Japan police arrest alleged 'foot licker'

Japanese police have arrested a fetishist who allegedly licked and nibbled a woman's foot for more than 30 minutes, police said Tuesday.

Police in the western city of Kyoto said Akira Nishiyama, 56, allegedly talked the 20-something woman in July into sitting in the driver's seat of his car under the pretense of helping him check the braking system.

Nishiyama then grabbed her right foot, removed her sandal and began licking the sole of her bare foot, a local police spokesman said, adding he was arrested on Monday on sexual assault charges.

The woman, whose name was withheld, told police she could not immediately get free because he held on to her ankle, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported.

Several similar cases had been reported in the same area since 2012 and local police had been pursuing the perpetrator, nicknaming him "the foot licker", the paper said.

According to the Asahi, Nishiyama sometimes nibbled his victim's heel with his teeth and said "thank you" before letting her go after about 30 minutes.

The Sankei Shimbun said the woman in the latest case managed to use her mobile phone to record at least some of the ordeal.

She also memorised the man's car number before alerting police, the paper said.