- Feng Zhaoyin, Aliaume Leroy, Chen Shanshan
- BBC Worldwide investigative team “BBC Eyes”
image source,Noriko Hayashi
Xiaozi was sexually assaulted multiple times as a teenager. She later launched an anti-moron campaign, which included colorful badges. The badge reads: “‘Idiots’ are a crime!” People can wear the badge to show zero tolerance for “idiots”.
Women who are sexually assaulted on public transport across East Asia face another risk: the predator secretly filming the groping and selling the footage online. After more than a year of investigations, the BBC International investigation team “BBC Eye” used undercover methods to expose those behind the scenes who profited from sexual violence.
During Tokyo’s morning rush hour, train cars are packed and rickety.
Fifteen-year-old Xiaozi (pseudonym) was on her way to school, and she tried to hold on to the handrail in the car.
Suddenly, she felt a hand touch her skirt. She thought someone had accidentally bumped into her.
But the hand then grabbed her.
“That’s when I realized that I had met a ‘crazy man’,” Xiaozi recalled.
The hand quickly disappeared in the crowd.
“I can’t do anything,” Xiaozi cried to school that day.
That was the first time she was molested on public transport (mass transit system), but after that, she was repeatedly sexually harassed on trains. On many nights, she shed tears.
“I felt like my life was hopeless.”
Many women, like filial sons, have been molested in public places. Some of them also faced another kind of abuse: the process of sexual assault was filmed, and the videos were even sold online.
We found three Chinese-language websites selling and producing thousands of sexual assault videos.
Most of the videos are the same: a man filming and stalking a woman from behind, and a few seconds later he molested her. The men’s actions were covert, and the victims did not appear to be aware that they were being sexually assaulted.
After more than a year of investigation, we’ve tracked down the men behind a dark industry that profited from sexual violence: a rock musician, a sociology graduate and their wary “leader.”
“Idiots”: A Serious Social Problem in Japan
image source,Getty Images
Tokyo’s subway trains can get incredibly crowded at times.
Xiaozi is molested almost every day on the train to and from school. Out of fear and shame, she did not speak out when she was victimized. But every night, she would cover her mouth with a towel and practice repeatedly in front of the mirror how to drink off the sexual assaulter: “This person is a ‘crazy man’!”
“Moron” is a Japanese word that refers to sexual assault in public places, especially on public transport. The word is also used to describe the perpetrator of this indecent act.
“Idiot” perpetrators usually start in crowded places, taking advantage of the victim’s reluctance to make a scene in public. In Japan, speaking too bluntly can be seen as rude.
Thousands of arrests are made each year for “crazy” behaviour, yet many more such crimes go undetected and unpunished. Akiyoshi Saito, a mental health expert who has written a book on “morons,” believes only about 10 percent of victims report such crimes to the police.
Japanese police encourage victims and witnesses to speak out, but the crime is far from being eradicated. The British and Canadian governments even issued reminders to their citizens who are about to go to Japan, telling them to beware of “idiots”.
Mole-themed goods and services are so ubiquitous in Japan’s adult entertainment industry that people have grown accustomed to them. Adult movies with the theme of “moleboys” are one of the most popular porn genres in Japan, and these movies are also spread to other countries in Asia.
In the Chinese world, the term “idiot” is becoming more and more widely known. In recent years, “salty pig hand” crimes similar to “idiots” have also occurred from time to time.
“Idiot” website
A Chinese website called “Can’t Stand” caught our attention.
This site sells raunchy clips of real “morons” filmed surreptitiously on mobile phones. Locations are usually in crowded public places, such as subways and buses. The film was shot in locations across East Asia, including Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, with most of the films filmed in mainland China.
On this website, some short films are sold for one RMB. The site even allows users to customize sexual assault clips.
We found two related sites on Unstoppable: Street Shoot and Moron Club, both of which sell the same genre of movies.
The site also has a Telegram group where 4,000 members share tips on sexually assaulting women.
There is a name that appears repeatedly on these “idiot” websites: “Uncle Qi”.
He is called “The Great God” by people in this community. There are no less than dozens of sexual assault films signed by him. On Twitter, he publicly released the preview of the video on the website, and he has more than 80,000 followers. But who is “Uncle Qi”?
We watched silently in that Telegram group and found a clue. One day, an administrator sent several messages claiming that he and “Uncle Qi” sexually assaulted a woman.
He also posted photos of a woman standing on what appeared to be a subway platform.
Within hours, we found this place: Ikebukuro Station in Tokyo.
Plus there are more clues leading us to Japan.
“Can’t Stand” has a PayPal account listed on it that takes payments in Japanese Yen. We found the registered email address of this account. When we entered this email address in Google Contacts, the profile picture displayed was a young man with exquisite makeup and exaggerated styling.
Through a reverse search, we found the man in the photo. His name is Noctis Zang (Zang Xinyu), a 30-year-old Chinese musician. He lives in Tokyo and was the lead singer of a heavy metal band called “The Versus”.
Through a reverse search, we found the man in the photo. His name is Noctis Zang (Zang Xinyu), a 30-year-old Chinese musician (the picture shows Noctis Zang’s Facebook picture).
Noctis has a glamorous public image, but as we soon discovered, it was more than gold.
In early 2022, the photographer of “The Versus” posted a post on Weibo accusing Noctis of creating a “pornographic website” with another member of the band, Lupus Fu ( Fu Yao).
The photographer also published photos of notebooks with some accounting entries and notes similar to the website’s video category. He said the notes were written by Noctis. He also posted a video of what appeared to be Noctis’s web browsing history, which included pages for “Moron Club” and “Street Shooting,” as well as the “Unstoppable” admin center.
Could this rock musician be “Uncle Qi”?
Bottom Webmaster
Our undercover reporter “Ian” contacts Noctis as a music manager and arranges to meet him at an upscale rooftop bar in Tokyo.
They chatted about music first, but the conversation slowly turned to sex. When Ian said his company used to make adult films, Noctis seemed interested.
The two met several times and celebrated Noctis’ birthday together.
Noctis introduces Ian to his bandmate Lupus. Lupus is also Chinese and studied sociology in Japan before.
Ian said his company planned to invest in porn sites in Japan, and he asked if they had any experience with this business.
Noctis confessed that he “had a little contact” before, and his friend “cat” founded his own pornographic website, selling “niche content” related to “subway” on it.
Ian mentioned the website “Can’t Stand” lightly.
image source,Noriko Hayashi
Our undercover reporter, Ian, meets a key figure linked to one of the sexual assault video sites at a bar in Tokyo.
Lupus and Noctis laughed at the same time, and they replied: “That’s the ‘cat’ website!”
They revealed that the behind-the-scenes mastermind of the three “idiot” websites is a Chinese man named “Mao Mao” who lives in Tokyo. According to them, “Cat” is eccentric, suspicious and paranoid.
Noctis and Lupus also admitted that they worked as administrators for the sites.
They talk a lot about the business model of the site. “China is the most sexually repressed place,” Noctis said. “Some men are very psychotic, and they just want to see these women get fucked…” Lupus continued: “Get fucked.”
Photos of Noctis and Lupus taken undercover by a BBC reporter.
Noctis revealed that he has uploaded more than 5,000 videos for the site. He is also responsible for collecting money for the website. He takes 30% of the commission and transfers the rest of the income to “Cat”.
Lupus said he was responsible for promoting the sexual assault videos on Twitter. He also said that he could help introduce Ian to “cat”.
“Idiots” Club
In a quiet back alley in the red light district of Yokohama, Japan, a store decorated as a subway station is very eye-catching. The sign at the entrance sums up the concept of this custom shop: “legal ‘crazy’ train”.
In this custom store called “Rush Hour”, customers can pay to enjoy the experience of “crazy man” legally.
Shuhei Hasuda, the manager of the store, welcomes us to “board”. “We let people do things they couldn’t do outside. That’s why they come here.”
The store smells cloyingly sweet of cleaning products. The private room is decorated to look like a train carriage, and there is a sound system that plays the sound of subway station announcements. Even the membership card in the store is exactly the same as the Japanese transportation card.
image source,Noriko Hayashi
The Rush Hour sex club, decorated to look like a train carriage, offered patrons the chance to live out their public sexual fantasies.
“I think it’s necessary for men to pay to vent in places like this so they don’t rape,” Mr Hasuda said.
But Akiyoshi Saito, a Japanese mental health expert, said that sexual crimes are not as simple as being driven by sexual desire.
He said it was the desire to control women that drove most sex offenders to commit crimes.
“Instead of treating their victims as equals, they objectify them,” Saito said.
After a year-long sexual assault, Xiaozi decides to fight back one day.
In the crowded train, she felt a hand reach into her skirt, and she immediately shouted: “This man is a ‘moron’!” She grabbed the rapist’s wrist and handed him over to the police.
Xiaozi eventually took the man to court, but he received only a suspended sentence, despite having been arrested multiple times for “crazy” behavior.
Disappointed by the outcome of the case, Xiaozi embarks on an anti-“moron” campaign that includes making colorful badges. The badge reads: “‘Idiots’ are a crime!” People can wear the badge to show zero tolerance for “idiots”.
“This is a warning to criminals,” Xiaozi said. She is 24 years old now. The anti-idiot movement she supported has grown and there is now an annual anti-idiot badge design competition in Japan, open to high school students across the country.
hamster
image source,Noriko Hayashi
Activists create anti-“moron” badges to raise awareness of sexual assaults on public transport.
According to Lupus, “the cat” has a hamster-like personality.
“Humans and animals are harmless, but they are cautious about everything, and sometimes they are prone to extremes.”
Lupus was right. “Cat” repeatedly refused to meet with Ian.
But on Chinese New Year’s Eve, our luck suddenly struck. “Cats” agree to meet at a karaoke club in Tokyo.
The club smelled heavily of cigarettes. Someone was singing popular Chinese songs, and guests were clinking glasses one after another.
The number of people who came to our appointment exceeded our expectations. It was a thin young man wearing half-rimmed glasses and a long dark trench coat. “Cat” looks like a college student. He said he was 27 years old.
Ian expressed his interest in investing in the “cat” website and asked him how the business was earning.
“Our turnover is about 5,000 to 10,000 (RMB) per day,” “Mao” said proudly, displaying the transaction details on his mobile phone. “The amount is very stable.”
Ian feigned admiration and mentioned the name “Uncle Qi”.
“Cat” immediately admitted: “I am Uncle Qi.”
“Cat” has three “crazy” websites that provide sexual assault videos (the picture shows the mastermind of the sexual assault video site “Cat” filmed by a BBC reporter undercover.)
But to our surprise, he also revealed that “Uncle Qi” is not just a person.
“Mao Mao” manages a team of 15 people, 10 of whom are working on the film in China under the name “Uncle Qi”. Every month, “Cat” receives 30 to 100 clips from them.
The videos were then sold on three “crazy” websites, which “Kitty” admitted he was the owner of. The website has more than 10,000 paying members, most of whom are Chinese men.
“The most important thing is to do it authentically, it must be authentic,” said Cat. He later told us that his site even sells actual rape videos.
When Cat talks about his business, it’s like talking about a budding start-up. He described his team as “very passionate” and “dare to venture”. He even said lightly that he was training others how to commit and film sexual assaults in public.
But there is one thing he never mentions: the women in his films, as if they were not worth mentioning to him.
Expose the “cat”
We want to know who “the cat” really is. Ian meets again with Pussy, and he reveals how he first got introduced to the industry.
Like many boys, Kitty loved Superman, anime and games as a child. But when he was 14, he started watching sexual assault videos online, not far from the ones he was selling.
He knew the business was not without risk.
“Do you know why I am so cautious and only let my own people operate? Because I have been able to do this for so long, and safety is always the first.” In order to avoid the pursuit of Chinese law enforcement agencies, he plans to become a Japanese citizen.
Despite his care, Pussy made a mistake.
When Ian asked where the investment funds should be transferred, “Cat” took out his bank card from his wallet and handed it to Ian.
His real name is on the card: Tang Zhuoran (Tang Zhuoran, transliteration).
We then located his address in Tokyo and presented our allegations to Pussy in person.
When we approached him, he did not answer our inquiries and tried to cover his face and walked in another direction. Then he had a fit and started attacking the cameras and the BBC team.
Coincidentally, we saw “Cat” again at the airport the next day. He left Japan.
“Uncle Qi”‘s Twitter account is still active and is still publicly promoting sexual assault videos. Twitter did not respond to our request for comment. All they sent us was a poop emoji, which was an automated reply to every request for comment in the Twitter newsbox since March of this year.
We filed our allegations with Noctis and Lupus. They didn’t respond. During the production of the report, we learned that the two were no longer working with Pussycat.
On a balmy spring day, we were reunited with Xiaozi to share our investigation with her.
She was shocked to hear that. “We women are just content for them to satisfy their desires. They objectify us. They don’t see us as human beings,” she said.
Xiaozi advocates for tougher laws to combat these crimes.
Japan is about to pass its first anti-voyeurism law, which will ban the taking of sexually exploitive videos and photos without consent. Activists are advocating for laws that would severely punish “idiots”.
Until then, the filial son will not give up easily. “We don’t cry ourselves to sleep.”
Tomoe Kobayashi, Takazo Tsutsui, Hideo Takahashi, Joel Gunter（Joel Gunter）Also contributed to the report.
Lin Dianzi took most of the photos in this article.