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Tokyo police bust bargain sex chain for prostitution, arrest 21

A branch of the Sankyu Group in Gotanda, Tokyo
A branch of the Sankyu Group in Gotanda, Tokyo
TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Tuesday announced the bust of six outlets of a chain of low-priced sex businesses on charges of prostitution, reports TBS News (Jan. 20).

Officers took Koji Yoshida, 61, the president of “delivery health” chain Sankyu Group, Shinya Takashima, the 35-year-old manager of the outlet in Gotanda, and 19 others into custody for dispatching female employees to love hotels and rental rooms to engage in full sex (honban) with customers, which is a violation of the Anti-Prostitution Law.

According to Jiji Press (Jan. 20), Yoshida and 17 other suspects have denied the allegations, which are alleged to have taken place between May and October of last year, while the other three taken into custody have acknowledged the charges.

Over the past several years, police have received a number of complaints from dissatisfied customers who maintain that Sankyu Group outlets do not dispatch the same prostitutes as advertised on the Internet, according to Sports Nippon (Jan. 20).

The outlets within Sankyu Group specialize in low entrance fees. At the branch in Gotanda, charges begin at 5,900 yen for the first 45 minutes.

Last year, the Sankyu Group, which operates 65 outlets in 21 prefectures nationwide, collected 400 million yen in revenue.

Shinya Takashima
Shinya Takashima (right)