Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Sakaki Hideo, a well-known Japanese actor and film director, was arrested on Tuesday in Tokyo on suspicion of sexual assault.
Japanese media, quoting police reports, said that the arrest relates to an alleged incident in May 2016. They also cite Sakaki’s denial of the charges, which he calls “false accusations.” The assault is alleged to have occurred at Sakaki’s apartment, where he took an actor in her 20s in order to give her acting advice.
During the course of their encounter, Sakaki is alleged to have asked the woman to take off her clothes so that he could check for tattoos and suggested that she should get used to nudity in her acting career.
The actor and her lawyer consulted with Tokyo police in September that year, and filed a formal complaint in 2023. The alleged incident was first reported in the Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine in March 2022, which accused Sakaki of assaults against four women.
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