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A 60-year-old man in Japan, accused of squeezing a 24-year-old woman's chest without her consent, denied his charges by saying he did not touch both breasts but only one of them, Tochigi Television reported.

The incident

The incident happened on Tuesday, Jan. 24 at a hotel in Nikko city, which is located in the Tochigi prefecture about two hours from Tokyo.

Nikko city is famed for its beautiful scenery and is home to Japan's most exuberantly decorated shrine, Toshogu.

The shrine is also the tomb of one of Japan's famous historical figures, Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Both the victim and the accused were likely to be in Nikko city for leisure purposes, it was reported.

There are insufficient details surrounding the incident, but it is certain that the touching was unwarranted as the police were summoned at 7pm.

They then arrested the man on suspicion of forced indecency, the legal charge for molestation in Japan, according to Sora News 24.

However, the man denied the charges by insisting that he only touched one breast instead of both.

Not an excuse

The man's attempt at denial was greeted with baffled reactions by Japanese Twitter users.

https://twitter.com/Dio98555326Dio/status/1618545197004226560

"[That's] not an excuse."

https://twitter.com/shushu_0915/status/1618540374607400960

"Do you think you can lighten your crime? The way you say it is gross."

片方だろうが両方だろうか揉んだら罪状は変わらんぞ▼女性の胸などをもむ　逮捕された60歳の男が「胸は触ったが両胸ではない」と容疑否認　日光市(とちぎテレビ)#Yahooニュースhttps://t.co/5ezZRWYopF

— 蒼井来兎（本人） (@Ride_the_Light) January 26, 2023

"If you rub one or both, the charge will not change."

The man might have denied his actions in the hopes that it can lighten his punishment, though it is unlikely that his charges will change despite him insisting that he only touched one breast.

A linguistic issue?

Sora News 24 additionally reported that the man's denial that sparked the backlash might have been a linguistic issue.

"In the Japanese language, there’s generally no difference between singular and plural nouns," Sora News 24 reported.

So, when the man was told he was being arrested for touching the woman’s "mune", which means "breast", it could be interpreted as either one or both, Sora News 24 reported.

And when he wanted to make it clear in response that while he was admitting to touching the woman’s "mune", he denied touching "ryomune" (“both breasts”), which was the source of the consternation, but an attempt at his own defence.

Top image via Adobe stock