Minister's bodyguard held for allegedly molesting woman on train

A police bodyguard for state minister Sanae Takaichi has been arrested for allegedly molesting a young woman on a commuter train in Tokyo, police said Thursday. The man was identified as Masao Shinada, 39, an assistant inspector at the Metropolitan Police Department's VIP protection division, who was arrested Monday.

Investigations show that Shinada groped a woman in her 20s around 10:40 p.m. Monday on an east-bound train on the JR Sobu Line between Kinshicho and Shin-Koiwa stations. Male passengers seized Shinada and handed him over to police. Shinada said he does not remember anything because he was drunk. Takaichi, one of three women in the cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, told reporters at the Diet that she is "astonished and deeply concerned" over the arrest of her guard.