Japanese football player Sano arrested for alleged sexual assault

Tokyo, July 17 (Jiji Press) – Tokyo police have arrested Japan national football team midfielder Kaishu Sano on suspicion of non-consensual sex, it was announced on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old was arrested along with two acquaintances in their 20s for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in her 30s at a Tokyo hotel shortly after 4 a.m. on Sunday, Metropolitan Police Department officials said. The MPD did not disclose whether the trio admitted to the allegations against them.

Investigators and other sources said the trio had dinner with the woman and her friend in the Roppongi district of Tokyo’s Minato Ward on Saturday night. The three apparently abused the woman at the hotel in the Bunkyo Ward after her friend went home at around 2 a.m. on Sunday.

The woman called the police immediately after the incident and the suspects, who were on the street near the hotel, were taken into police custody. Their arrest warrants were executed on Sunday evening.

Sano has been playing for Kashima Antlers in the J1 division of the Japan Professional Football League (J.League) since last year, when he was called up to the Japan national football team for the first time.

(Copyright: The Jiji Press, Ltd.)