Former Elementary School Teacher Explains Motive in Court Over Alleged Inappropriate Skinship Incident
Indecent behavior toward multiple students
“I ended up touching her thigh in the course of physical communication.” The 26-year-old former elementary school teacher, who was arrested for touching the body of a young girl who was his former student, described his motive in this way and emphasized that it was not for an indecent purpose.
“On January 8th, the Sayama Police Station in Saitama Prefecture arrested Kodai Furukawa (26), an elementary school teacher, on suspicion of forcible indecency. Furukawa was suspected of committing indecent acts, such as touching the body of a lower-grade girl, in a classroom of the public elementary school where he worked. Furukawa partially denied the allegations, stating, ‘I have touched girls’ bodies at school in the past, but I don’t remember this specific incident,'” said a national newspaper social affairs reporter.
The crime came to light in early December 2025 when the guardian of another girl, “A-san,” who was also Furukawa’s former student, consulted a sex crime victim counseling hotline, saying, “My daughter was a victim of sexual abuse.” The aforementioned social affairs reporter continued:
“The school where Furukawa worked became aware of the consultation from A-san’s guardian stating that ‘the child was subjected to an indecent act by a teacher.’ As the school proceeded with its investigation, it was discovered that he had committed an indecent act against a victim girl other than A-san. The parents of the victim girl, who received a report from the school, reported the damage to the Sayama Police Station on the 17th of the same month, which led to the arrest. Since there were multiple reports from children at the school saying they had been subjected to indecent acts by Mr. Furukawa, the Sayama Police Station was proceeding with the investigation, believing there were additional offenses.”
On April 23rd, the first trial of the defendant Furukawa was held at the Kawagoe Branch of the Saitama District Court, and the trial concluded on the same day.
In addition to A-san, Furukawa was investigated for committing indecent acts against the girl whose case led to his arrest and one other girl, but out-of-court settlements have been reached with those two. Therefore, in the trial, he was held accountable for the crime of non-consensual indecency against A-san.
According to the indictment and opening statement read by the prosecutor, the incident occurred during an arithmetic class while the children were solving problems individually. Furukawa went to A-san, who had raised her hand because there was something she did not understand. While squatting next to her to teach, he put his hand inside her skirt and touched her thigh.
Furukawa admitted to the crime, stating, “There is no mistake.”
“Not for obscene purposes” What is the motive?
In the deposition of Person A’s mother, which was read aloud by the prosecutor during the trial, the moment she learned about her daughter’s victimization was described as follows.
“In December 2025, while the family was watching television, a news report aired stating that someone had been arrested for obscene acts. When I explained the meaning of obscene acts to my daughter, she confided in me, saying, ‘Mr. Furukawa did obscene things to me.'”
She then stated that after hearing from Person A that Defendant Furukawa had put his hand inside her skirt and touched her thigh during class, she called and consulted with the sex crime victim counseling hotline.
In the deposition, Person A’s mother expressed her simmering anger, stating, “Please punish Mr. Furukawa severely. I want to ensure he never comes into contact with children ever again.”
While Defendant Furukawa admitted to touching Person A’s body, he stated, as mentioned at the beginning, that it was not for obscene purposes, and explained his state of mind at the time.
“My experience as a teacher was shallow, class management was not going very well, and the impatience that I had to do something about it became extremely strong. However, at the time, I couldn’t consult with anyone, so I kept it to myself and was constantly impatient, and my perspective became narrower and narrower.
So, thinking that if I could just shorten the distance with the children and form a friend-like relationship, things might work out, I was attempting skinship. However, I believe touching the thigh was a mistake.”
He stated that at the time of the incident, he was under stress, in a state where even on days off, if something caught my eye, I would think about whether it could be used in class, or what would happen if I talked to the children about it at school, and there were almost no opportunities to think about anything other than school. He claimed that after that, he learned to maintain a moderate distance with students from a reliable senior teacher, and recently had not thoughtlessly touched the bodies of his pupils.
And regarding the fact that he answered “I don’t remember (touching Person A’s body)” during the investigation by the Saitama Prefectural Board of Education, he reflected on it as follows.
“Because I felt that if I admitted to it, I would not be able to continue being a teacher, I ended up saying, ‘I don’t remember, I didn’t do it.'”
“There is no room for leniency in the motive.”
Also, regarding the fact that he stated his motive as “wanting to feel a thrill” during police interrogation, he explained it like this.
“Even during the interrogation, I was talking about the motives I explained earlier, such as work stress or attempting skinship to shorten the distance with students. However, the police officers wouldn’t accept it, so I started to think, ‘Oh, I guess it’s different.’ Then, the police officer said to me, ‘Didn’t you feel a thrill or something?’ and indeed, normally your heart would beat fast if you touched a thigh. So I thought, ‘I guess the motive back then was a thrill,’ and I signed it.”
Defendant Furukawa, who is currently out on bail, is reportedly going to a psychosomatic clinic. There, he was diagnosed as not having a “sexual preference disorder,” but he said he will continue his hospital visits to change his way of thinking and how he faces stress.
According to Defendant Furukawa, he has been disciplinarily dismissed from the elementary school where he worked, and regarding his future, he stated the following.
“I intend to distance myself from occupations that involve children. However, I want to do a job where I interact with and can support people.”
In the closing arguments and sentencing request held on this day, the prosecutor requested a sentence of 2 years in prison, stating that it was an act that exploited his position as a teacher, and is despicable and malicious, and he committed this crime to taste the thrill that he might be found out by other people, so there is no room for leniency in the motive.
On the other hand, the defense attorney argued, “The defendant went too far with skinship because he was too impatient trying to build a relationship of trust.” They stated that “a sentence with probation is appropriate,” pointing out that “he is continuing his hospital visits to the medical institution” and “the defendant’s father lives with him to provide supervision and support.”
It is said that Person A was a student who was attached to Defendant Furukawa among the students in the class, doing things like sitting on Defendant Furukawa’s lap. However, did he really think he could form a friend-like relationship by the act of touching her thigh?
In the defendant questioning, to Judge Michi Kataoka’s question, “Was there ever a time you put your hand inside a female student’s skirt in front of other people watching?” Defendant Furukawa answered, “No, there wasn’t.”
Furthermore, when Judge Kataoka followed up with the question, “If it was for the purpose of attempting skinship, wouldn’t it be fine to do it openly?” he made a non-answer statement, saying, “It wouldn’t have been strange even if it was seen.” At the very least, didn’t he know that it was an act that must not be done openly?
The judgment is scheduled to be handed down on April 30.
Interview and text by： Nakahira Ryo PHOTO： Shinji Hasuo