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What's sexy in one country isn't erotic everywhere else. Take Japan, for example. In this archipelago that finds raw sea urchin tasty, a great number of men share a common obsession: peeping at the white panties of pubescent, uniformed schoolgirls.

Japanese Web sites depicting photos of shy nymphets in plaid skirts demurely exposing a naughty patch of white cotton abound, feeding the fetish.

Naked World is concerned about this phenomenon. How do schoolgirls stroll unmolested in this land pervaded by panty hounds? Are their hems hoisted in public by uncontrollable knickers nuts? Do peepers fling themselves prone on the sidewalk so they can gaze past young knees?

And now, even the police have gone "undercover," according to Tokyo's Mainichi Daily News.

Toshihito Yamamoto, a captain of Osaka's riot police, spent last week training at Tokyo's National Police Academy. To amuse himself during his Saturday off-hours, he strolled to the hip Shibuya district with his camera to snatch some freeze frames. When a 17-year-old schoolgirl sauntered by, the excited cop curled himself into position to capture a celluloid panty shot.

GRR! SNARL! The captain's voyeurism was irately observed by the girl's territorial 19-year-old boyfriend. Yamamoto tried to slink away, but was quickly cornered by the angry lad and escorted to Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department, where he confessed in disgrace. His career is now ruined. Osaka Prefectural Police have announced his dismissal from their ranks.

This saga of crime and punishment proves that peering at panties in Japan is only tolerated as a private vice. Anyone pursuing beaver viewing in public faces sharp condemnation. Although the taboo bait skips along the public domain, it can only be clandestinely witnessed by those who are athletic and aesthetic enough to concoct a graceful, invisible glance.
salon.com | Feb. 3, 2000

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