 30-year-old male high school teacher who communicated with a female student via social media and repeatedly engaged in lewd acts with her inside his private car and at hotels.” (Journalist specializing in sex crimes)

In response to the frequent occurrence of sexual violence stemming from social media, an expert panel of the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education issued a recommendation in March to completely ban the use of social networking sites (SNS) for communication between faculty and students, excluding official tools. To prevent acts such as secret filming by teachers, an increasing number of schools are implementing measures such as banning smartphones in classrooms.

However, the aforementioned journalist expresses concern that as measures within schools are strengthened, cases like this one—where teachers target students from other schools—may increase.

Incidentally, according to the aforementioned Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) data, teachers disciplined for sexual violence against students from other schools (including those aged 18 and older) accounted for 11% of the total, making them a significant minority compared to cases involving students from their own school.

“There has always been a certain number of teachers who target students from other schools. For example, a 36-year-old junior high school teacher from Niigata Prefecture who was arrested last October went out of his way to travel to Tokyo to engage in sugar daddy relationships with junior high and high school students. This is likely because it’s harder to get caught with students from other schools than with students at his own school, where he sees them regularly and is under the watchful eyes of others.

If they meet students from other schools through social media, their identity as a teacher won’t be revealed. As mentioned earlier, private exchanges on social media are difficult to detect. This is even more true when there is no pre-existing relationship.” (Ibid.)

This is not a matter of whether the students are from his own school or another. The moment a teacher engages in indecent acts with minors, he betrays and causes grief to his students, their parents, and his colleagues—everyone associated with the school. At that point, he has failed both as an educator and as a human being.

 

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