Fisherman arrested for taking thousands of photos of women at beaches with infrared camera

Police in Hyogo Prefecture have arrested a fisherman on suspicion of illegally filming women at local beaches.

The 53-year-old has admitted to using an infrared filter on a camera to take images of women in swimwear.

According to a police announcement on January 15, Norimasa Miyake allegedly took photos of eight women in swimwear between July 2023 and July last year. The women were aged from their teens to their forties, and were taking part in swimming and running events at beaches in Akashi and Minamiawaji in Hyogo, and Tamano in neighboring Okayama.

Police were tipped off to his activities when someone reported to the beach management that a man was taking photos of women in swimwear from inside a tent at a beach in Sumoto last July. The local cops caught Miyake in the act and then discovered around 26,000 such images on his SD card.

This is all taking place at beaches around the Inland Sea, a sheltered body of water between Honshu and Shikoku and known as Japan’s Mediterranean for its natural beauty.

Because the photographs include images of two girls as young as 11, Miyake faces a child pornography charge as well as another charge related to taking obscene photographs.