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Seven elementary school teachers in Japan
formed a private chat group
to share photos of the children they taught.
Seventy-five girls were violated.
The leader was sentenced this week.
Two years and six months.
He had been the founder and administrator
of the group.
The other six members were also elementary school teachers.
None of them had ever met in person.
They had found each other online —
bound by one shared interest.
The sexual exploitation of the children they taught.
Over years,
in classrooms, at school lunches, on field trips,
during changing rooms and recorder practice,
they secretly photographed and filmed
more than 75 girls in their care.
They uploaded the images to a private group.
They complimented each other's work.
"Nice shot."
"Can't stop looking at this one."
They also shared AI-generated deepfake images
of the real children they taught —
digitally stripped, sexualized,
and circulated among themselves.
These men were not strangers to the girls.
They were their homeroom teachers.
The ones who wrote their report cards.
The ones who walked them to the school gate.
When police finally arrested the group's founder,
he offered one explanation:
"I felt lonely.
My relationship with my family was deteriorating.
On SNS, I finally felt connected to people.
I didn't want to lose that connection."
The judge gave him two years and six months.
Seventy-five children.
Two-and-a-half years.
If we divide his sentence by his known victims,
each child is worth twelve days of his freedom.
This is not a story about seven monsters.
Monsters are rare.
These men were ordinary elementary school teachers,
who signed contracts to protect children,
who showed up to work every day,
who were promoted,
who received parents' trust,
who stood at graduation ceremonies
and watched children they had photographed walk across the stage.
They found each other not because they were rare.
They found each other because they were many.
Japan is scheduled to begin operating
a background check system for people working with children —
the so-called "Japanese DBS" —
in December 2026.
Eight months from now.
Until then,
every year in Japan,
hundreds of teachers are disciplined
for sexual misconduct against students.
Most of them return to the classroom.
Many of them cross prefectures and apply again.
The system, for now, allows this.
His name is Yuji Wada.
He is forty-two years old.
He will walk out of prison at forty-four.
Seventy-five children will carry this for life.
This is not justice.
And somewhere, this morning,
in a Japanese classroom,
another man like him
is handing out worksheets.
English
