A 44-year-old Japanese man has been arrested and accused of indecent acts after allegedly installing several cameras under his truck so he could drive by young girls and film under their skirts.

Voyeurism and upskirt photography are apparently so widespread in Japan that there is even a word for them –  “chikan”. It describes men who inappropriately try to take pictures under women’s skirts without consent. In one of the most bizarre cases of chikan ever reported, a middle-aged man has been arrested for installing at least four cameras under his light delivery truck so he could slowly drive by skirt-wearing girls, some of them still in primary school, and film under their skirts. After discovering the trucks under his truck, police raided the man’s home and found over 30 hard drives containing hundreds of voyeuristic videos, and despite his continued denial of the accusations, authorities suspect that the number of victims could reach as many as 1,000.

Satoshi Nishimura, a delivery driver from Kyoto, is suspected of having inappropriately filmed young girls in Kyoto and Uji cities between September and December of last year, before being reported to the authorities by a female acquaintance of the suspect after receiving one of the obscene videos. Nishimura denied the charges, claiming that he had only been driving at low speeds on narrow residential streets while “looking for a place to park the car to walk his dog”.

However, the man’s explanation doesn’t explain the four cameras installed under his delivery truck, attached to areas under the bumper and near the front tires, all pointing upwards. Police believe that the suspected voyeur had filmed up the skirts of eight girls, including elementary and high school students, between September and December of 2022, but the evidence found in his home suggests a much longer history of indecent behavior.

After being reported by his unnamed female acquaintance, ploce started checking up on him and found that he had been driving slowly up and down narrow streets near several schools in Kyoto and Uji cities, which was highly unusual. After inspecting his delivery truck, they found four upward-facing cameras installed on either side of the vehicle, near the front, probably so he could better control the angle of approach. The cameras were all connected to a central recording unit in the Daihatsu Hijet’s dashboard.

Despite Nishimura’s constant denial of his voyeuristic behavior, the videos found on over 30 hard drives at his residence suggest that he has been filming up young girls’ skirts for over 11 years.

 

Earlier this year, Japanese lawmakers moved to criminalize voyeuristic behavior, calling for prison sentences of up to three years or a fine of up to 3 million yen ($21,000) for photographic and video voyeurism.