The Interview
Police say the meeting was billed as a job interview.
On Monday, September 28, 2026, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Juvenile Development Division re-arrested a 35-year-old unemployed man from Tokyo's Koto Ward, according to reports by TV Asahi (ANN), Nippon TV (NNN), TBS (JNN), Fuji TV (FNN) and the Sankei Shimbun. He is suspected of non-consensual sexual intercourse and of violating the Child Welfare Act.
Police allege that in July 2025, at an apartment in Chiba City, he sexually assaulted a girl who was then 17 and a second-year high school student. The Sankei put the dates at July 18 and July 26 and the location in the city's Chuo Ward. TBS and TV Asahi described the apartment as the man's home.
According to the reports, he called the meeting a papakatsu "interview," and Sankei said a later session was described as a "re-training." Several outlets quoted him as telling the girl, "You don't have any experience, right? I'll teach you how to do it when you go to a hotel."
Sankei reported that he had told her he did "hero-like work, protecting girls from lolicons," using the Japanese slang for men who pursue underage girls.
Three Versions of a Denial
The man partly denies the allegation. The outlets reported his account in different words:
- TV Asahi: "I only touched her over her clothes."
- Nippon TV: He said he meant to give "practical instruction" but did not have sex with her.
- Fuji TV: "She asked me to teach her, so I put it into practice."
The reports do not explain why the quotes differ. They may reflect different parts of his statements to police as relayed to each outlet. None of the accounts has been tested in court.
How the Girl Was Drawn In
TBS gave the fullest account of how the girl reached him. She told investigators that a group of her classmates approached her with lines such as "Interested in papakatsu?" and "You can make a lot, depending on you," and then introduced her to the man.
When she hesitated, TBS reported, the classmates told her, "If this gets out, you'll be killed. You can't say no now." She told police she "couldn't resist."
Police say that after the alleged assault, the man introduced her to men he had recruited on social media and had her meet them for papakatsu. TV Asahi reported that he recruited those men while posing online as a girl, and that he gave the girls he directed instructions through encrypted, high-privacy messaging apps. Nippon TV reported that investigators believe he also impersonated the girls' older brother to extort money from the men.
The case came to light, according to TBS, when police stopped and questioned the man and the girl together in Tokyo in late July 2025.
The First Case and the "Manual"
Monday's arrest is his second. He was arrested and later indicted in a case involving a girl who was 14 and in junior high school at the time. Police allege that in July 2025 he connected her with a man recruited through social media, and that the man engaged in indecent acts with her at a hotel. According to Jiji Press, that first arrest was announced in early August 2026 and was also made under the Child Welfare Act, which bars anyone from causing a child to engage in sexual acts.
TBS reported that while investigating that case, police found records on his smartphone that appear to be a papakatsu manual, along with images containing specific instructions. Investigators believe he used the same method with multiple girls and are looking into other possible cases.
What Papakatsu Means Here
Papakatsu, literally "daddy activity," is the Japanese term for arrangements in which men pay younger women for dates. Sex may or may not be involved. For adults, the gray zone is the baishun boshi-hō (the Anti-Prostitution Act). The act bans prostitution but punishes neither the buyer nor the seller of a single act, and it treats paid meals or conversation as legal.
When the person being paid is a child, the gray zone does not exist. Under the Child Welfare Act, causing a minor to engage in sexual acts can bring up to 10 years in prison. The Act on Punishment of Activities Relating to Child Prostitution separately makes it a crime to pay a minor for sex. Brokers, not only buyers, are the main target of both laws. That is why Tokyo police are building the case around the man who allegedly organized the meetings and not only around the men who paid.
It is not the first case this year in which police say papakatsu was the entry point for sexual assault. In July, Osaka police re-arrested a man accused of photographing a high school student's ID at a paid-dating meeting and using it to coerce her.
The man arrested Monday has been charged only in the first case. Prosecutors will decide whether to indict him on the new allegation.
Sources: TV Asahi (ANN), September 28, 2026, 11:53; Nippon TV (NNN), September 28, 12:01; the Sankei Shimbun, September 28, 13:08; TBS NEWS DIG (JNN), September 28, 13:55; and FNN Prime Online (Fuji TV), September 28, 15:06, all via Yahoo! News Japan. The dates and location of the alleged assault, the quoted remarks, the suspect's statements and the police account of the scheme come from those reports. Where they differ, each outlet is credited separately. Jiji Press, August 2026, for the first arrest under the Child Welfare Act. Glossary: papakatsu = paid dating arrangements; baishun boshi-hō = Anti-Prostitution Act. An arrest is not a finding of guilt. The victims are not identified in any report. The Japanese outlets named the suspect, but this article does not.