crime

Couple arrested for hiring Chinese girls on student visas to work as club hostesses

32 Comments

Police in Tokyo have arrested a husband and wife who manage cabaret clubs in Shimbashi for hiring three young Chinese women in Japan on student visas, to work as hostesses at their clubs.

According to police, the couple, Akira Harimoto, 57, and his wife, Rika, 55, manage two clubs near Shimbashi Station.

Police apprehended the couple for violation of immigration laws after they had three Chinese girls in Japan on student visas only, working full time at the clubs between May and June, Fuji TV reported Saturday. Officers have also detained the three Chinese women, all of whom are in their 20s.

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32 Comments
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The Japanese says "働かせた", which can be translated as "allowed to" or "had" or "forced to" work.

I guess the third option makes for a more sensational headline.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

The Japanese says "働かせた", which can be translated as "allowed to" or "had" or "forced to" work.

That makes a lot more sense.

I'd put my money on it being the first two - the girls likely needed work and were looking for it.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Detained by the police? Isn't that kind of like arrested? Is it possible that the girls were detained by police because they got into trouble working at the club and then claimed that they weren't working there willingly but against their will? I've met some of these Chinese girls who are in Japan on student visas at clubs and they're quite nice and very happy with the salary they receive for socializing with customers. I'm curious about what their salaries were like. Couple arrested for wrongfully employing Chinese girls to work as club hostesses might be a more valid title for this article.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

I believe they were arrested because they violated immigration laws by employing people who were supposed to be full time students, not full time employees.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

A little more information might forewarn others about dangers. Slavery is happening all over the world and takes many forms. The more people are informed the more they can be forearmed.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

zichi JUN. 21, 2015 I've met some of these Chinese girls who are in Japan on student visas at clubs and they're quite nice and very happy with the salary they receive for socializing with customers.

It's all about money and most are supporting their families back home If you get to know them, they are a hard working people and most with good values and want to help their families. They have more maturity and outlook then compare to average people in Japan. Problem is that most drink too much everyday. You rarely meet one that don't drink. They tell you the true story of hardship in their own country.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Four down votes? The article describes the husband & wife being arrested for:

FORCING Chinese girls to work as hostesses and VIOLATION of immigration laws.

Do any of you have proof this husband & wife are innocent? They are at the very least, guilty of immigration laws.

It seems many prefer to blame the victims, because they are from China and they are Hostesses.

2 ( +4 / -3 )

They put out a help wanted ad, and were paying these girls 2000 yen/hour. They weren't forced, they were given jobs and paid for those jobs.

The employers are in the wrong for hiring girls without working visas, and the girls are in the wrong for working on student visas. There were no human rights violations though.

Link: http://news.tv-asahi.co.jp/sphone/news_society/articles/000053024.html

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Almost all Chinese in Japan are in violation of immigration laws ... I am seeing them every morning , young and old are involved in Omotsu buying moving in groups from drug store to another all day long on daily bases. Again just go to any night club/ Cabaret and see tens of thousands of them all over Japan. Probably these three girls having payment problem with the owner and reported him to police

1 ( +1 / -0 )

They could come to Japan like on student visa, they're not poor at all instead pretty rich ...

1 ( +12 / -11 )

Whether these girls joined the profession out of their free will or not, I'm glad the bosses have been arrested too. There was a time when the foreigners were the only ones to be blamed and hauled away.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Exactly. It is so easy meeting ordinary casual women @ places like TGI Friday's (just an example). When I go out drinking @ those places, its spontaneous contact with these women. I'm not really looking to pay for anything extra. For what? Some guys just like to go out for a few drinks & whatever happens, hapens.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I'm not into paying for hostess bars, but they are fun enough when someone else is paying. The attraction is having a nice looking girl who laughs at your jokes, listens to your conversation, escorts you to the bathroom etc. For many men, these are things they are not getting anywhere else, paid or not.

Exactly. It is so easy meeting ordinary casual women @ places like TGI Friday's (just an example). When I go out drinking @ those places, its spontaneous contact with these women.

Easy enough for you maybe, not for most Japanese guys.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

The girls were enticed to work as hostesses. They did not mind. It was easy money.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

¥2,000 per hour, that's about 3 times more a shop assistant.

The Hooters restaurants in Japan pay ¥1,000/hr to starting waitresses. I only know this because it's on their website.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@Wc

Agreed. I've never been able to get over my embarrassment at having someone talk to me because I pay them. Just can't do it. And as for "special" massages etc.... : (

0 ( +3 / -2 )

Very common. The entertainer visa got stricter a few years ago, yet many clubs introduce new staff every other month. I think sensei258 is mistaken in saying they are wealthy though, usually they are from industrial regions and I guess they are lent the money for a ticket.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@Wc626

Never understood why men go to these hostess bars. Pay a grip of ¥ for semi-attractive women to "pour" overpriced bottles of beer into your tiny glass while they listen to your small talk and sing you a few songs on their two-bit karaoke machine. I'd rather wet my whistle in an ordinary izakaya, bar or beer garden . . . where there is no "fake" environment.

If you've ever done business in Japan, it's two things - 1. massaging their egos. These women listen to their monologues on golf, business trips & meetings and do a great job at pretending to be interested. Let's face it, watching paint dry would make for a more engaging setting. 2. They're lonely. The family dynamic in Japan is somewhat dysfunctional as, through clearly defined gender roles, the husband / father is never around. He has no one to talk to, and feels disconnected from his partner. These women are often a shoulder to cry on, and, even with it being mostly fake, will often at least some solace to the lonely hearts of corporate Japan.

Also, most aren't paying out of their own pockets. It's all company money - including the taxi home in the early hours of the morning. The money that Japanese companies blow on 'entertainment' is simply jaw-dropping.

On a side note, check out "Worst Internship Ever" on Youtube, by VICE News. An insight into the dark side of the hiring exploitations that go on here - particularly through the TIIP (Technical Intern Training Program).

0 ( +1 / -1 )

¥2,000 per hour, that's about 3 times more a shop assistant.

they were shop assistants on the low end of the pay scale for that kind of work

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Some of those working as hostesses had been call girls in their own country even before coming to Japan. They're very young, very fair skinned and beautiful, not yet married nor given birth but bumless, a telltale. Some of those girls have been here as trainees before hence they have a grip of the language and re enter Japan as students. Being students they are allowed a certain number of work hours not full time hence being students they aren't taxed. And just imagine how much they are earning in those shops paying no taxes while the poor me when out of work is repeatedly ask to pay up. Life sucks!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Believe it or not, they may very well have come here THINKING they were going to be actual students, and ended up in a hostess bar.

Just like many foreign workers come here on the "internship program" (or whatever they call it) and end up working slave labor for peanuts.

Much like the H1-B visa scam in the states.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

The young women might have been trafficked for all we know.

they're quite nice and very happy with the salary they receive for socializing with customers

it's must be paradise compared to working long days in Guangdong sweatshops and in karaoke bars at night. But how much are the Snakeheads and Harimotos of this world making off them?

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Harimoto is an often Korean name.

Moderator: Please stop posting inflammatory comments.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Japan is the only G8 nation not to have ratified the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking In Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention on Organized Crime, insisting that it could not ratify the Protocol “due to lack of necessary legislation.”

And a United Nations Global Programme against Trafficking in Human Beings report found that:

The concept of ‘victimhood’ and coercion is not fully accepted in Japan amongst public authorities: women working in the adult entertainment industry are generally regarded as voluntary participants, whatever their circumstances. The definition of trafficking is narrow in many official circles and investigation into, and combating of, trafficking is not as rigorous as it could be. Traffickers take full advantage of this.

http://www.hurights.or.jp/archives/focus/section2/2012/12/combatting-sex-trafficking-in-japan.html

http://www.unodc.org/pdf/crime/human_trafficking/Exec_summary_UNU.pdf

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Never understood why men go to these hostess bars. Pay a grip of ¥ for semi-attractive women to "pour" overpriced bottles of beer into your tiny glass while they listen to your small talk and sing you a few songs on their two-bit karaoke machine. I'd rather wet my whistle in an ordinary izakaya, bar or beer garden . . . where there is no "fake" environment.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

There are a lot of Chinese in Japan on student visas and instead work buying Japanese diapers and/or other goods to ship to China.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

I didn't mean to belittle japanese men. Sometimes, it's just a business thing & they all go out to those types of bars. Especially elite businessmen who have hot wives half their age and a couple mistresses.

I'm not into paying for hostess bars

Me neither.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

I've gone to hostess bars from time to time as a guest of Japanese businessmen, doctors and lawyers, so I'm fortunate not to know how much they're shelling out. The young ladies who work at such places vary in looks and intelligence. Some are highly intelligent and quite attractive and others not so much in either category, but the clever ones are a lot of fun to talk to and quite interesting. It's kind of a hit or miss.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Sounds like the girls chose to work there, so what's the problem? A win-win-win situation. The owners get young girls, the girls get money, and the customers get to talk to young girls and have an "intercultural experience" in the process - a double "win" for the customers.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Are you suggesting Japanese are too ethical?

Not at all.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

¥2,000 per hour, that's about 3 times more a shop assistant.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

It seems my first post was on the money. Some hostesses have a 50/50 arrangement (I've heard them talking about it) where they bring in good-paying customers and the owners agree to pay them half of the profit.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

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