Kobe man hid in drains to film up skirts of women

HYOGO (TR) – Hyogo Prefectural Police have again arrested a 28-year-old male company employee for hiding inside a storm drain to take illicit photographs of female pedestrians in Kobe, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Nov. 9).

On August 16 at 7:50 a.m., Yasuomi Hirai is alleged to have used a smartphone to film up the skirt of a 37-year-old beauty artist as she strolled past a storm drain grating under which he was sprawled on his back.

The incident took place near a post office in a shopping street in the Okamoto area. The victim telephoned police after seeing the suspect’s hair poking through slats in the grating and making eye contact.

Officers arriving at the scene searched the suspect’s smartphone and found several videos and images showing women’s underwear.

The suspect told police that he had been in the drain, which was 60 centimeters deep, for a five-hour period starting at 3:00 a.m.

Hirai, who has been charged with causing a public nuisance, admits to the allegations.

Police believe that Hirai has used the same method to repeatedly commit the same crime. In June of 2013, he was arrested for filming up the skirt of a woman near Konan Women’s University. “I want to be reborn in a second life as a road,” he was quoted by police at the time.