TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Saturday arrested a University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine for allegedly receiving adult entertainment from a research partner corporation in exchange for conducting joint research at the school, reports the Tokyo Shimbun (Jan. 24).
The investigation is based on the suspicion that Shinichi Sato, 62, frequently requested entertainment at high-end clubs and adult-entertainment establishments.
Police have not revealed whether Sato admit to allegations of bribery.
On approximately 30 occasions between March 2023 and August 2024, Sato allegedly received entertainment worth a total of approximately 1.8 million yen at high-end clubs in Ginza and soapland bathhouses in Taito Ward from the representative director of the Japan Cosmetic Association.
The entertainment was supplied in exchange for establishing and running the “Clinical Cannabinoid Studies Course,” which was jointly conducted research on the effectiveness of cannabis-containing substances for skin diseases.
Police are also questioning a 46-year-old former associate professor under Sato on a voluntary basis for allegedly receiving entertainment worth approximately 1.9 million yen.
The representative director of the corporation is also under investigation for bribery for entertaining the two.
National university corporation employees are considered public servants, which means they are subject to bribery charges.
Relationship deteriorated
According to university officials and others, Sato graduated from the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Medicine in 1989.
He also studied at Duke University in the United States and served as an assistant professor at what was known at the time as Kanazawa University Graduate School. He became a professor at the University of Tokyo Graduate School in 2009.
He is an authority in the field of dermatology and served as the head of the dermatology department at the University of Tokyo Hospital.
The representative director of the Japan Cosmetic Association contacted Sato in May 2022 to obtain evidence of the effectiveness of cosmetics for skin diseases in order to sell them. In April 2023, a joint research course was opened at the graduate school.
Sato and his former subordinate developed a strong relationship with the representative director and began to receive expensive entertainment.
However, their relationship deteriorated around August 2024. The course was halted in March 2025.
That May, the representative director filed a lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court seeking approximately 42 million yen in damages, claiming that the course had only been promised to run until March 2026 and that its abolition was invalid.
