The coach of the prestigious Shutoku football club, 30, was charged with non-consensual sexual intercourse

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This one is long and for a news article goes into quite graphic detail regarding the specifics of the crime. It’s from a magazine targeted to housewives, so to them it’s probably kind of like soft core porn.

Original
https://bunshun.jp/articles/-/73452?page=1

Translation

'One of the club members said, "I can't do it (masturbation) properly. How do I do it?' He asked me. I said, 'Give me your penis. Do this', and I put my fingers in his anus and touched his penis. At ...... time, I thought I was one of them."

　On 11 September, Takuya Yoshida (30), a former teacher at Shutoku Junior and Senior High School (Katsushika-ku, Tokyo), a strong football school, and former general manager of the high school boys' football club, was arraigned in the Tokyo District Court (Judge Naokuni Yano presiding) on charges of non-consensual sex with several club members, filming sexual acts and producing child pornography. The court was held at the Tokyo District Court (presided over by Judge Naokuni Yano).

According to the indictment and other evidence, Yoshida called a male club member and committed indecent acts, including touching the member's genitals, putting his finger up his anus, stimulating his prostate gland and helping him masturbate. He also filmed the incident, and more than 100 videos and images of the boy were found on defendant Yoshida's smartphone at the arrest stage. A member of the club who was the victim of the incident testified that he thought he would not be able to participate in the game if he refused the demands of Yoshida, the general manager of the club.

The prosecution said of Yoshida: "He was clever and malicious in taking advantage of his position as general manager. The victims' club members were saved videos that they did not want others to see, and their parents were betrayed" and "It is difficult to expect them to be rational", so they sought a 12-year prison sentence.

　The defendant Yoshida admitted the facts complained of, but sought extenuating circumstances, arguing that the indecent acts and filming were based on consent, that the purpose was to keep the club members fit, and that the pranks were "athletic flirting" and were not intended to satisfy his own sexual curiosity.

Earlier, during questioning of the accused on 19 August and 3 September, Yoshida testified about the "bizarre" sexual morals of the Shutoku football club.

There were four victims, aged between 13 and 16. Of these, A was the most affected.

It all started in December 2021, at the first training camp after the Corona disaster. A former member of the football club told a story about his growth through strength training, which led to Yoshida filming about five members of the club, including A. A. A. testified to the police that he was made to strip naked many times.

　However, Yoshida said, "I regularly filmed his muscles. He testified that he said he was going to shoot interesting videos in his enthusiasm and that he filmed underwear and interesting videos".

　The following day, 6 August 2022, during a training camp in Yamanashi Prefecture attended by about 15 members of the club, many members gathered in Yoshida's room. He testified that A-kun, who was among them, told him that he did not know how to masturbate and that he wanted to be taught, and that defendant Yoshida was to teach him how to do it.

He also testified that they "watched porn videos, laughing and joking around with each other", suggesting that they showed R-18 videos to students under the age of 18.

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Two days later, on 8 August. Yoshida called A-kun to the Department's facilities, where he masturbated him and filmed the video.

'First, A's classmate did an extreme masturbation and also stimulated A's penis during a massage. In the same vein, he told A, 'You should [masturbate] in this room because it's vacant' and took a video of it."

　Yoshida said that even after that, when A offered to lend him (the room), he did so.

In February 2023, the defendant Yoshida also filmed a masturbation video of A-kun in the premises. According to the defendant Yoshida, A-kun asked her, "How about today?" He wished to do so.

Subsequently, A sexually assaulted a female pupil, resulting in a criminal case.

'A consulted me. It included issues of punishment and progression; I told both A himself and his parents, 'Let's work hard at the club'. Then I asked, 'How are you getting on?' A said something like 'I can't control my sexual urges'. I thought it was a bad idea, so I asked for advice; A was worried that 'I can't masturbate at home', to which I replied, 'If you want to, I'll give you a place to do it'. One day after some time had passed, A actually requested to 'lend me the place'."

Then, on 23 July 2023, a video was filmed of the defendant Yoshida touching the pubic area of A-kun. Regarding the unusual scene, Yoshida explained.

'Some of the videos at that time included prostate stimulation. At the time, I thought it was 'funny'. I was in the mood. （I wanted to do something (in the video, Yoshida touches A's penis). What should I do?' I said, 'Give it to me. I told him, 'Here's what you have to do', and I put my fingers in his anus and touched his penis."

During the trial, the prosecutor asked the defendant Yoshida whether the various horrific acts were true. Yoshida readily admitted that yes.

Apart from Mr A, three other club members are known to have been victimised. One of them, B-kun, was told by Yoshida: "If you don't strip your penis, you will get sick. I'll teach you how to do it like this. I'll teach you.

'When he couldn't practice because of the Corona Disaster, he kept in touch online and started making videos on YouTube. There are parts of the video where he says things like 'film it from this angle', but it eventually went in a funny direction. It was never my intention to film child pornography."

　Yoshida testified that this was the case, but on 3 May 2023, he filmed videos of club members taking off their clothes while playing baseball fist.

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'B also had his phallus out and was laughing. I said, 'Are you sure you're shimmying, properly?' ' And B said, 'I don't know. I've never done it before'. So he said, 'Isn't it too late?' And I panicked. I thought I'd do something about it, so I said, 'There's a shower room, why don't you try it?' I said. The video at that time was meant to teach me a lesson."

　On 11 July 2021, C was the victim of a video in which he was filmed naked.

'C usually took videos of me posing in the nude. The previous day at practice, he had also exposed his penis and laughed. On this occasion, the school principal and others had come to watch the practice and told the club members 'not to get naked because there were guests'. But C was naked and joking around, so I warned him, 'I instructed you earlier'. But C said 'I'm sorry' and exposed his penis. I then cautioned the members of the club again on line, asking them to 'separate on and off'. ' I myself thought that fooling around with the club members was part of the OFF."

When asked by the prosecutor, "Did you save the video (of naked C-kun) for your enjoyment?" When asked, Yoshida denied it, but said, "You said something about exposing him, or peeling his skin off?" When pressed further, he replied, "I was aware that I was taking interesting videos. It was the result of escalation. I regret it".

　Are naked videos of teenage boys "interesting videos" for defendant Yoshida?

'D' was also in possession of a video of himself naked, taken on 1 August 2023, in the possession of defendant Yoshida.

'D's senior was the one who sent me the underwear video himself. So I assumed that since my senior was also doing it, D would be able to do it too. So I said, 'You will be able to peel off your skin'. Meaning that he would be able to get completely naked. Expressing yourself in front of people is necessary because of the nature of the competition. I wanted him to grow. I did it without thinking about his personality, but I didn't demand it."

　Regarding the filming of the naked video of D-kun, Yoshida testified that he was not aware that it was obscene.

'At the time, it was a funny video, and I didn't understand my position (as general director) and recognised it as funny. I thought that what the comedians were doing, what my classmates were doing with each other and what I was involved in were all the same thing. I thought I was one of them' (defendant Yoshida).

　Why are videos of naked bodies so readily filmed and stored in the football club at Shutoku High School?

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Yoshida began taking photographs of junior and senior high school football club members around 2018, when he started working at the school. His initial aim was to compare the results of their strength training with the photographs.

　However, from around 2020, more and more club members started jokingly sending images and videos, such as submitting photos with paint on their bodies. It was not unnatural for them to take videos of their underlings, he said.

'Some of the extreme videos showed us naked in a hotel after a national competition or club members masturbating, which the club members found amusing and spread around the school. Even during massages at the camp, one student masturbated and soiled the bedding. Because of this, the bar (for sending obscene videos) had been lowered. (The club members) also found it amusing" (defendant Yoshida).

Some of the videos exist of students squeezing their own genitals and touching their own nipples. As the general manager of the football club, Yoshida should have been in a position to warn the defendant, but when asked about this, he gave surprising testimony.

'I thought it was funny. I was keeping score.'

Yoshida testified that the background to this unusual value system was the atmosphere of club activities he experienced during his school days.

'When I was a student, I used to do one-liners in front of the whole school. I used to do trendy idol group dances naked. At the time, I thought I was funny. Because of this, the line between on and off club activities had become strange. I wasn't aware that it was a crime, it was just to get closer to the students."

Testimony that illustrates the culture of Shutoku Junior and Senior High School football also emerged in exchanges with the prosecutor.

Prosecutor What did you think during the series of incidents?
Defendant Yoshida I thought it was funny to joke around.
Prosecutor You think the victims wanted it?
Defendant Yoshida They laughed out loud and did it even when I was not around.

　Defendant Yoshida testified that he forgot his position as an instructor and recognised that filming footage of minors naked and touching their pubic areas was "funny", and that he was "joking around" and "it was the groove of the sports club". However, when the prosecution asked for a heavy sentence of 12 years in prison, he was clearly upset.

'To be honest, I was so upset that I don't remember [what happened afterwards]. The law is for the judge to make an objective decision. Therefore, what I can do is to say sorry directly to the person in question, but that is not possible. （I am also sorry to the parents (of the club members) and all the people involved. I want to go to prison, ask myself questions, reflect, study and atone for my crime. I want to repay my friends and family who testified against me. I want to reflect anyway."

　What will be the outcome of the case in which the atmosphere in the sports club led to the sexual assault of a student in the worst possible way? The verdict will be handed down on 5 November.

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I feel so bad for this guy. If everything presented is true then he literally just forgot his place and was joking around as one of the boys. It seems from the story that it was less about sexual attraction and more just about joining in with the homoerotic play that teenage boys often get up to with each other. “As a coach he should’ve known better” is, on the one side true, but I also wonder whether the close connections he was able to build with his students (coaching them to national tournaments) was partially due to him NOT knowing better.

There was actually a few comments which mentioned how the boys were complicit in this. Rather than excusing the teacher, they seemed to be blaming the boys for misbehaving sexually. Yet they still acknowledge a level of consent and reciprocity that most in the west wouldn’t acknowledge. The law doesn’t care about that though. He committed strict liability offenses.

Another particularly tragic fact about this case is that he inserted his finger into A’s rectum on July 23rd, 2023, ten days after the age of consent had been raised from 13 to 16. The exact same action ten days earlier would’ve resulted in a misdemeanour charge (with a maximum penalty of one year). Instead, post-revision anal penetration of an under 16 year old (including with a finger) was classified as “non consensual intercourse” which has a minimum penalty of 5 years. A boy who 10 days earlier was capable of consent suddenly lost the ability to do so, resulting in the prosecution demanding 12 years (which, on sentencing will likely be reduced to 9 or 10).