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Shinjuku gay district’s ‘war trophy’ fails to lead cops to murder suspect Tatsuya Ichihashi

Shukan Shincho Nov. 19
Shukan Shincho Nov. 19

Reporting on the arrest of accused murderer Tatsuya Ichihashi on November 10 in Osaka port, Shukan Shincho (Nov. 19) was really quick on the draw, with five short items in its latest issue, just two days after the arrest.

From one article, readers learn that the police dragnet last year had extended to the notorious gay enclave in Tokyo’s Shinjuku 2-chome district, where a 36-year-old denizen of the area named Nobuharu Terasaki (a pseudonym) came forward to notify police he had engaged in physical relations with a man resembling Ichihashi on two occasions, in late February and early March of 2008.

Terasaki had encountered a younger man at “Sodomu no Ichi” (the Market of Sodom), a hattenba (hangout for gay encounters) in 2-chome. The 24-hour establishment with dimly lit, separate booths charges 1,500 yen for admission.

Terasaki allegedly related to the officers that the young man he had met “was tall, about 180 cm, slender and had thick lips. He took it up the ass and came,” he said, using the term neko-yaku (cat role), which appears to derive from the English term “catamite,” a recipient of anal sex.

“I came inside him,” he added.

And Terasaki offered the Chiba police a war trophy, so to speak — a piece of evidence that was entered into the record as follows: “One [1] pair boxer-type men’s briefs. Color: gray.”

Alas, the briefs had already been laundered and laboratory technicians were unable to extract Ichihashi’s DNA.

Terasaki was subsequently requested to assist the Chiba cops in further 2-chome inquiries.

A young cop who went undercover at the “market” is quoted as saying, “It was my first experience in that kind of place and yuk…I went into the hattenba and got groped by several people. It was pretty repulsive.”

Police were also said to have inquired as to whether any plastic surgeons were operating sub rosa in 2-chome.

While Chiba’s finest may have deepened their familiarity with the gay district, Shukan Shincho chuckles that their knowledge was not acquired without a sneaking feeling that they had been made fools of.

Source: “Keisatsu ga pantsu wo oshu shita Shinjuku 2-chome hattenba no dekigoto,” Shukan Shincho (Nov. 19 page 26)