“Just Their Natural Selves”—The Disturbing Courtroom Defense of a 75-Year-Old Former Teacher

“When I see boys, my heart starts to race.”

“I had a feeling of appreciating boys playing naturally in nature, in their natural state.”

A 75-year-old former elementary school teacher who took indecent photographs of four male students (aged 11 to 12 at the time of the incident) explained his motive by referring to being naked as their natural state.

“On December 9, 2025, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Juvenile Crime Division arrested Koichiro Tanaka (75), an unemployed man from Hachioji, Tokyo, on suspicion of non-consensual indecency. In October 2025, Tanaka allegedly invited several boys to a barbecue at a riverbank in Akiruno City and told A (12 at the time), ‘You’re cold because you’re still wet,’ encouraging him to remove his swimsuit and underwear, after which he allegedly touched the boy’s lower body.

The incident came to light after A’s mother consulted the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. While Tanaka denied the allegation, saying, ‘I did not touch him intentionally,’ he reportedly stated, ‘When I see boys from elementary school age up to the second year of junior high school, my heart starts to race,’ among other remarks.”

—National newspaper crime reporter

After his arrest, police seized Tanaka’s hard drive and discovered more than 80,000 still images and videos, including images of naked boys, dating from 2007 onward. Tanaka had worked as an elementary school teacher until 2011, and authorities believe he may have repeatedly engaged in similar behavior during that period. After analyzing the images, police rearrested Tanaka on suspicion of illegally photographing sexual poses and violating the Child Pornography Prohibition Law, alleging that he had photographed A completely naked.

The same crime reporter continued:

“Tanaka had committed an offense before as well. He was arrested in a case involving six men, including teachers, who were part of a group of people interested in child pornography and had met through social media. In March 2017, he was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for four years.

This group was reportedly involved in sexually abusing more than 100 boys by using children’s summer camps and similar activities as opportunities, and more than 100,000 indecent images were seized.”

Even after his rearrest, Tanaka continued to be arrested and indicted repeatedly. In court, he was questioned for crimes involving the illegal photographing of sexual poses and violations of the Child Pornography Prohibition Law against four boys, identified as A through D, in the order the cases were prosecuted.

On July 10, a verdict will be handed down to Tanaka at the Tachikawa Branch of the Tokyo District Court. At his first hearing, Tanaka admitted his guilt, saying, “There is no mistake.” What did he say during the subsequent court proceedings? —

“Swim trunks look weird, so take them off.”

After graduating from college, the defendant, Tanaka, worked at an elementary school. Following his retirement from teaching, he worked as a tutor at a cram school, but he resigned after his arrest in this case. Neighbors reportedly described him as a “dapper gentleman,” and indeed, sitting motionless in the defendant’s seat—tall, with his white hair slicked back—he did exude a gentlemanly air. Given that aura and his background as a former elementary school teacher, it’s possible that even boys more than 60 years his junior came to trust him.

In the written statement from Boy A’s mother—which led to the arrest—she described the moment she realized her son had been victimized as follows:

“I heard a notification sound—not from LINE—coming from A’s smartphone, so I asked, ‘Who’s that from?’ He told me, ‘It’s a man named Kou-chan, around 60 or 70 years old. I met him when he spoke to me while I was playing by the river.’ I contacted the school, and during the investigation, I learned that A had been photographed naked. I felt sick to my stomach and thought it was unforgivable to take such photos.”

Defendant Tanaka was nicknamed “Kou-chan” by A. They exchanged contact information on the very day they first met and reportedly became friends.

Regarding how he came to know the four male victims, Defendant Tanaka stated the following in court:

“Around April of ’24, I went to the riverbank to photograph ayu fish swimming upstream, and there were some boys playing energetically. I struck up a conversation and played with them, and we became friends. Later, we decided to have a barbecue together. Boy D (then 12 years old) was part of that group.”

She explained the circumstances under which she photographed Boy D completely naked at that barbecue as follows:

“He was sitting under a waterfall, and I thought the sight of him being splashed by the water was beautiful. I wanted to capture that with my camera, so I ended up saying, ‘Please take off your underwear—just take them off.’”

He also met A and the others on the riverbank.

“Last September, when I went to the riverbank to cool off, I saw some kids playing with fire, so I talked to them—saying things like, ‘It’s hard to start a fire there’—and that’s how we got to know each other. The ones there were A, B (then 11 years old), and C (then 11 years old).”

Here, too, they later decided to have a barbecue, and he claimed to have photographed A through C completely naked there.

“When I went to the riverbank to prepare for the barbecue, the kids were playing in the river in the nude. Since only A was wearing swim trunks, I told him, ‘It’s weird that you’re the only one wearing swim trunks—take them off.’ And I ended up recording a video of that with my camera.

Also, at the end of October, the children contacted me saying, ‘School ends early today, so we can play.’ When I went to the riverbank, it was already cold, but the children were energetically jumping into the river. I ended up filming B and C, who had taken off all their clothes and were jumping into the river, with the camera I had with me. I think the desire to see them in their natural state was lurking somewhere inside me.”

“Even though I don’t have much time left.”

Although Defendant Tanaka had stated earlier that he tends to admire boys playing energetically in nature, he strongly denied the defense attorney’s question: “Do you have any desire to touch these boys or have sexual intercourse with them?”

“I consider such things to be utterly outrageous, yes. I have no desire to do so, and I have never done so.”

As mentioned earlier, Defendant Tanaka was arrested in 2017 on charges of kidnapping a minor and violating the Child Welfare Act. While staying at a resort condominium in Atami, he and a male accomplice allegedly lured a boy into the condominium and committed lewd acts on another boy in their room.

On March 31 of that same year, his sentence of three years’ imprisonment, suspended for four years, became final. This means he committed another crime against a young boy just about three years after the end of his probation period. Regarding his repeat offense, he stated, “I’ve been seriously reflecting on how to ensure I never do something like this again, and I’m in the process of rebuilding my life while undergoing counseling,” explaining that he had gained a certain realization through the counseling.

“I was so preoccupied with the immediate pleasure and joy that I failed to consider the victims’ feelings. I didn’t think about what kind of distress the victims would feel years later. Realizing once again how sorely lacking I was in that regard is what I consider my own achievement.”

In his closing argument at the fourth hearing held on June 25, the prosecutor described the crime as “a despicable act that exploited the immature judgment of the child victims.” Citing factors such as “the high risk of reoffending, given that the crime was committed approximately three years after the end of his previous suspended sentence,” the prosecutor sought a three-year prison term.

On the other hand, the defense attorney stated, “He did not use threatening words or methods when taking the photographs,” and argued that “a settlement has been reached with the two male victims” and that “the defendant underwent counseling twice while in custody to correct his self-perception and has promised to continue counseling after his release,” asserting that a suspended sentence is appropriate.

In his final statement, defendant Tanaka said, “Although I have little time left to live, I intend to live my life seeking cooperation from various quarters to ensure I never do something like this again.”

During the trial, he repeatedly used phrases like my remaining time is short and my days are numbered, as if struggling to find his voice, and stated, “I want to contribute to society for the rest of my life.” Was this born of remorse, or was it an attempt to elicit pity?

The verdict is scheduled to be handed down on July 10.