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Tokyo cops arrest blind ex-soccer player for running illegal massage parlor

Michio Kodama
Michio Kodama
TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Friday announced the arrest of a blind ex-soccer player for Japan’s national team for managing an improperly licensed massage parlor in Nakano Ward, reports TBS News (Nov. 7).

On Wednesday night, officers took Michio Kodama, the 38-year-old manager of L’espoir, located near JR Nakano Station, and one other employee for allegedly offering customers sexual services as administered by masseuses in private rooms — a violation of the Law Regulating Adult Entertainment Businesses.

Kodama has reportedly admitted to the allegations. “It was in order to increase sales,” the suspect is quoted by police in referring to the provision of sexual services.

The parlor averages 1.5 million yen in revenue per month.

Kodama, whose eyesight is rated B2/B3, meaning partially-sighted, played for the Japan team at the International Blind Sports Federation World Games in Antalya, Turkey in 2011 and again in Miyagi Prefecture two years later.

With this year’s tournament beginning on November 16 at Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward, Eigo Matsuzaki, the head of the Japan Blind Football Association, issued an apology on the organization’s Web site.