TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a male school principal for allegedly taking illicit films of a girl in Itabashi Ward earlier this week, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Apr. 11).
At around 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Takayasu Ito, the 58-year-old principal of an elementary school in Shiki City, Saitama Prefecture, allegedly used a camera concealed inside one of his shoes to take tosatsu, or voyeur, footage up the skirt of the girl inside a supermarket.
Ito, who has been accused of violating a municipal public nuisance ordinance, admits to the allegations, according to the Takashimadaira Police Station.
The matter emerged after another customer noticed Ito behaving suspiciously in approaching the girl from behind and tipped off police. Officers arriving at the scene found the camera inside the footwear of the suspect. Police later confirmed that the device contained illicit images.
According to the Shiki Board of Education, Ito was appointed as principal of the school on April 1. He attended the school’s opening ceremony for the new year on the day of the incident.
“If [the allegations] are factual, it is indeed regrettable that a person in management has been involved in such an incident,” a representative of the school said in offering an apology.
