Police revealed the details.
Koreaboo
Content Warning
This article includes descriptions of sexual assault that may disturb some readers.
A 14-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of coercing his girlfriend into prostitution to repay his online gambling debts.
According to Tokyo police, the second-year student allegedly forced his girlfriend–a third-year student–to go along with his plan by assaulting her and threatening to end their romantic relationship.
During his police interrogation, the boy admitted that he had arranged for his then 14-year-old girlfriend to have sex with a 39-year-old elementary school teacher for 30,000 yen (approximately $188 USD). According to police, the man was not a teacher at the teens’ school; he met the girl through a telephone-based dating service. This was the first but not only time the girl was reportedly coerced into sex work.
Within the span of three months, the girl had allegedly been forced to prostitute herself ten times, and she gave all the money she earned to her boyfriend. She told police that she agreed to do so because she did not want her boyfriend to break up with her.
These crimes took place in Tokyo in 1998. Although calls for greater protection for women and children persisted for decades because of cases like this one, Japan’s age of consent was not raised from 13 to 16 until 25 years later, in June of 2023.
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