The Rearrest
Hiroshima Prefectural Police on October 19, 2026, rearrested a 36-year-old doctor accused of paying a girl under 16 for sex at a hotel in central Hiroshima. It is the second arrest of the same man in two months over the sexual exploitation of minors.
The man works in the psychiatry department of Kure Medical Center, a hospital in Kure, a port city southeast of Hiroshima, according to RCC Chugoku Broadcasting. He lives in Hiroshima's Naka Ward. The Chugoku Shimbun reported that the Kure Police Station made the arrest. The charges are non-consensual sexual intercourse under the Penal Code and paying a minor for sex under the Act on Punishment of Activities Relating to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (jidō baishun-pornography kinshi-hō).
Police told reporters that he responded during questioning by saying, "I will remain silent." RCC and TSS TV Shin-Hiroshima both reported that statement.
The Allegation
According to RCC, police allege that on August 29, 2026, at a hotel in Naka Ward, the doctor handed ¥30,000 (about $200) to a girl he knew was under 16 and had sex with her. TSS described her as a student living in Hiroshima Prefecture. Both broadcasters reported that the two had met through social media.
The girl is treated as a victim under the law. Japan's child prostitution statute punishes the adult who pays, not the minor who is paid. Since a 2023 revision of the Penal Code, sex with a child under 16 is also classed as non-consensual when the adult is at least five years older, whatever the child says. That provision is the basis for the more serious of the two charges.
Found on a Seized Phone
The new case grew out of an earlier one. TSS reported that the doctor was first arrested in September. Police accused him then of sending messages to a girl under 13 that offered cash and other payment in exchange for sexual acts. RCC aired footage of him being sent to prosecutors on September 30.
The Chugoku Shimbun gave the charges in the first case: demanding a meeting for indecent purposes, a Penal Code offense added in 2023 to target online grooming, and soliciting a minor for lewd acts under Hiroshima Prefecture's youth protection ordinance. Prosecutors have deferred a decision on whether to indict him on those charges.
Investigators then analyzed the smartphone they had seized and identified the August hotel meeting, TSS reported. Police say they are still investigating whether there are other victims.
The Hospital's Response
Kure Medical Center is a public hospital run by the National Hospital Organization. Its director said the hospital would "deal with the matter strictly once the facts have been confirmed," RCC reported.
Why It Matters
The case fits a pattern police across Japan have flagged: adults use social media to find minors and offer cash for sex. The arrangement is often marketed as papa-katsu ("daddy dating"), the Japanese term for paid dating between older men and young women. Last week, Tokyo police announced the arrest of a Chiba company executive over a similar ¥10,000 hotel meeting with a 14-year-old in Kabukicho, a case this site reported on October 17.
The 2023 reforms gave prosecutors a ladder of charges that apply before any meeting takes place. The meeting-demand offense covers the first approach, and youth ordinances cover solicitation. The child prostitution law and the non-consensual intercourse provision cover what happens if the adult and the minor do meet. The Hiroshima case followed that ladder in order: first the messages, then the hotel.
The rearrest is an allegation, not a finding. The doctor has not been charged in either case, and prosecutors will decide whether to indict.
Sources: Chugoku Shimbun (October 19, 2026, via 47NEWS), for the Kure Police Station, the new charges and the charges in the September case, including the deferred decision; RCC Chugoku Broadcasting (October 19, 2026, via Yahoo! News Japan), for the psychiatry department, the August 29 date, the Naka Ward hotel, the ¥30,000, the "I will remain silent" statement, the September 30 transfer to prosecutors and the hospital director's comment; TSS TV Shin-Hiroshima / FNN Prime Online (October 19, 2026), for the girl's student status, the meeting on social media, the smartphone analysis and the continuing investigation. Background on the October 17 Tokyo case comes from this site's earlier report. The outlets named the suspect; this site does not. The girl is not identified. Dollar figures converted at about ¥150 to the dollar. Glossary: papa-katsu = paid "daddy dating." The baishun bōshi-hō (Anti-Prostitution Act) and the fūei-hō (Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Act) are not the basis for these charges.