Cross-border investigative journalism from Japan

Thank you once again for your continuous contribution to our project.

This June, the BBC World Service's investigative unit, BBC Eye, has published the film titled "Catching the men who sell subway groping videos”. A Chinese crime group based in Japan was making significant profits by selling videos of molestations and sexual assaults filmed in Japan and other parts of East Asia.

Some videos cost less than a dollar. The site even once allowed users to order tailor-made abuse videos.

The number of users of the site who gather on the messaging app Telegram is as many as 4,000. Within the community, they share tips and advice on how to sexually assault women.

One man in the community was treated as a "master". He had filmed at least dozens of videos of molestation and promoted the videos for sale on his site to his 80,000 followers on Twitter.

The BBC team used every means at its disposal, including undercover interviews, to get to the bottom of the case. They identified the perpetrators and held them accountable for their attempts to get away with it in the anonymity of the Internet.  It took a year of diligent reporting.

I supported their investigation of identifying this person and several others.

During the research, I sensed a similarity with Tansa's series, "Uploaded and Re-Uploaded”.

In the series as well, videos of victims, sometimes even sexually abused children as young as 10 years old, were sold for as little as $1. Sometimes I found videos in which foreign children were also filmed.

Convenient tools such as social media, web forums, and applications make these crimes possible. Various sites allow anyone to post and view sexual images, and videos of victims can spread anywhere, across countries and regions, and never disappear.

Japanese police say it is not easy to investigate illegal acts happening via foreign servers. This is because it takes months for police in foreign countries to corporate with each other, while criminals quickly cover their tracks and the data on the servers has a limited shelf life. The sheer number of crimes is another reason why police are unable to pursue this issue. 

And it is also possible that police still think  the damage is downplayed as "not serious".

On the other hand, journalists can work together across borders. The BBC's project also involved British, Chinese, and Japanese journalists working together to expose the reality of the situation.

International collaboration is needed for not only digital sex crime but also other serious issues. 

We plan other international collaborations for this year and next year. I believe cooperating journalists from different countries generate a greater impact on society.

We sincerely appreciate your ongoing support for our projects.

I look forward to sharing the next story with you.