Japanese Woman Fined $4,500 for Engaging in Sexual Activities With a 14-Year-Old Boy

The incident occurred in Kobe, the capital of Hyogo prefecture, in August of last year when the woman, believed to be in her 20’s, traveled there to meet a person she had been speaking to online. Upon their rendevouz, the two made their way into a hotel, according to Kobe Shimbun Next via SoraNews24.

While the couple took their relationship to a more physical level, it wasn’t exactly legal for them to be seeing each other in such an intimate manner. As it turns out, while the woman is already a consenting adult, the male is said to have been just 14 years old at the time.

Although it wasn’t clear if the woman was made aware of the boy’s age in previous conversations, failing to terminate the relationship upon meeting up in person was a clear violation of the law.

The woman, whose name was not revealed in the report, was arrested last month on the charges of engaging in “lewd behavior” with the minor when they met up and went to a hotel.

The police also noted that there was another incident in January, when the boy briefly ran away from his home, leaving behind a note in which he stated that he was leaving his parents to be with the woman. It was not indicated if this woman encouraged him to do the act and if they had met up during his brief absence.

Despite the ruling that the woman had violated Hyogo’s Prefectural Youth Protection Ordinance on Monday, she only received a fine of 500,000 Japanese yen ($4,500) and evaded facing jail time.

This isn’t the first time in recent months that a woman escaped facing severe repercussions after clearly committing a crime. Late last month, a woman was taken into custody but never arrested for running in the nude in one of Tokyo’s busiest stations.

Featured image via Wikimedia Commons / Kok Leng Yeo (CC BY 2.0)