Chinese embassy urges Japan to handle bathroom filming

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The Chinese embassy in Japan on Tuesday urged local authorities in central Japan's Gifu Prefecture to thoroughly investigate the reports of female Chinese trainees being secretly filmed, and protect the rights of Chinese citizens in the country.

According to the announcement on the embassy’s website, China’s Consulate-General in Nagoya received a phone call asking for assistance on Feb. 8, as six Chinese female trainees in their 20s had found a camera hidden in their apartment bathroom and were concerned that they were being filmed.

Screenshot of the announcement on the embassy website.

They live at a three-story dormitory building which is owned by their company and share a bathroom with three other Japanese male employees who live on the second floor.

One of the women, using the pseudonym Zhao Qian, told Shanghai-based The Paper that she saw a black object plugged in the bathroom wall under mirror more than a year ago, “I saw it every now and then. I thought it was a charger so I didn’t care too much about it. However, I found something was not right the other day, as it looked like my cellphone camera. I took it back to my room and checked it.”

The dormitory /Photo from The Paper

Out of panic, the girls reported their findings to their company the next morning, but were only told to get back to work.

“The company told us to separate life and work, and they will handle the issue. We didn’t agree at all,” Li Meng, also using a pseudonym, said angrily.

They tried to report it to local police, but found it difficult to file a case without providing the required documents from the company, as they own the building.

It looks like a phone camera. /Photo from the Paper

The Chinese Consulate-General in Nagoya said they take the incident very seriously and have negotiated with the relevant companies, demanding local police solve the case and defend the rights of Chinese citizens.

Japanese police say they will look into the case and strictly enforce the law as soon as possible.