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Details emerge about Tokyo chiropractor accused of raping multiple patients

Shukan Asahi Geino June 5
Shukan Asahi Geino June 5

Over the past month, Tokyo police have arrested chiropractor Hideaki Asakawa, 52, for allegedly drugging and raping multiple female patients during massage treatments he provides at his clinic. Now, reports Shukan Asahi Geino (June 5), new details have emerged about the illicit practices of Asakawa.

The Asakawa Chiropractic Clinic, which is located inside one unit of an apartment building in Ota Ward, opened 18 years ago. In order to attract customers, Asakawa used the social-networking service Mixi.

“Everyday, many people come to improve the condition of their bodies,” he wrote as a means of an introduction. “They also hope to improve their overall beauty. [These techniques] are more effective than the methods of typical aesthetic salons.”

“During a regular treatment, Asakawa would force a victim to drink juice laced with a sleeping powder that he claimed was beneficial as far as internal cleansing,” says a local news reporter.

On April 22, Asakawa was first arrested for allegedly raping a woman in her 20s last December.

“As a part of the investigation, officers searched his apartment and discovered video files of other sexual assaults on his computer,” says an investigator. “As they slept there, he shot video as he ran his hands over them. All told, there were about 20 other victims.”

Passed out on the treatment table

According to the videos seized, Asakawa would remove the victim’s clothing once she had passed out on the treatment table. He would then prop her legs into an “M” shape, always seemingly mindful of not waking her up.

“After he sexually violated the victim, he would quickly redress her and continue with the treatment,” says the aforementioned investigator.

On May 13, Asakawa was arrested again on rape charges take took into account the sexual assaults upon the women discovered in the videos.

Asakawa also works in the entertainment industry. In messages he posted on Mixi, he said he described in experience in stage supervision, saying that he worked with singer Beyonce and the band Exile.

A recluse in the community

This is not the first time Asakawa had run afoul of the law. In 2002, the suspect fraudulently received a tax refund of 2.4 million yen for income that came from seven fake companies.

The chiropractor is not a recluse in the community. A person living near the clinic says that during a festival held each summer at the apartment building of the clinic Asakawa was in charge of grilling chicken. “He was really skilled in preparing the chicken,” says the local.

However, with the charges against the chiropractor, regular attendees of the festival now likely cringe in remembering him carefully applying the sweetened soy sauce to each stick.

According to Shukan Asahi Geino, Asakawa has denied the rape charges. “The acts (in the videos),” he is quoted, “are one part of the treatment.”

Source: “Ota ku reipu seitaishi,” Shukan Asahi Geino (June 5, pages 177-178)