Japanâs Youngest Councillor Arrested For Lewd Acts With Teen
The most accessed domestic news article on Yahoo! Japan today was the revelation that Japanâs youngest ever City Councillor, Yoshitake Akihiro, has been arrested for lewd acts with a teenaged girl.
Yoshitake claims that he doesnât remember doing anything sexual with the girl when he took her into his room, but netizens say that this is the same as an admission of guilt â if he hadnât done it, why couldnât he say so?
From Yahoo! Japan:
Even If He Is The Youngest Ever Elected⊠City Councillor Arrested For Lewd Acts With High School Girl Claims âI Donât Remember Doing Itâ
On May 29, the Juvenile Division of Nara Prefectural Police arrested Yoshitake Akihiro (27) from Hikita, Katsuragi City, where he is a Councillor, on the suspicion that he violated the prefecutural law for the wellbeing and cultivation of youths. Yoshitake denied the charge, saying âShe did come into my room, but I donât remember whether I committed a lewd actâ.
In mid April, the suspect allegedly took a schoolgirl (17) who was in the third year of a public high school in the prefecture into the apartment he rents in Yamatotakada City, and committed lewd acts with the girl knowing that she was under eighteen.
According to police, around autumn of Heisei 24 (2012), Yoshitake came on to the girl and gave her a fake name while she was with a friend at a large shopping mall in the prefecture. They started communicating via text message.
Then, in October last year, Yoshitake was elected for the first time as the youngest ever Councillor of Katsuragi City in the City Council elections, in which he stood as an independent candidate. He also runs a cram school in the city.
Learning of Yoshitakeâs arrest, Yamashita Kazuya, Mayor of Katsuragi stated that âI canât really believe it, but if it is true, then itâs just a terrible pityâ. Deputy Mayor of the City Council Asaoka Saichiro commented that âIf it is true, then the council must deal with this firmly. Heâs very young, and people had high hopes of him, we all had high hopes of him, so this is a terrible shameâ.