<figure id="attachment_472469" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-472469" style="width: 664px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="87181b7a"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/06/c9afd484813965db1a0af48a8573219f.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-472469" class="wp-caption-text">Defendant Higuchi, who is being sent for prosecution. He was desperately turning his face away from the camera to avoid being photographed.</figcaption></figure>
<h3><span class="strongInContent"> He lured a middle school girl to his home</span></h3>
<p> We visited the home of a 27-year-old man who is accused of luring a middle school girl into his home and committing the crime on a certain day in late June. The scene was a three-story studio apartment located in a quiet residential neighborhood about a five-minute walk from the nearest station. We asked nearby residents, but they said he had almost no interaction with his neighbors.</p>
<p> Once again, a minor has been drawn into a crime through social media.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> “On June 3, ’26, the Takaido Police Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department re-arrested Kodai Higuchi (27), an office worker from Suginami Ward, Tokyo, on suspicion of non-consensual sexual intercourse and violations of the Child Pornography Prohibition Act, among other charges.Higuchi is suspected of sexually assaulting a female student—who was in her first year of junior high school at the time—at his home on February 8, knowing she was under 16, and of filming and saving the incident on his smartphone. He is reportedly remaining silent during questioning,” said a social affairs reporter for a national newspaper.</span></p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p> This is reportedly the second time Higuchi has been arrested. The aforementioned social affairs reporter continued:</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> “Higuchi was arrested in May on charges including non-consensual sexual intercourse with the same female student and has already been indicted. It is said that he met the victim through Instagram in January of this year.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The crime came to light after the student’s parents consulted the police. Following his arrest, the discovery of a video of the victim on a seized computer led to his re-arrest. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department believes there may be other victims and is reportedly continuing to analyze the seized computer.”</span></p>
<p> Defendant Higuchi was transferred to the Public Prosecutors’ Office shortly after 8:00 a.m. on June 5.When defendant Higuchi appeared at the Takai-do Police Station’s transfer gate, he seemed so determined not to be photographed that he turned his head sharply to the right and boarded the transport vehicle without facing forward. His bangs were long enough to hide his eyes, so his expression was completely obscured.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p> In recent years, there has been a spate of incidents in which minors have been drawn into crimes through social media.</p>
<p> Victims and perpetrators do not meet by chance. Perpetrators actively search for minors’ accounts and try to make contact using every trick in the book.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The “Tactics” Used by Men Who Target Minors on Social Media"></div>
<h3><span class="strongInContent">They were getting excited talking about anime and manga…</span></h3>
<p> A man (then 47) who was arrested by the Saitama Prefectural Police in January ’26 on suspicion of non-consensual sexual intercourse with a middle school girl (then 15) had also been searching for accounts belonging to minors and continuously sending them messages while concealing his age. He stated that the reason for this <span class="strongInContent">was, “I get along better with people who are about two generations younger than me.”</span></p>
<p> When she replied, he would offer advice on her problems and they would get excited talking about anime and manga. After exchanging messages for a while, he would suggest <span class="strongInContent">, “Let’s meet up sometime,”</span> lure her to his home, and commit the crime. He also instructed the victim to regularly delete their social media exchanges.</p>
<p> The incident came to light when the victim confided in a teacher at the junior high school she attended, stating that <span class="strongInContent">she had been “forced to have sex,”</span> and the man was arrested. It was then revealed that he had previously been arrested for violating the Ordinance on the Sound Development of Youth.Subsequently, after reaching a settlement with the victim, he was sentenced to <span class="strongInContent">“three years in prison, suspended for five years.”</span></p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p> There have also been cases where victims, caught in clever schemes, ended up choosing the worst possible outcome.</p>
<p> In June of ’25, a man (then 35 years old) was arrested by the Saitama Prefectural Police on suspicion of non-consensual indecency and photographing sexual poses, among other charges. He had coerced as many as 20 female junior high and high school students into sending him obscene photos and videos.Whenever this man found the accounts of female junior high and high school students, he would <span class="strongInContent">send messages such as, “This is a job exclusively for girls in high school and junior high school,” and “We offer a reward as a token of our appreciation,”</span> making it seem as if it were a legitimate “job.” Then, upon receiving a reply, he would <span class="strongInContent">send sample images with instructions such as, “Please take photos like this</span>, <span class="strongInContent">”</span> and coerce them into sending obscene images.This man had previously been fined 500,000 yen in 2019 for inducing minors to send him obscene images. Following his arrest, it appears his methods had become even more sophisticated.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p> One of the victims, a middle school girl, likely regretted sending the obscene images.It is said that she tried several times to confide in her mother about what she had done. However, before she could do so, the man was arrested, and her family found out. Tormented by this, the middle school girl took her own life on the very day she received a call from the police. This man has been sentenced <span class="strongInContent">to seven years in prison</span>.</p>
<p> Amid a never-ending stream of men who approach minors through social media to satisfy their own sexual preferences and desires, defendant Higuchi has been arrested and indicted. What will he say during the upcoming trial?</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Defendant Higuchi turned his face away, seemingly trying to avoid the press…"></div>
<figure id="attachment_472925" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-472925" style="width: 1222px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="21c5a83d"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/06/b21663e49bf40b563f92ce0379c3713b.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-472925" class="wp-caption-text">He walks with his head turned to the side. The police officer and the suspect behind him are facing the direction he’s heading.</figcaption></figure>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<figure id="attachment_472471" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-472471" style="width: 1040px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="c20bc78e"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/06/a4bf1e34a2fdbb9b4a015e20e231b022.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-472471" class="wp-caption-text"> As I got into the car, I turned my head too far, which looked pretty ridiculous. The suspect behind me was smiling wryly</figcaption></figure>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<figure id="attachment_472473" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-472473" style="width: 4640px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="ab169cb8"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/06/d4499182be5d47209b4dd2dfa41cee4a.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-472473" class="wp-caption-text"> The scene of the incident: Defendant Higuchi’s apartment building</figcaption></figure>


 Ryo Nakahira

 Shinji Hasuo

 There is no end to the number of adults attempting to approach minors via social media. On June 3, a man was arrested on suspicion of luring a middle school girl he met on Instagram to his home and sexually assaulting her. Here, we examine the cunning tactics used in past cases.

Man Lures Middle School Girl to His Home and “Sexually Assaults” Her… The “Cunning Tactics” of Men Preying on Minors on Social Media

Access Ranking