New Zealander man arrested for traveling to Japan to chase teenager

A man from New Zealand has been arrested in Japan for attempted extortion after he sent messages to a girl in her teens.

The 56-year-old man, who says he is a chef but is unnamed in media reports, was arrested when he landed at Komatsu Airport in Ishikawa, a prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast.

He is suspected of sending messages to a teenaged girl in Ishikawa who he met on social media.

On April 18 at around 10 p.m., the man is accused of sending the girl a threatening message, warning her that if she ignores his messages he would go to her home. He told her to respond within two days.

The girl sensibly went to police on April 19. The police then started an investigation and, upon learning that the man had arrived in Japan, were waiting for him when he landed at Komatsu Airport on April 25.

The man has admitted the charges. Police are now investigating a possible motive but we think readers will likely already know the answer: he surely wanted to have sex with a Japanese teenager.

It raises the question, though, of how and why the girl got talking to the guy on social media in the first place. Did she just respond to a friendly comment on her Instagram? How could the guy really have worked out her address?

Unless you are serious about launching a career as a model or idol, perhaps young girls shouldn’t have public social media accounts if they don’t know how to shut down these kinds of unwanted advances. It’s up to schools and parents to teach young people social media “literacy” for how to protect themselves.