KYOTO (TR）- Prosecutors sought a five-year prison term for a 42-year-old former civil servant in Shiga Prefecture who is accused of sexually assaulted a sleeping high school girl on a passenger train, reports the Sankei Shimbun.
Toshiya Kiso, who worked in Moriyama City employee’s facility engineering department, is accused of non-consensual sexual intercourse and related offenses. According to police, the assault took place on a JR Sanin Main Line train on the night of May 15, 2025.
Shortly after 10:00 p.m., Kiso allegedly sat next to the first-year high school student as the train traveled between stations in Kyoto and Nantan cities. Over a span of approximately 18 minutes, the suspect continually groped between the girl’s thighs.
The arrest sent shockwaves through Moriyama City Hall. Colleagues described Kiso as a mild-mannered public servant. “He was usually quiet, silently drawing blueprints in the facility engineering department,” one city official said in a hushed tone. “We are all left speechless that he had such a hidden, dark side.”
On August 22, the city dismissed Kiso from his post at the city. Takashi Morinaka, the mayor, issued a statement saying, “This is truly regrettable, and I offer my deepest apologies to the victim.”
Opening hearing
At the opening of his trial last year, it was revealed that Kiso has a wife and three children. He has one prior conviction and one prior offense.
Kiso’s wife said the defendant’s past infidelity led to a police incident, the prosecution said.
The prosecution went on, “Since then, they promised not to have sexual intercourse as a couple. Because he became bolder when he drank, she made him quit drinking. However, in 2020, it was discovered that he was drinking. It seems he continued to drink after that as well. His wife said that she never thought he would grope a woman the same age as their daughter.”
From 2009, the defendant had an affair with a colleague at work, which resulted in his transfer.
“Since then, there has been no sexual intercourse,” the prosecution said. “He stated that he had been rejected when he tried to initiate sex with his wife, and that he was currently satisfying his sexual urges on his own, but that his desire to touch a woman’s body was the motivation for this incident.”
Kiso also stated that the promise he had made with his wife not to have sex may have influenced this incident.
The prosecution said, “He thought she wouldn’t notice because she was asleep, so he touched the base of her right leg, then put his hand down her pants and underwear. He then pressed his middle finger against her vulva several times.
The prosecution also showed that the victim got off at Yagi Station and ran from the building. Kiso also exited at the same station. Since his station had already passed, he bought some food at a FamilyMart convenience story and went home on a train going the opposite direction about 35 minutes later.
Five minutes after the crime, the victim reported the incident to a friend. A teacher at her school later contacted her parents, who then went to the police. The defendant was identified through IC card usage history and other means.
Social media outrage and safety debates
The brazen 18-minute ordeal has reignited heated discussions over railway safety and the lack of women-only carriages on the JR Sanin Main Line in the Kyoto area.
On platforms like X, worried parents and commuters expressed outrage. “My daughter takes this line every day. This isn’t just someone else’s problem,” one user wrote, while another demanded, “Women-only carriages are absolutely essential to prevent this.” Conversely, some users voiced caution, arguing that women-only cars are a band-aid solution and that anti-groping measures should address the root of the crime regardless of gender.
The incident has also prompted calls for harsher punishments for sex offenders. Japan’s penal code was revised in July 2023 to integrate forced indecency and rape into “non-consensual indecency” and “non-consensual sexual intercourse,” making it easier to prosecute cases where victims are paralyzed by fear and unable to express non-consent. Despite these changes, many citizens argue the penalties remain too lenient given the high rates of recidivism and the deep psychological scars left on victims.
“Even with the legal revisions, it’s still too soft,” read one comment echoing the public sentiment. “We need much stricter penalties.”
