Tokyo, Japan, Mar 26, 2018 / 23:00 pm
Japan's National Police Agency has reported that investigations for the possession and distribution of child pornography reached record levels in 2017, the result of a large database of pornography buyers seized by Tokyo police last May.
The database, listing some 7,000 purchasers of child pornography, included people professionally responsible for children, among them elementary school teachers and administrators, government officials, and police officers.
The police agency reported that child pornography cases increased to 2,413 in 2017, 316 more cases than in the year prior, according to the Japan Times.
A majority of charges involve the production of child pornography, which increased to 1,414 cases last year, a 10 percent increase from 2016. Additionally, cases involving the possession of child pornography in 2017 nearly tripled, to 201 cases.