Camera in stone: Japanese man caught red-handed for spy filming (4 photos)
A man has been caught in Japan for at least two years secretly filming women bathing in hot springs. His methods were rather banal, but skillful: he installed a hidden camera disguised as a rock and connected it to a power bank. 
Everything came to light when one of the visitors to a hot spring in Yamagata Prefecture noticed a strange reflection in a rock and suspected that a camera was hidden in it. She immediately contacted the police.
The police did indeed find a hidden camera and caught its owner red-handed when he came to pick it up. The culprit was a 31-year-old man who had a previous conviction for possessing child pornography.
He admitted that he bought a telephoto lens online and made a realistic imitation of a rock out of clay and brown plastic to hide the device. He camouflaged the camera cable with brown electrical tape and connected it to a power bank. Dressed as a climber, he installed the camera under a camouflage net to discreetly spy on bathers. In the end, the police found footage of 44 women.
The man also admitted that he had been filming in various hot springs since 2022, and during this time, about 1,000 women became his victims. 
The prosecutor asked for a two-year prison sentence, describing the crime as “planned, repeated and extremely harmful,” and noted the high risk of recidivism. The verdict will be announced on September 17.
Many Japanese were shocked by the news: “Two years is too little. The punishment should be harsher, because these women could suffer for the rest of their lives if the video ends up on the Internet,” said one commenter. “Light sentences for such crimes are not punishment, but an incentive,” added another. 
Crimes involving secret filming for the purpose of sexual exploitation in public places are frequently reported in Japan. In 2022, police recorded 5,737 such incidents, up from 5,730 last year.
Such behavior is illegal and carries varying prison sentences depending on the prefecture. In Tokyo, offenders face up to six months in prison or a fine of up to 500,000 yen (US$3,500). 
Secret filming is a serious problem in Japanese hot springs. In 2021, police arrested a man who purposefully trimmed trees and bushes planted to prevent secret filming. About 10 people were also arrested for producing and selling such videos. Some perpetrators use telescopic lenses to photograph women bathing in hot springs from a distance of more than 100 meters.
