Man jailed for taking upskirt photo of Cathay Pacific flight attendant, claimed he was shooting scenery

A Japanese national has been sentenced to four weeks in prison in Hong Kong and a fine of HK$10,000 (S$1,650) after taking an upskirt photo of a Cathay Pacific flight attendant.

On Wednesday (Jan 7), IT manager Onishi Ryu, 46, pleaded guilty to unlawfully recording a woman’s intimate parts on the flight on Nov 24, 2025, reported South China Morning Post. 

He was on a flight to India from Japan, with a stopover in Hong Kong, and committed the offence during the first leg of the journey.

According to HK01, Onishi had taken photos of the scenery outside his window and had placed his phone on his arm. A male passenger sitting behind him noticed that Onishi's phone was focused on the lower bodies of two flight attendants, a 37-year-old South Korean and a 26-year-old Taiwanese woman.

When he alerted the flight attendants, the other passenger noticed that Onishi immediately deleted a photo.

The two flight attendants allegedly found five or six photos of them from the behind in the defendant's recently deleted photo album, and the police discovered a zoomed-in upskirt photo of one of the women.

During police questioning, Onishi claimed that he was taking photos of the view of Hong Kong outside the window as they landed when he committed the offence. 

He also reportedly said that the upskirt photo belonged to the South Korean flight attendant and described her as a "beautiful woman with her legs open".

'Opportunist'

The court heard that Onishi was an "opportunist" who "accidentally" took the photos while trying to shoot the scenery outside his window.

During mitigation, Onishi's lawyer asked for a lenient sentence, noting that he had no prior criminal record, reported The Standard. 

He is also a father-of-two who was responsible for taking care of his elderly parents, which created a financial burden since he had been detained since November.

drimac@asiaone.com