TOKYO (TR) – A court here has handed a 21-year-old former “girl’s bar” employee a suspended prison term for forcing a colleague into prostitution, reports Nippon News Network (May 25).
On Monday, the Tokyo District Court handed Ai Tano an 18-month prison term, suspended for three years. The prosecution had sought an 18-month term.
According to the ruling, Tano forced the female colleague, aged in her 20s, to sleep at the establishment and sell sex at hotels in Shinjuku Ward between May and July of last year.
In handing down the ruling, the presiding judge condemned Tano’s actions, noting that she had backed the victim into a corner where she was unable to resist.
“She instructed the female employee to earn money through prostitution. It was a malicious crime driven by greed that completely disregarded the victim’s human dignity,” the court stated.
Confiscated revenue
However, the court also acknowledged that Tano herself was operating in a “subordinate position” within the business’s hierarchy by working under her then-boyfriend, 39-year-old former bar manager Maoya Suzuki, who is undergoing prosecution.
Referred to as a girl’s bar, Suzuki’s establishment — E-Wave Morning, located in Ikebukuro — provided services similar to those on offer at a hostess club.
Over the roughly three-month period, the victim was forced to provide sexual services to approximately 400 men, generating about 6 million yen in revenue — all of which was confiscated by the defendants.
In her initial hearing, Tano admitted to the charges. While she acknowledged that Suzuki masterminded the operation, she claimed she was too afraid to intervene. “I couldn’t distinguish between right and wrong. I was just swept along,” she testified.
The court said that it took this subordinate role into consideration in the handing down of the suspended term. The court also ordered her to pay a fine of 300,000 yen.
