Koichiro Ito is facing serious verdict after he was convicted of violating laws regarding child prostitution.
The Japanese producer, known for making some of the most successful animated films of the country including Your Name and Suzume was given a four-year jail time.
As reported by Independent, Ito was accused of paying a 15-year-old girl around 20,000 yen (105 pounds) in 2023 for sexual favour, while pressurising another girl of the same age into taking explicit picture and paying 66 pounds in 2021.
Along with that the renowned producer was also accused of paying a 17-year-old girl in December 2023.
As per the court ruling, Ito crimes consisted of "11 cases of child prostitution, 9 cases of photographing sexual poses and the like, 10 cases of producing child pornography, including those taken at the same time, 1 case of non-consensual intercourse involving one case of child prostitution, and possession of five pieces of child pornography."
Furthermore, it was revealed that Ito used to actively search for underage women for intercourse and offered them money.
He was first arrested in February in Tokyo and made shocking confession to the investigators that he was not sure which girl the police case was about since he had images of young girls from multiple occasions.
The prosecutor wanted the producer to be booked for six years, but Ito's lawyer pleaded for lighter sentence, claiming that the perpetrator has reached settlement with two out of three victims and was attending counselling.
Koichiro Ito's 2016 mega-hit film Your Name was the second highest-grossing domestic film in Japan, which bagged multiple awards.
