A reporter for the Washington Post was sentenced Monday to eight months in prison for groping a high school girl in November while riding a subway train in Tokyo.
The Tokyo District Court handed down the sentence to Shigehiko Togo, 57, who worked at the newspaper's Tokyo bureau. The prosecution had demanded a one-year prison term.
Judge Manabu Kato said Togo committed similar crimes in the past and he cannot rule out that he won't repeat such crimes in the future.
Togo acknowledged his guilt during his first trial session Jan. 22.
He was arrested on the spot Nov. 13 on suspicion of touching the 18-year-old teenager inside a subway car on the Chiyoda Line in violation of the municipal ordinance on harassment prevention.
Togo had confessed to investigators that he touched the girl because he thought she was "cute." He also apologized for the incident, the police said.
He became a reporter at the Washington Post in 1976 after a stint at the Asahi Shimbun.
Togo drew attention in 1993 when he broke news of the engagement of Crown Prince Naruhito and Masako Owada, who has become Crown Princess Masako.