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Osaka cops add fresh charges of coercion to producer of AV series

Shinichi Kanazawa has been accused of coercing girls to perform in the “Idol in the Making” AV series
Shinichi Kanazawa has been accused of coercing girls to perform in the “Idol in the Making” AV series

OSAKA (TR) – Osaka Prefectural Police on Tuesday applied fresh charges of coercion to a businessman accused of harmfully recruiting young women for adult video (AV) productions by pretending to be seeking models, reports Yukan Fuji (June 20).

In July of 2014, Shinichi Kanazawa, 48, is alleged to have coerced a girl, then 18, to enter into a contract to perform acts deemed obscene at a studio in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward for the AV series “Idol in the Making.”

“If you don’t sign, you can’t go home,” the suspect reportedly threatened the girl, a third-year high school student from Shizuoka Prefecture. According to police, there is a video of the girl crying before she signed the document.

Police believe the suspect repeatedly targeted women by offering compensation of up 200,000 yen via online solicitations for supposed modeling jobs. However, the shoots in fact included the women performing obscene acts in swimsuits and starring in full-blown AV productions.

Kanazawa was not just the manager of the operation. He also directed and starred in the productions. Prior to the shoots, the suspect had the women sign contracts with wording regarding possible penalties for breach of contract, such as the refusal to appear.

Since 2012, Kanazawa engaged in contracts with more than 200 women, aged 18 or 19, across the nation for the “Idol in the Making” series, which has collected about 147 million yen in revenue.

In May, police first arrested Kanazawa, who also runs the online adult site Moe Moe Style, over the alleged sale of pornographic DVDs deemed illegal due to the lack of obfuscation of genitalia.

Kanazawa was arrested again later that month for the alleged harmful recruitment of the performers. He was sent to prosecutors on Monday.