FUKUOKA (TR) – The 50-year-old operator of a private cram school in the prefecture has admitted to secretly filming the naked bodies of 14 female students during overnight study camps and hot spring trips over a two-and-a-half-year period, reports RKB Mainichi Broadcasting (July 31).
Appearing at the Fukuoka District Court in April for his first trial, Hisashi Aoyagi acknowledged the charges of voyeurism and the manufacture and possession of child pornography. When asked by the judge to enter a plea, Aoyagi replied, “There is no mistake.”
Prosecutors allege that Aoyagi, who served as the head instructor of his own juku (cram school), abused the trust of his students and their parents between March 2023 and August 2025. The 14 victims included middle school girls attending the school and recent graduates. Some of the victims were filmed on multiple occasions.
Graduation trips and recreational excursions
According to the prosecution’s opening statement, Aoyagi orchestrated the crimes under the guise of graduation trips and recreational excursions to private hot spring facilities in Kumamoto Prefecture, as well as overnight study camps held at his combined home and school in Fukuoka.
The indictment details a string of offenses, beginning in March 2023 when Aoyagi planted a small hidden camera in the changing room of a Kumamoto hot spring to take tosatsu (voyeur) footage of three students.
He struck again between March and November 2024, filming seven students at similar facilities, and recorded two more victims in August 2024 before saving the data to a hard drive.
Discovery of hidden camera
The sprawling voyeurism scheme finally unraveled in August 2025 during an overnight study camp at Aoyagi’s residence in Fukuoka. After the defendant secretly filmed three students in the home’s bathroom and changing area, one of the middle school girls discovered the hidden camera, exposing the crimes.
While the defense has conceded that the offenses took place, Aoyagi’s legal team indicated plans to seek a reduced sentence, arguing there are extenuating circumstances to consider.
The trial continues, with Aoyagi expected to explain his motives during the defendant questioning phase.
