Repeated Posts Inciting Molestation Before Common Test; Teen Male Sent to Family Court

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:26 JST, March 26, 2024 

The Aichi Prefectural Police referred a teenage male to the Nagoya Family Court on Monday for misconduct in violation of the Misdemeanor Law. The suspect had repeatedly posted on a social networking site to incite molestation of students taking the Common Test for University Admissions in January, according to investigators.

Shortly before the Common Test for University Admissions held on January 13 and 14, the man posted several times on X (formerly Twitter), urging for students to be molested on their way to the test site, and allegedly obstructed the work of police officers by forcing them to be on the alert.

The man admitted the charges to investigators, stating, “I wanted to get buzz (or be a topic of conversation). I didn’t think the police would come for something like this.”

Taking advantage of the fact that students did not want to be late for the exams, a series of posts on social networking sites such as “molestation festival” and “molestation chance day” fueled the problem.