AICHI (TR) – A court here last week sentenced a 42-year-old former elementary school teacher who started a group chat online that encouraged the sharing of indecent images of dozens of young girls, reports TBS News (Apr. 16).
On April 16, the Nagoya District Court handed Yuji Wada — formerly Yuji Moriyama — a prison term of 2 years and 6 months. He was accused of violating the Law Banning the Taking of Sexually Explicit Photographs and causing property damage.
In handing down the ruling, presiding judge Mayuko Nishiwaki said, “Abusing one’s position to protect the physical and mental well-being of children, and not only engaging in secret filming but also sharing the images and creating a dangerous situation where they could be misused, is despicable.”
The group chat consisted of seven elementary and middle school teachers from five Hokkaido, Kanagawa, Okayama and Aichi prefectures and Tokyo. They used the forum to share tosatsu (voyeur) images and videos of approximately 75 girls.
According to the verdict, Wada secretly filmed the underwear of a then 9-year-old girl during a school field trip in September 2024 and sent the video to the chat. As well, he brought home recorders and other items belonging to seven children between October 2024 and the following June and smeared his bodily fluids on them.
“As I felt my relationship with my family deteriorated and my loneliness deepened, I found a sense of connection with people on social media, and I became dependent on the groups,” Wada testified.
The prosecution had sought a 4-year term. Meanwhile, the defense sought a suspended term, arguing that defendant acted “merely a nominal administrator” of the group.
During questioning in court, Wada offered an apology. “When I think about the shadow this has cast over the children’s long lives, I am truly sorry,” he said.
The origins of the ring date back to around 2021, when Wada connected with two other teachers sharing similar sexual preferences via an encrypted messaging app.
As members showered each other with praise for their illicit uploads, their actions steadily escalated in extremity. The hidden-camera filming took place during classes, lunch breaks, school field trips, and while students were changing clothes. In some cases, the victims’ faces were blatantly exposed in the group chat.
By August 2024, the group had expanded to seven members. Wada only invited those he deemed “trustworthy.”
Sense of guilt
“At first, we mostly talked about homework,” Wada recalled. “But after a member made an extreme post, the group changed.”
Wada, who claimed that “the teaching life was everything” to him, admitted that he fueled the behavior despite knowing it was wrong.
“While I felt a sense of guilt, I sent messages praising the posts and encouraged them,” Wada told the court. “I thought things were heading in a bad direction, but I never thought about disbanding the group. I didn’t want to lose our connection.”
Previously, two of the seven members of the group had received suspended prison terms. Another teacher was handed a two-year term. Wada’s verdict is the fourth in the case so far.
