Hyogo Prefectural Police on Friday announced the arrest of one of their own for shooting illicit photographs up the skirt of a woman in her 20s inside a convenience store in Asago City last August.
“I did it to satisfy my sexual desire,” the 34-year-old sergeant from the Toyooka Minami Police Station was quoted.
Hyogo police dismissed the sergeant, who has been charged with violating a public nuisance ordinance, from duty for a one-month period as punishment, but he instead chose to resign.
According to Nikkan Gendai (March 11), the incident shows that nowadays any weekend amateur can turn into a professional pervert in a snap.
“Hyogo police were investigating a list of purchasers of equipment used in tosatsu filming,” an investigator tells the evening tabloid in referring to upskirt photography. “Included among the names was that of the sergeant, who is married and has children.”
In pursuing his hobby over the past five years, the sergeant has accumulated 12 cameras, including one with a lens mounted inside a wristwatch. In the incident that lead to his arrest, he had inserted a camera with an ultra-small lens inside a hand bag.
“He has confessed to between 150 and 200 such photo sessions,” says the investigator.
Fuzoku writer Taizo Ebina, who covers sex-related affairs, says that improvements in gear are making the taking of peeping photos a breeze.
Take, for example, the reverse door scope, which one places up against the peep hole installed for security purposes at the entrance of many apartments.
“With this device you can see back inside,” says Ebina. “A stalker can monitor whether his female target has returned home. He can also watch her change clothes. With a special attachment, it is possible to photograph through the device.”
According to the article, remote-controlled cameras can be inconspicuously placed inside restaurant trash cans and female changing rooms at hot springs resorts. It is also possible to peep with a micro camera inserted in the frame of a hanging picture in a hotel room. Shoes are also popular.
“On the train, a shooter will pretend he is asleep,” says Ebina in offering another option. “He’ll put a smartphone on his knee and shoot up a mini skirt in what is really rather primitive.”
Maybe primitive, says Nikkan Gendai, but even more dreadful. (A.T.)
Source: “Keikan ga kamera-tsuki kaban de doga satsuei hiretsu ‘tōsatsu teguchi’ anotekonote,” Nikkan Gendai (March 11)