Tokyo ( CNN ) A former school principal in Japan says he paid for sex with more than 12,000 women -- some of them girls as young as 14 -- during repeated visits to the Philippines over more than a quarter of a century , according to police . Now , at the age of 64 , he 's facing criminal charges . Japanese police say they arrested the man , Yuhei Takashima , on Wednesday over allegations he photographed an obscene act with a girl of 13 or 14 and produced pornography in a hotel room in Manila , the Philippine capital . Police officers seized 147,600 photos that Takashima took of his activities over the years , said Takeshi Akimoto , the police officer in charge of crime involving minors in Kanagawa , a prefecture south of Tokyo . The pictures were kept in more than 400 photo albums , he said . Takashima , who comes from the city of Yokohama , told police that he began paying for sex with women in 1988 when he went to work at a Japanese school in Manila . He said that stepping outside of moral codes relieved the heavy pressure he felt at work , according to police . Takashima told police that he continued to pay for sex because it was so cheap . After the end of his three-year stint at the school in Manila , he frequently returned to the Philippines on vacations in order to buy sex . He said the ages of the prostitutes he hired ranged from 14 to over 70 . The Philippines is a notorious destination for sex tourists , including pedophiles . The country 's sex industry is tied to human trafficking and feeds off the high poverty rate . Akimoto , the police officer , said Takashima 's case had been under investigation since 2013 . The incident for which he was arrested is believed to have taken place in Manila in January 2014 . Yokohama education authorities said that Takashima became a junior high school teacher in 1975 and was sent to work at the school in Manila between 1988 and 1991 . He served as a junior high school principal from 2008 until his retirement in 2011 . The education authorities said that the crime was very regrettable , if proven to be true , and that the city government works hard to try to prevent inappropriate actions . CNN 's Yoko Wakatsuki reported from Tokyo , and Jethro Mullen wrote from Hong Kong .
Police : Yuhei Takashima , 64 , says he had sex with girls as young as nearly 150,000 in Philippines . Officers seize 14 photos that the former principal kept of his activities .