The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that a man from Akita Prefecture was arrested coming out of the women’s toilets at a shopping centre. At 12:40am.

The news has drawn a strong reaction from netizens, most of whom say the man should never have been arrested, and that in an emergency they had also done similar things, while others point out that if he was hoping to see some women in there, then the early hours of the morning are not exactly prime time…

From Yomiuri Shimbun:

Male University Student Who Came Out From Women’s Toilet Arrested At The Scene

On February 2, the Central Akita division of the Akita Prefectural police arrested a male university student (21) from Shogunnohigashi, Akita City, on suspicion of unlawful entry at the scene of the incident.

According to a press release, the man is accused of unlawfully entering the women’s toilets inside the shopping centre in Akita City at around 00:40 on February 2, despite not having a justifiable reason for doing so. A woman who works at the centre saw the man coming out of a stall in the toilets, and restrained him. The police are investigating the man’s movements.

Comments from Twitter:

さかた:

Wonder what a “justifiable reason” would be…

のぶ:

Funny that the middle-aged women who blatantly enter the men’s toilets never get arrested.

神楽舞衣:

Since the dawn of history, I wonder if it has it ever happened that “an old woman has been arrested at the scene for coming out of the men’s toilets”?

八谷「ナウシカの飛行具作ってみた」発売中:

I’ve rushed into the toilet in an emergency situation before and only realised it was the women’s toilet after I came out again (thankfully no one was around), so based on these facts I hope people forgive him.

トクホン:

Actually, I often go into the women’s toilet, and I’ve been seen in there. Of course, it’s by accident.

Vやねんちゃん:

So it’s all over for you if you go in the women’s toilet by mistake?

ぴろしき:

This is right next to my school. The guy’s the same age as me too, I’m really praying that he’s not someone I know w

清嶋直樹:

What was he doing?

Mr.ちんこ:

So wait, it’s not OK if it’s an emergency?

マコネ:

As far as I can tell from reading this article, it’s also possible that he just entered the women’s toilet by mistake. And despite that, you’d still be arrested…? Too frightening. We need to be careful.

乗りれTrick:

This is Japan’s gender discrimination.

hamami:

Arrest the old women who go into the relatively empty men’s toilets at highway service areas too.

沖田 丈:

So going into the women’s toilets gets you “arrested on suspicion of unlawful entry”? That’s pretty good to know. Honestly, I can’t sympathise at all with why people would be happy to go into the women’s toilets, but I do understand how you get the frame of mind where you want to do something to make your heart race because you’re fed up with a daily life where nothing exciting ever happens.

中村 昌寛:

So if the toilet entrances were confusing, I’d be lined up for arrest if I’d had to make a snap decision????

醜権 :

Once the door was wide open and I couldn’t see the sign for which sex toilet it was, so I did my business anyway. It was only in a small facility, so I supposed that there was no separate toilets for the sexes.

松尾篤典:

I don’t really know, but is it actually in the law that a man can’t enter the women’s toilets? @CheckNAU

tailwisdom: