A man in his 70’s who lived a “‘polygamous”‘ lifestyle in a house in Higashiyamato, Tokyo, and his ex-wife were arrested in February 2023 for attempted quasi-forcible sexual assault on teenage girls. It’s first trial was held on July 5th this year at the Tachikawa Branch of the Tokyo District Court. The two deny the charges.
Former fortune teller Hirohito Shibuya, 74 at the time of his arrest, and his ex-wife Chiaki, 43 at the time, were charged with attempted quasi-forcible sexual assault on two woman, aged 17 and 19 at the time.
According to the indictment, between September and October 2022, Hirohito had sexual intercourse with a then 19-year-old woman who he repeatedly called to his home, and putting her in a state where she couldn’t resist, telling her the following:
”Between the age of 18 and 27, humans are trapped by aliens. Our original selves are eaten and become false selves. The only way to save us is to become a man-woman relationship.”
“You’re about to be eaten by aliens, I want to save you. The only way to be saved is to enter into a relationship between a man and a woman.”
Ex-wife, Chiaki is alleged to have invited the 19-year-old to his house, saying she knows a good fortune teller, and then facilitated sexual intercourse by coordinating Hirohito’s story, saying she wanted to help the woman.
Around December 2022, the defendant Hirohito called the then 17-year-old to his house and while holding up a radiation measuring device, told her the following and attempted to engage in sexual intercourse with her.
”You’ll die soon. The aliens will take you away. To survive, you have to get into a relationship with me. A woman who once heard the same story by me ran away, called the police and had me arrested, but died saying that your story was true.”
On this occasion, the defendant Chiaki, also called the woman home, saying that she knows a good fortune teller, and asked him how much longer she had left to live, and got his story straight.
During the opening statement, the prosecutor described the living conditions of this former couple and a number of women living together.
Hirohito was unemployed at the time of the incident and lived on his pension and the income of the women living with him. He had been married 12 times. Chiaki worked part-time, married Hirohito in 2004, divorced him twice, and lived with him and other women in the same house after the divorce.
The female victims were all part-time colleagues of Chiaki.
Meanwhile, the defense disclosed further situations of the polygamous living.
“People have different ways of life. Occasionally, we encounter the unknown, that is outside of our experience and common sense. We feel it is terrifying ,while at the same time fascinating. The ex-couple certainly lived differently from our norm. That doesn’t mean that we should be forceful in our fact-finding or interpretation.”
The defendant Hirohito appeared in the court with a slow walk, and was dressed youthfully in a khaki jacket and cargo pants. According to the defense’s opening statement, he had long been interested in aliens and UFO’s and subscribed to a specialist magazine. He then said that a chance encounter with an alien had made him so, saying “aliens have a plan to reduce the world’s population and Japanese women are targeted. To help them, I have to gather women and have sexual relations with them.”
The 17-year-old victim was told by Hirohito that she would be killed by aliens, after which she left home and searched for “‘alien, eaten, kidnapped.” She then sent a message to a friend saying she was too scared to sleep, but after receiving a reply saying he might be a famous harem ojisan, she consulted her mother. She also reported the damage to the police.
Hirohito was also arrested in2006 on charges of intimidation. He was later convicted of taking a 21-year-old woman into his home and threatening her to join a communal living space, saying that she would be minced if she left and that she would die from illness or an accident if she told anyone what she saw.
Hirohito denied the charges, saying he didn’t intend to tell them horror stories and make them do what he said. Chiaki also denied the charges, saying she didn’t expect him to engage in sexual intercourses.
