Japanese Police Request for Return of S’pore Diplomat Who’s Accused of Taking Nude Images in Japan

According to local news outlet Asahi Shimbun, the Japanese police have requested the Singapore Embassy to bring a Singapore diplomat back to Japan for questioning over photos he took of undressed males at public bath houses in Tokyo.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department made the request through Japan’s Foreign Ministry, Asahi Shimbun reported on 14 May.

Singapore Diplomat Accused of Voyeurism

A Singapore diplomat was accused of secretly filming an undressed male teenager in a Tokyo bath house on 27 February 2024.

The diplomat, 55, is a “former” counsellor at the embassy, according to Japanese news outlet NHK.

He had been caught by a security camera at the bath house, which also caught the man pointing his phone at another male customer.

The public bath’s staff reportedly called the police.

When police arrived, they searched the man’s phone and found “multiple naked photos of male customers” as well as other voyeuristic images.

There were allegedly 700 voyeuristic pictures which had been taken over a six-month period.

Although he deleted the images “on the spot” when asked to, the man reportedly refused to go to the police station and told police officers he was a diplomat, saying he would answer the police’s questions at the bath house instead.

He allegedly told officers he had taken such photos in other public baths in Minato five times in the past, as well as at other public bath houses in Japan.

Diplomat Returned to Singapore in April

Japanese police were unable to detain him due to diplomatic immunity, which essentially made him immune to arrests while in Japan.

The diplomat returned to Singapore in mid-April after completing his term as counsellor at the Singapore Embassy as scheduled.

He did not inform Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of the incident until he was asked about it on 1 May, after MFA learned about the allegations.

Diplomat Has Been Suspended; MFA May Waive Diplomatic Immunity

MFA reportedly suspended the diplomat from his duties and pledged to thoroughly investigate the matter.

“We will cooperate with the Japanese authorities and take the necessary actions,” MFA said.

The ministry also said it will consider waiving diplomatic immunity if the allegations against the man are true.

Man, 46, Jailed For Taking Voyeuristic Videos

In another act of voyeurism, a Singaporean man was jailed for secretly taking videos of a younger man in his company.

The 46-year-old was attracted to a 23-year-old intern and took multiple videos of the victim on eight occasions between January and March last year.

The offender had noticed that the victim would use the handicapped cubicle in the toilet at around 4pm every day, and used his mobile phone to record videos of the victim through the gap between the cubicle partition and the floor.

He took videos of the victim in the toilet on eight occasions, seven of which involved recordings that captured the victim’s genitals.

In October, it was reported that the offender was jailed for 12 weeks.