High School Baseball Players Referred to Prosecutors for Sharing Obscene Videos of Teenage Girl

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:25 JST, February 12, 2026

Two members of the Nihon University Third high school baseball team in Machida, Tokyo, were referred to prosecutors on Thursday for their suspected involvement in distributing obscene videos of an underage girl.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department referred the two to the Tachikawa branch of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on suspicion of violating the child prostitution and child pornography prohibition law.

The students allegedly talked the girl into sending obscene videos of herself and subsequently distributed the footage. Then, the footage was allegedly shared among dozens of team members. The school, one of the most prominent baseball powerhouses in the nation, is now expected to be held accountable for its management of the situation.

The school was runner-up at last summer’s National High School Baseball Championship held at Koshien Stadium in Hyogo Prefecture. The videos are believed to have started circulating even before the tournament began.

Investigative sources said one student allegedly convinced the girl to send obscene images and videos of herself via social media on three occasions between March and April last year. That member is then suspected of sending one of the videos to another teammate between April and June.

The teammate who received the videos is suspected of distributing it to other teammates between May and October, according to the police.

The student who convinced the girl into sending images and videos reportedly promised her that he would “definitely delete them.” However, the footage was subsequently circulated within the baseball team via the LINE messaging app and other platforms.

Both members have admitted to the allegations during voluntary questioning. They reportedly expressed remorse, saying they had done something they should not have and were reflecting on their “thoughtless actions.”

The case came to light last October when the girl’s guardian consulted police. Later, police confirmed through questioning other students that the footage had reached more than 20 members of the baseball team.

The police are looking further in the matter as they believe more than 10 of the students were involved in distributing the footage. They have not found whether the videos have been shared outside the team.

Founded in 1929, the school’s baseball team has made a total of 40 appearances at the National High School Baseball Championship in both spring and summer tournaments. The team secured its third overall national title during the summer championship in 2011. As of last summer’s West Tokyo tournament, the team had 75 members.