The “Natural Appearance” of Four Boys… The “Selfish Pride” of a 75-Year-Old Former Teacher Arrested for Non-Consensual Indecent Acts, as Told in Court

“My heart races when I see boys.”

“I felt a sense of admiration for the boys playing in nature, in their natural state.”

A 75-year-old former elementary school teacher who took obscene photos of four boys (aged 11 to 12 at the time of the incident) described “complete nudity” as a “natural state” and explained his motive as follows.

“On December 9, 2025, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Juvenile Welfare Division arrested Koichiro Tanaka (75), an unemployed man from Hachioji City, Tokyo, on suspicion of non-consensual indecent acts.Tanaka is suspected of luring the boys to a riverside area in Akiruno City in October ’25 for a barbecue, where he urged Boy A (then 12 years old) to take off his swimsuit and underwear by saying things like, ‘You’re still wet, so you’ll get cold,’ and then touched his lower body.

The incident came to light after Boy A’s mother contacted the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. While Tanaka denies the charges, stating, “I did not touch him intentionally,” he reportedly confessed, “My heart races when I see boys ranging from elementary school to second-year junior high school students,” according to a reporter from the social affairs desk of a national newspaper.

After his arrest, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department seized Tanaka’s hard drive and found more than 80,000 still images and videos—including nude images of boys—taken since 2007.Tanaka worked as an elementary school teacher until 2011, and it is possible that he had been engaging in similar acts since that time. After analyzing these images, the police re-arrested Tanaka on suspicion of photographing Boy A completely naked, alleging violations of the Act on the Prohibition of Photographing Sexual Poses and the Child Pornography Prohibition Act.

The social affairs reporter mentioned earlier continued:

“Defendant Tanaka has been involved in previous incidents. He was arrested in a case where six men—including teachers—who were part of a group of child pornography enthusiasts met through social media were apprehended, and in March 2017, he received a sentence of three years in prison, suspended for four years.This group is alleged to have subjected more than 100 boys to sexual abuse by exploiting children’s summer camps and other events, and more than 100,000 obscene images were seized.”

Even after his re-arrest, Defendant Tanaka was repeatedly arrested and indicted, and he was brought to trial on charges of photographing four boys—Boys A through D, in the order they were indicted—in sexual poses, as well as violations of the Child Pornography Prohibition Act.

On July 10, the verdict will be handed down to Defendant Tanaka at the Tachikawa Branch of the Tokyo District Court. At his first hearing, Defendant Tanaka admitted his guilt, stating, “There is no mistake.” What has he said during the trials so far?

“Swimsuits are weird, so just take them off.”

After graduating from college, the defendant, Tanaka, worked at an elementary school. Following his retirement from that position, 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 the fact that he was 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, who’s about 60 to 70 years old. I met him when he spoke to me while I was playing by the river.’When I contacted the school and they conducted an investigation, I learned that A had been photographed naked. I felt sick to my stomach and thought it was unforgivable that someone would take such photos.”〉

The defendant, Tanaka, was nicknamed “Kou-chan” by A. He exchanged contact information with A on the very day they first met and reportedly became “friends.”

Regarding how he met 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 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 falling 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 Boy A and his friends 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 (both 11 at the time), and C (11 at the time).”

Later, they arranged to have a barbecue there, and that’s where he took photos of A through C completely naked.

“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 for you to be the only one in swim trunks—just take them off.’ And I ended up recording that on video with my camera.

Also, at the end of October, the kids contacted me saying, ‘School ends early today, so we can play.’ When I went to the riverbank—even though it was already cold—the kids 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.”

“Although I don’t have much time left to live…”

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

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

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 in prison, suspended for four years, became final.This means she committed another crime against a young boy just about three years after the end of her probation period. Regarding her repeat offense, she stated that she was “seriously reflecting on how to ensure I never do something like this again, and am in the process of rebuilding my life while receiving counseling,” explaining that she had gained a certain “realization” through counseling.

“I was so preoccupied with the immediate pleasure and joy that I didn’t 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 victim’s immature judgment.” Citing “a high risk of recidivism, given that the crime was committed approximately three years after the end of his probation,” the prosecutor sought a “three-year prison sentence.”

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 “he underwent counseling twice while in custody to correct his self-perception and has promised to continue it 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 anything 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 out of remorse, or was he simply trying to elicit pity?

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