A Japanese politician has pleaded guilty and been convicted of a number of disturbing sex crimes, including entering a women’s restroom to film non-consensual images while dressed as a woman.
Wataru Onishi, 42, had previously acted as the Committee Secretary for Japan’s Communist Party (JCP) in Chiba Prefecture. Onishi is known for having supported a controversial pro-LGBT bill which seeks to enshrine self-declared gender identity as a protected characteristic in Japan.
Onishi was initially arrested on January 12 in connection with a voyeurism incident that he professed to committing in the women’s public restroom at JR Nishi-Chiba station.
“The incident was discovered on November 21, 2022, when a call was made to authorities inside JR Chiba Station claiming that the backside of a woman had been photographed, and that the man who took the voyeuristic image had been detained. Police officers rushed to the scene. When I checked Onishi’s smartphone, I found a video [of a woman] that was secretly filmed. When I questioned him, he confessed to the crime,” stated an investigator with Chiba’s police force.
According to local news reports, Onishi had disguised himself as a woman when committing the crime in an apparent attempt to film his victims in the restroom without being detected.
When questioned during court proceedings, Onishi admitted to the offense and said: “By demeaning the other person, I felt that I was in control and had a sense of superiority.”
But while investigators were investigating Onishi for his voyeurism, it was discovered that he was responsible for yet another sex crime — an act of public exhibitionism and threats to rape a woman.
“Defendant Onishi was arrested in January on suspicion of voyeurism, but as a result of the investigation, additional charges were discovered, so he was re-arrested in March on suspicion of damaging property and threatening [a] victim,” a Chiba Prefectural Police investigator told the press.
On October 20 of 2022, a 19-year-old female university student found a letter from Onishi that had been placed in the basket of her bicycle, which had been parked at JR Ichikawa-Ono Station.
“I am always filming your sexy behind. Now everyone wants to rape you. I’m looking forward to it,” read the note. Onishi had also smeared his semen on the seat of the woman’s bicycle. The victim’s mother notified the police. Onishi admitted to the allegations, saying that there was “no doubt” that he was responsible for terrorizing the young woman.
For his crimes, Judge Keishi Matsumoto handed the former politician a three-year suspended sentence with a recommended one-year prison term on June 15 at the Chiba Prefecture District Court.
While Onishi has already admitted to a number of sex offenses, some reports have noted that he had a a history of similarly disturbing sexual behavior dating back several years.
In one 2020 document from the Chiba District Public Prosecutors Office, investigators noted that Onishi was a repeat sexual offender and that there were other cases for which he had not been prosecuted due to “insufficient evidence.”
That Onishi had dressed as a “woman” while committing his crimes has prompted widespread discussion on Japanese social media, with many users pointing out that Onishi was a staunch supporter of legislation enshrining self-declared “gender identity” as a protected characteristic in Japanese law.
Onishi, who ran for the House of Representatives in 2017, had also previously responded positively in a questionnaire on LGBT issues, saying, “There are still misunderstandings and prejudices against sexual minorities in society. The more comfortable a society is for sexual minorities to live in, the more comfortable it is for all people to live in.”
The Japanese Communist Party has taken a firm position in support of the hotly-contested LGBT bill, and was the first political group to introduce the legislation jointly with the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP).
The bill has been discussed during months of negotiations among representatives, with each main national political party submitting their own version of draft legislation. While the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), under pressure from the public, added an amendment stipulating vague protections for women, the opposing JCP declined to follow suit.
Last Friday, June 16, Japan’s lower house passed the bill despite its tremendous unpopularity. In one public opinion survey, 91% of respondents asserted that there was no need for the legislation. Rather than voting against their own party, several representatives staged a minor protest and walked out of the deliberation session at the House of Councillors.
In recent months, criticism of the proposed LGBT bill has escalated significantly, with many individuals and politicians vocalizing serious concerns about how the rights of women will be impacted by extending the law to bar “discrimination” against “gender identity.”
In May, an emergency press conference was held in Tokyo and featured speakers from several women’s rights and LGB interest groups. One of the founders of Tokyo’s Rape Crisis Center, Michiko Orita, confirmed that the establishment had been denied government funding after being labeled “transphobic” for emphasizing the importance of single-sex services and spaces.
Female politicians have also taken advantage of the opportunity to highlight the conflict of rights presented by relegating “gender” to subjective self-identity. On June 11, LDP representative Satsuki Katayama announced that she would be forming a committee to create and advance bills protecting women’s rights. Similarly, elected LDP representative Arimura Haruko spoke out against the LGBT bill during the June 16 session, citing concerns for the safety of women and children.
Just two weeks prior, a man was arrested in Tsu city on suspicion of entering a women’s bath while disguising himself as a woman. The suspect denied the charges by simply stating: “I am a woman.”
The move to legislate protections for self-declared gender identity come as Japan continues to grapple with an epidemic of sex crimes committed by men in changing rooms, washrooms, and other traditionally female-only spaces.
Public forms of sexual abuse committed by men against women in Japan occur so frequently that the government has had to repeatedly intervene. Counter-measures have included anti-groping campaigns, strategically placed public security cameras, and a popular application that allows victims to alert fellow trains passengers in instances of sexual assault.
Some critics of the bill have pointed out that will result in sexual predators being able to access women’s spaces with legal impunity.
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