Tokyo police have arrested a 21-year-old university student for allegedly committing indecent acts with an 11-year-old child who had run away from home.
Shingo Sakai, known on social media as the “former King of Toyoko,” regularly visited the so-called Toyoko area in Tokyo’s Kabukicho entertainment district, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. Toyoko refers to the area next to the Toho Cinemas cinema complex where lonely young people gather.
Sakai remains silent about the allegations against him, police said.
On April 10, Sakai allegedly took the sixth grader to a hotel and committed indecent acts after talking to the girl Toyoko was visiting.
According to police, the girl ran away from her home in the Kanto region earlier in the day because she was having problems with her friends and family. She was approached by Sakai and a few other people when she was looking for a place to stay.
After being alerted by the girl’s mother, police found the girl walking with another man in the Toyoko area and took her into protective custody.
The girl said it was her first time visiting the area.
According to police, the girl said that she had always wanted to visit Toyoko because she heard that many young people who had nowhere to go gathered there and thought that everyone there helped each other.
