The tax office employee, 49, told investigators that he impersonated a woman seeking to be fondled inside a train carriage.
On April 30 at around 7 a.m., Masaya Ogawa, a former nurse from Osaka, boarded the JR Wakayama Line at Kokawa Station and began touching the breasts and buttocks of a 23-year-old woman.
At Wakayama Station, the train’s final stop, the victim seized Ogawa’s arm and handed him over to station personnel. He was later arrested.
Ogawa believed the woman in question had posted information regarding her seat number and appearance on a train-molestation site in an effort to recruit men interested in fondling her body. The victim denied making such a post.
On Saturday, police said that the tax bureau employee claims that he in fact wrote the message, saying he included descriptions of the victim’s clothing and general appearance.
“We would like to withhold comment at present since it could affect the investigation,” said a representative from the Osaka Regional Taxation Bureau.
