An alleged prostitution ring targeting foreign tourists in Tokyo's Kabukicho entertainment and red light district may have earned 1.1 billion yen across two locations since 2021, police said Wednesday.
The revelation came as police said they served a fresh arrest warrant on Kazuki Sudo, 54, on Monday on suspicion of violating Japan's anti-prostitution law by employing women to provide sexual services at a men's "aesthetic" salon in Kabukicho between November and February. Another man was arrested on suspicion of providing funds to the business.
Sudo allegedly approached women soliciting customers for sexual services around a park in Kabukicho and employed them at his business.
Sudo was one of seven men arrested earlier on suspicion of hiring women as prostitutes at another business he managed in the same district, mainly catering to foreign visitors to Japan.
The police said then that it could be the first large-scale prostitution ring targeting foreign tourists to be exposed in the country.
The Metropolitan Police Department said it also arrested on Monday Soei Shinjo, a 42-year-old company executive from Yokohama, on suspicion of violating the same law by lending Sudo about 9.2 million yen in operational funds between November 2022 and January this year.
Shinjo has denied the allegation and was quoted by the police as saying, "I didn't know it was a prostitution business."
© KYODO
17 Comments
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factchecker
Once upon a time the sleaze kings in Kabukicho didn't want cash from anyone who wasn't Japanese. How times change. Greed always wins out.
sakurasuki
There's an article in this week news that local government in Japan tried to increase money by charging tourist more, and more. While in this article than 1 billion were made, from activities that on average will last only 5-20 minutes. Of course this kind of activities doesn't get approval from JGovt.
diobrando
Kabukicho has always been a place of prostitution as many others with koban knowing what is happening, just closing eyes.
Aly Rustom
THIS!!
enmaai
it is just casual sex, Deal with it.
Negative Nancy
Who are the victims in these 'crimes'?
theFu
If Japan really didn't want prostitution, then they'd have tougher laws without loopholes and enforce them across the entire country. Seems like what Japan has is a law to make some people outside Japan happier, but not sufficient to provide real teeth to end prostitution.
Head to the local soapland on your next visit. Perfectly legal.
Then, go back to the same location for the same nice girl another night, which makes the sex legal, since you "know each other". Sigh.
Lots of loopholes ... er ... so I've heard.
リッチ
Kabukicho… prostitution??? Wow who would have thought. Targeting tourist. Oh taboo. Of course only Japanese are acceptable prostitution places allowed. lol
gaijintraveller
Did someone forget to pay the yakuza or the police or is it the result of a territorial dispute between gangs, possibly a foreign gang operating on a Japanese gang's territory?
WoodyLee
It's here, it's everywhere in plain sight, it has been since Eve and Adam arrived so get your heads out of the sand or rice sacks and legalize it . Cleaner, legal, tax it $, and move on.
Speed
My friend wants to know where exactly this aesthetic salon is so he can go there and scoff at them.
Jind
These types of shops offering sex to tourists have been around forever.
Nothing new as there are many more targeting tourists as they our charge tourists and more money to be made.
GillislowTier
Tell me again crime doesn’t pay? A small fee or jail time after rolling this high is probably worth it when you get out and are able to likely do it again
shogun36
And the police are pissed because they didn't get a cut.
otherwise, they wouldn't have made the arrests.
daikaka
Fix the root cause of massive supply of prostitutes due to host club debts.
Many host clubs in Kabukicho makes 1.1B+ yen in sales in a single event day.
But they are too powerful politically and economically powerful investors that the host club groups are outside of the law.
LV
I don’t care about this. I’m not involved in any of these types of activities but I will say either prostitution is legal or it’s not.
Some of the other comments hint that a ring for foreigners is getting more attention than the others and if that is the case, it’s unfair.
I will also note that as far as crime, there seems to be the attitude that when foreigners do something it’s worse than when Japanese people do it.
Is the point supposed to be that only Japanese men can patronize ladies of the evening?
Blacklabel
Patronize (Japanese) ladies, yep- no gaijins.
wallace
When I was in Amsterdam I would see large crowds of Japanese men in Redlight district going from brothel window to brothel window.
Blacklabel
Uh huh. And you were doing what exactly when you saw them?