TOKYO, Japan—Recently, 3 thinks were jailed in Tokyo’s Toshima ward for running an extortion ring—and targeting some uncommon victims according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. (TMPD). The arrests were revealed on August 1st.
The policeofficers may haveactually anticipated the Japanese public to declare the arrests as a success for law and order, however this time around the declared crooks are being hailed as heroes. That’s since in this case, the believes are implicated of targeting guys they suspect of taking non-consensual pictures of females around Ikebukuro Station in northern Tokyo.
Tousatsu is the Japanese word for non-consensual photography—literally, “stolen photography.” In less veiled terms, it’s the criminaloffense of taking images or videos of ladies and ladies, normally under their skirts or down their blouses. Even inthepast camera-phones (there was a time)—it was a thing for Japan’s peeping Taros, referred to more officially as tousatsuhan.
In a strange twist on so-called vigilante justice, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police haveactually jailed 3 males for “extortion and benefiting off of criminal acts.”
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What’s incorrect with taking cash from bad men? It’s simply karma.
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The victim who turned them in was not precisely minding his own organization. The policeofficers stated he informed them he was snapping improper images of a lady around the hectic station when he was unexpectedly confronted by the strange group. The trio required he provide them a tremendous 1 million yen (around $9,000 USD) and threatened to inform his workenvironment, his household, and lastly the authorities if he declined to comply.
It’s no coincidence that the penalty for non-consensual photography (as comprehensive in the Tokyo Metropolitan Nuisance Prevention Ordinance) is a fine of up to 1 million yen, not to reference a criminal record on the books. For repeat wrongdoers, the penalty can be specifically strict—imprisonment for up to a year without parole. For novices and profession tousatsuhan alike, paying up and remaining peaceful might pan out to be the muchbetter offer.
But to the surprise of both the authorities and the extortionists, the indignity of being shaken down was difficult to disregard for this specific tousatsuhan. According to an statement from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (TMPD), he went to the authorities and admitted to the non-consensual images and accepted the coming penalty, with one condition: that the authorities catch the 3 guys intimidating the Ikebukuro voyeur neighborhood.
Commuters waiting for the train at at Ikebukuro Station on July 21, 2020 in Tokyo, Japan.
Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images
Tsubasa Sasao (33), Koutarou Matsuoka (34), and Yūshi Sakai (26) were officially detained and have giventhat been called “voyeur hunters” (tousatsuhanta) by the media. The TMPD approximates that the “hunters” made over $100,000 or more in simply the period of a year finding, cornering, and blackmailing individuals they suspect of being upskirt professionalphotographers (tosatsuhan).
Clandestine Operations
In Japan,the introduction of the videocamera phone ushered in a brand-new period for sneak photographers.These little, peaceful, quickly concealable electroniccameras haveactually been utilized to snap pictures of schoolgirls in their underclothing, to snap photos of females in restroom stalls, congested trains, and naked pictures at hot springs and public baths.
Telecommunications makers began to consistof a default shutter noise that goes off whenever a image is taken after a B-list star was captured videotaping a lady’s underclothing in the Tokyo train on September 2000 with a digital cam. Now, electroniccameras offered in Japan (camera phones or otherwise) practically constantly have the shutter noise allowed to alert unwary spectators, although there are apps to get around this function.
There is a substantial underground market selling “stolen video” videofootage in Japan, making it an business rewarding adequate to danger being captured.
How much is profitable? Back in the day, millions of yen. The company capacity of “secret videocamera video” veryfirst endedupbeing obvious in December 2003 when the TMPD vice team busted a ring of tousatsu video manufacturers for offenses in profanity laws.
According to privateinvestigators, the ring was headed by a 43-year-old video salesperson and 2 accomplices. For over a year, they ha