Prosecutors sought a five-year prison term on Tuesday for a 28-year-old former elementary school teacher in Bizen, Okayama Prefecture, accused of secretly filming girls changing at his school and sharing the images with a group of teachers, the Asahi Shimbun reported.
The trial at the Nagoya District Court closed the same day, with the defense asking for a suspended sentence. The court will hand down its ruling on December 17.
The man, who was dismissed, faced charges including violations of the law banning child prostitution and child pornography.
The allegations
Prosecutors said the man filmed seven girls changing at the elementary school where he worked in 2025. He shared some of the footage on social media, they said, and left bodily fluids on the girls' toothbrushes and cups.
In closing arguments, prosecutors said he placed a watch-type camera of the kind used by someone he met on social media in a classroom. He retrieved the video data at night.
“He took measures to keep the crimes from being discovered, and was cunning and thorough.”prosecutors, closing arguments
He kept filming after learning that another teacher had been arrested in June last year, prosecutors said.
“His sense of norms has been markedly dulled, and his distorted sexual desire and attachment toward the girls run deep.”prosecutors, closing arguments
Prosecutors described the conduct as treating children as objects of sexual desire rather than as pupils, calling it despicable and malicious beyond words.
The defense argued that settlements had been reached with some of the victims and that the man was attending counseling.
A network of teachers
Seven teachers from elementary and junior high schools in five prefectures belonged to the group. The other six have all had guilty verdicts finalized.
The Asahi Shimbun withheld the defendant's name in its digital edition out of consideration for the victims.