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Sex-change operation possible motive for Tokyo robberies

Weekly Playboy Aug. 4
On July 7, Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested 30-year-old Ikki Jin for allegedly slipping a sleeping powder into an alcoholic drink consumed by a 23-year-old male and robbing him of a total of 350,000 yen in cash and valuables in February.

The apprehension marked the end of a search that began in April. Since then, police had sought assistance from the public as to the whereabouts of a woman believed to be responsible for the drugging and robbing of multiple men in the metropolis over the last two years. She had typically introduced herself to her victims as “voice actress Aiko.”

As reported previously, Jin suffers from a gender identity disorder: She has lived the life of a man since she came to Tokyo in 2007. Now, says Weekly Playboy (Aug. 4), her motive for the crimes may have been obtaining funds for a sex-change operation.

According to the magazine, Jin had frequented gay bars in Shinjuku’s 2-chome quarter for the past few years. The manager of one such establishment says she was indeed a transvestite.

“Biologically, she is a woman,” says the manager. “But she considers her sex to be that of man. She wears the clothes of a man, she cuts her hair short and she refers to herself with the (masculine) pronoun ore.”

Another shopkeeper tells Weekly Playboy that Jin enjoyed getting drunk and talking about starring in films. “She also liked to enthusiastically belt out ‘Get My Love’ by (J-pop band) Max on the karaoke machine,” says the proprietor. “She’d also joke about practicing urinating outdoors. She was really lovably stupid.”

She also wanted to have an surgical procedure to change her sex.

“A few years ago, she had an operation to reduce the size of her breasts, but the hospital was awful,” says the aforementioned proprietor. “In fact, the operation didn’t work. Her breasts swelled up again. She said she wanted to go through a sex-change operation but did not have the money.”

An employee at another bar tells Weekly Playboy that such a procedure is not cheap.

“There are a lot of people who change their sex from woman to male,” says the staff member. “Typically, they’ll go to Thailand and pay around two million yen for the breast reduction and penis installation. Since there is the matter of preserving the body without the aid of male hormones through visits to the hospital, the costs for which run around 10,000 yen a month.”

A photo of Ikki Jin take from Facebook
A photo of Ikki Jin take from Facebook
Earlier this week, police arrested Jin again, this time accusing her of swindling a 32-year-old man employed in the real estate industry in December.

Four months after that incident, police released footage from a security camera of the suspect as she shopped with the victim inside a convenience store. Other male victims residing in a number of different parts of the city subsequently came forward, with each claiming to have been conned by a woman who said she was a voice actress named “Aiko.”

In the footage released by police, the suspect can been seen wearing brown boots and a leopard print hat — a curiosity to another denizen of 2-chome who works at a gay bar and had a sex-change operation 10 years ago.

“She apparently put on women’s clothes repeatedly to commit the crimes,” says the employee. “I find that unbelievable based on how we are. From the time of childhood, female clothing gives an uncomfortable feeling. Breast growth, the development of genitalia — they are unpleasant. So I hated even imagining dressing as a woman.”

Police believe Jin, who was first taken into custody after being identified while collecting a payment at a Suginami Ward welfare office, had carried out multiple robberies on over 10 male victims since June of 2012.

Another 2-chome regular is skeptical that Jin may have done it to fund an operation.

“You know, it takes more than money to get a sex-change operation,” says the regular. “You have to be prepared for it. After the removal of the womb and attachment of the penis there are people who regret it, some of whom wind up committing suicide.”

So to go to the extent of committing robberies to fund such a procedure?

“That doesn’t sound like someone who is prepared,” says the regular. (K.N.)

Source: “Onabe konsui gotohan seiyu no Aiko no otoko gokoro no nazo” Weekly Playboy (Aug. 4, pages 34-36)