Police in Tokyo have arrested a 19-year-old woman on suspicion of stealing a watch worth about 13 million yen from a 37-year-old company executive with whom she was having a papa katsu date.
Papa katsu dating refers to young women who are paid by older, rich men to go out with them.
Police said the woman, a private university student, had dinner with the man at a restaurant and then went with him to a love hotel in Tokyo’s Minato Ward at around 9 p.m. on July 21, Sankei Shimbun reported. She is alleged to have stolen the man’s watch while he was in the shower and then left the hotel room.
The woman was arrested after going to a pawn shop with a male acquaintance who works at a host club the next day to sell the watch.
Police said at least 10 men have reported the theft of high-end wristwatches by the same woman whom they all met on a dating app. The total value of the stolen watches is estimated at 35 million yen.
Police said the woman has admitted to the thefts.
© Japan Today
62 Comments
Random
In my country we call the ‘manager’ her pimp.
miss_oikawa
Her "manager"? lol, please explain
Yubaru
Nice to see JT get up with the times here and acknowledge that at 19 years old, she is a woman.
Oh wait, my bad, when the female is a victim, they get referred to as girls, not when they are the alleged perp!
Manager? Gimmie a break, he's a PIMP!
Fighto!
Moral of the story to Japanese execs hiring prostitutes : wear your Casio on the night, not your $120,000 watch.
snowymountainhell
Her pimp “manager” assisted her in the attempt at ‘conversion’ of known stolen goods. He’s also guilty but gets to slink away?
Mable
LOL. I can’t help but laugh when I think of these creepy salaryman who let the girl treat him like a living ATM so he can get a few compliments and feel attractive. The only thing that I consider more dasai is going to a hostess bar.
Fighto!
LOL. Yeah, Im sure a 37 year old man would take a teenage girl he just met to a love hotel for a conversation!
Still a sexual act.
Not judging at all, I couldnt care less, but it is prostitution.
Wakarimasen
They went to a love hotel which implies sex and therefore prostitution. I love all of the euphemisms we use in Japan. And that is some watch she stole.
OssanAmerica
Whar a pair of losers.
Kobe White Bar Owner
And I thought prostitution was illegal in Japan. Oh my bad just another euphemism.
Harry_Gatto
Posters here are saying "just met" or "picked up" but there is no explanation in the article about how their liaison was arranged. The fact that she has a "manager" suggests that he was somehow contacted and supplied the girl.
Also. a watch worth that amount of money should be waterproof, he should have kept it on.
Garthgoyle
19 years old minor prostitute arrested for stealing a 13 million yen watch while on the job.
StevieJ
Papa-katsu sounds like prostitution with extra steps.
ian
The mistake was trying to sell it the very next day.
kurisupisu
Why do Japanese men feel the need to wear overpriced timepieces?
Hito Bito
Papa-Katsu sounds to me like the giant serving version of fried Japanese food that comes with all you can eat cabage refills? lol. More sauce, please, Papa!
I wonder, can anyone tell me if the "katsu" in Papa-Katsu is the verb "to win"? If so, that's an interesting comment on this type of relationship.
(Edit: No, it's actually パパ活, using the verb katsu for "life/lifestyle/existance/livelihood" as in "seikatsu" which is even more revealing for those involved!)
ShinkansenCaboose
She was heard saying to him before she left, “Watch my next Trick”!
nandakandamanda
Met on a dating app, it says. At least 10 other men got the same treatment. She must have checked out his watch in advance.
Updated version of one of the oldest tricks in the book, i.e. tsutsu-motasé 美人局.
igfklin
What is a "manager"? There is no such word in the original article.
It was "Host", a friend of the woman who sold the watch.
https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASP9K6KRJP9KUTIL040.html
didou
I am also wondering why some have to wear such expensive watches. A 13 million watch for a Papa-Katsu date. Impressive.
I do not have watch myself.
Harry_Gatto
I'm pretty sure her "manager" has more than his fair share of tattoos.
Kamiseya
Wow, didn't realize how expensive 'love' had become. When I was stationed here I knew a guy who was walking down the street and found a fifty cent piece. He liked it so much, he married her.
nandakandamanda
Penultimate paragraph.
Quote: “Police said at least 10 men have reported the theft of high-end wristwatches by the same woman whom they all met on a dating app. The total value of the stolen watches is estimated at 35 million yen.
Police said the woman has admitted to the thefts.”
I guess the guy who pulls the strings has stepped back into the shadows.
igfklin
She doesn't have a "Manager".
It's just a mistranslation.
ian
Probably same reason non-Japanese men, and women, feel the need to wear overpriced timepieces.
kohakuebisu
37 is not realistically old enough to be her father, so I would argue this is not "papa-katsu" regardless of how trendy or amusing some people find that expression. If we must use a euphemism for prostitution, she's even got a pimp (!), it is "enjo-kousai". I would imagine that 90% of enjo kousai is with a man who is older than the woman.
igfklin
Why did JT translate "Host" as "Manager"?
Do people outside Japan read "Host" (referring to the men who work at HostClub) as "Manager" in Japan?
nandakandamanda
Try this from the Tokyo Shimbun:
質店で売却して得た金をホストクラブで使っていたといい「応援するホストをナンバーワンにしたかった。いつか捕まると思った」と供述している。
She said that she had been using the money she got (from selling watches) at pawn shops, all at a host club. “I wanted to help a favorite ‘host’ achieve No.1 status at the club” she admitted.
So, there was likely no manager and no pimp.
https://www.google.co.jp/amp/s/www.tokyo-np.co.jp/amp/article/131524
BackpackingNepal
Mama-katsu is even more dangerous as 19 yr old boy will not steal but actuallt fall in love with a woman very deeply. So this Papa-Katsu story is typical.
marcels
Better watch out!!!
gaijintraveller
Maybe we are all missing something. Who wears a ¥13,000,000 watch? Most of the really expensive watches are gaudy, tasteless. I wonder how many fingers the guy had. Could there be more to the story? Could a yak have given her the watch and then called the police?
Meiyouwenti
The guy is clearly loaded. Maybe this is a new type of philanthropy in terms of the pandemic induced recession.
Yrral
Ian, at 19 she is a woman ,these men knew the risk of picking up a strange woman, especially with Covid spreading in Tokyo
Tokyo-gaijin
She’s gonna get a bit of time for this. Lol
kohakuebisu
Thanks for the clarification about her manager, who is not a direct pimp, just some guy who strings her along at a host club and gets her to buy bottles of 300,000 yen champagne to boost his sales. The host will do this in full knowledge that nearly every young woman will not have lots of spare 300,000 yens to spend in this way. Another example of the harmless fun you can have in a host club not being harmless.
fwiw the "katsu" is a joke on "kon-katsu", which is matchmaking activities aimed toward marriage (kon). I still think 38 is too young for a sugar daddy, which is what a "papa" is. A proper sugar daddy will also be after something closer to a mistress than a one-off bang in a love hotel. The situation here is just "enjo kousai", informal prostitution.
Moderator
Readers, the story has been amended to show that the woman did not go to the pawn shop with a manager but with a male friend who works as a host at a club. We apologize for the mistranslation.
igfklin
The police also arrested a man in his 20s, a host, earlier this month on suspicion of brokering the sale of stolen goods on behalf of a female college student at a pawn store. The man said, "I accompanied her because I couldn't sell the goods if she was underage. I didn't know the items were stolen," he said, denying the charges.
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUE17DMZ0X10C21A9000000/
ian
She was arrested because she was trying to sell the stolen item.
She has confessed not just to the theft of that particular item, but to the thefts of other stolen items as well
Zaphod
Ingvar
She is under 20, so will get a slap on the wrist instead of any book thrown at her. Besides, anyone who struts around with a 13 million yen watch clearly signals that he is not exactly in poverty.
GBR48
Not sure the local Yaks will approve of this sort of amateur freelancing on their turf.
Why would anyone pay £86,000 for a watch? You have that sort of loose change, do something socially beneficial with it, instead of advertising to be conned. I guess rich people like their bling. My watch is a Casio. It cost five quid. I still have it when I leave love hotels.
snowymountainhell
Always trusted to find more info NOT in these stores @nandakandamanda 1:22pm: “10 other men” have reported similar crimes. She’s not 20 yet so she couldn’t have ‘pawn’ the items in her own. So,
Q: What’s the legal disposition of her PIMP?
and,
Q: Why didn’t they just go through their regular ‘fence’ to get cash for these watches??
snowymountainhell
Regardless of the translated “Host” as “Manager” @igfklin 1:57/2:24pm, it’s not like a “host, hostess or mama-san” hasn’t PIMPED OUT a girl, a guy, or themselves before, right?
snowymountainhell
The article doesn’t indicate the gender of the “host/manager” @nandakandamanda 1:52pm. - It could have been a woman, as well. (“Thanks” for ‘getting on this case so quickly.)
He/She/They, most likely, set “this deal” up at the pawn shop and the police were ready to apprehend the girl. She probably ‘taking the fall for ALL the crimes
… and the PIMP goes free with the er, “blessings” (perhaps, continued ‘patronage’) of the PD
for providing a “community service” AND aiding in capture of one of “Japan’s Most Wanted”.
snowymountainhell
So, it was HER favorite “host” @nandakandamanda 1:52pm. who was PIMPING HER OUT and helping her to pawn the items so she could continue to pay HIM??
Then, it becomes a series of of ‘organized crimes’ IF he had full knowledge. Wouldn’t be surprised to learn ‘the locals’ hadn’t Yakuze‘d HIM of other crimes ‘in the area’, as well. Nothing gets by the local ‘gossip’ and watchful eyes of ‘the locals’, does it?Thanks” for ‘getting on this case so quickly. We need a ‘Bat-signal’ for you. Or, … just post Your updates here in “Crime”, once/twice daily.
snowymountainhell
Commendable! A time-stamped modification, a retraction and an apology. - Well done, indeed JT !
Ingvar
Arrested on suspicion? I hope she doesn't confess. They can't prove it. If the state refuses to tax these leeches, your girls have top take matters into their own hands.
Sven Asai
Who cares…she doesn’t really become rich with that stolen watch and he doesn’t really become poor with one watch less. lol
Ingvar
That's too bad. At least she tried to correct the errors of the state. I presume for that they will throw the book at her.
NOMINATION
Probably the same reason why American men wear necklaces the price of houses.
ian
Maybe they could be considered women even from 16.
Or 13.
Doesn't matter, still teen
snowymountainhell
According to the another poster *@3:23pm: “**clarification about her “manager”, just some guy*…
= *both, “PIMP” and “Racketeer”.Please ‘rearrest’ HIM on supplemental charges and show real democracy in action with ‘equal justice under the law’
ian
That's a teen
ShinkansenCaboose
The double PapaPapa comes from the Filipino clubs. They always double up the Papa in their home country.
Such as: PapaPapa I love you Papa.
Nothing wrong with it.
Yrral
Honeypot Tenderoni,he should of known better to pick up a strange woman
gogogo
So no one going to make the mention that she is not even legally an adult?