Wayward woodwind teacher arrested for showing schoolgirls how to blow

The Mainichi Shimbun (Waiwai)
January 8, 2008
Source: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/culture/waiwai/news/20080108p2g00m0dm001000c.html

Celebrated schoolgirl woodwind orchestra instructor Yoshihito Hagiwara faces a long time behind bars after he allegedly got the girls in his charge to blow an organ that had nothing to do with music, according to Shukan Post (12/21-28).

Hagiwara has entered a guilty plea to charges of breaking the Child Welfare Law and the Law Banning Child Pornography.

During the most recent hearing in his trial late last year, prosecutors told a family court that 33-year-old Hagiwara used his position guiding the woodwind group at a posh private high school to lure young girls into sex by telling them they needed it to improve their musical abilities.

Prosecutors say he maintained sexual relationships with some schoolgirls by telling them sex would allow them to perpetuate the improvements that copulation had brought about to their skills with an instrument.

Only three students at the school have pressed charges against Hagiwara, but prosecutors pointed out that he had been in charge of the musical group at the school for nine years and had lured at least 13 schoolgirls into his clutches.

"A raid on his home netted photos of half-naked schoolgirls who had taken off their uniforms and even many pictures of the girls engaged in sex with him," an officer involved in the police investigation into the case tells Shukan Post. "There were photos of several different students."

Police say Hagiwara had fashioned a tiny shed to act as a storeroom for the music students, where he would take girls for sex.

"Hagiwara realized that he held a powerful control over girls who were worried about their musical abilities. He would mail or telephone or verbally offer the girls a private lesson to get them alone with him. He was having sex simultaneously with several girls at times," the investigation insider says. "There were even times when he would shave all the hair off a girl's body, telling her he was 'exorcizing her demons.'"

Police said nearly all of Hagiwara's victims had been virgins until he got to them.

Those who know the school where Hagiwara worked are not surprised it took until late last year before he was caught.

"Hagiwara was almost like a god to the woodwind group," a source from the school tells Shukan Post. "Some of the students used to refer to themselves as 'Hagi(wara's) Orchestra.'"

Hagiwara was a talented flautist as a child, and completed a musical course at a junior college in Tokyo before returning to his parents' home in Yamanashi Prefecture to help out with the family business. He continued playing his flute, though, making a name for himself by winning contests and putting on outstanding shows.

Hagiwara started helping out at the school in 1998, when he was employed as a special instructor. Even when the school hit budget problems and could no longer continue to pay him, Hagiwara stayed as a volunteer.

When Hagiwara first started instructing, the school was not particularly well-known for its musical achievements. However, growing numbers of his charges began winning musical contests, and demand for his tuition grew to the point that in recent years, he was overseeing 60 third-year students a year. But even as his reputation for excellence grew, he exploited it to seduce his students.

Despite which, however, Hagiwara's parents still can't see their son being entirely in the wrong.

"We always had students coming over to our house. I know the girls who pressed charges against him very well," Hagiwara's mother tells Shukan Post. "I can't help thinking that they might have been trying to monopolize him for themselves."

Officials from the school where Hagiwara worked, which the weekly refrains from naming, say their institution is as much a victim as the girls Hagiwara is accused of preying on.

"News of the incident came as a terrible shock. I didn't know the instructor. If I had known what he was doing, I would have stopped it. We only learned about what was happening the day before he was arrested," the school's vice principal tells the magazine. "We've heard that there were no victims among current students and none of the parents are planning to sue us. We've just got to sit back and look at the incident calmly. We're not following every single development in the court case."

Psychological counselor Yasuyoshi Takadaira, meanwhile, argues that Hagiwara's alleged victims have been subjected to potentially irreparable damage.

"Sexual experiences for women in their teens determine how they view men, love and sometimes life itself for the rest of their lives. To have been forced into a relationship that they could not easily repel causes deep scars that can later manifest themselves in the form of a nervous breakdown or other psychosis," the shrink tells Shukan Post. "Talking about what they went through can also be extremely painful and is not something that can be achieved easily." (By Ryann Connell)

（Mainichi Japan） January 8, 2008

WaiWai stories are transcriptions of articles that originally appeared in Japanese language publications. The Mainichi Daily News cannot be held responsible for the contents of the original articles, nor does it guarantee their accuracy. Views expressed in the WaiWai column are not necessarily those held by the Mainichi Daily News or the Mainichi Newspapers Co. WaiWai © Mainichi Newspapers Co. 1989-2007.

Schoolgirls' woodwind instructor tells them sex good for their musical talents

The Mainichi Shimbun
November 29, 2007
Source: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20071129p2a00m0na008000c.html

KOFU -- A public high school woodwind club instructor lured schoolgirls into sex by telling them it would improve their musical abilities, a court here heard.

Prosecutors told the Kofu Family Court that Yoshihito Hagiwara, 33, a manufacturer from Nirasaki, Yamanashi Prefecture, performed indecent acts on 13 schoolgirls.

"If you have sex, you're musical ability will shine," a prosecution lawyer said during Hagiwara's trial on a charge of breaking the Child Welfare Law.

Prosecutors said that Hagiwara played on the children's self-esteem, making them have doubts about their musical abilities and then swooping on them for sex.

"You've got to have sex because your music lacks oomph. I'll lend you a hand," a prosecutor said, quoting Hagiwara as telling one of the schoolgirls he lured into sex.

Prosecutors said that after Hagiwara's first conquest, he learned that making students doubt their abilities made them easy targets for sex.

Prosecutors said Hagiwara told students things such as how bad their playing abilities were and how they needed to change their bodies if they wanted to master correct breathing techniques.

When the schoolgirls became filled with doubt, Hagiwara offered his sexual services, telling the children that they needed to continue the lascivious acts with him if they wanted to maintain any improvements made, prosecutors said.

Hagiwara took charge of the woodwind club from 1998 until February this year. He was given virtual control over the entire club.

（Mainichi Japan） November 29, 2007