TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested busted a touting service for allegedly harassing pedestrians for sex services in the Ikebukuro entertainment district of Toshima Ward, reports Nippon News Network (Mar. 14).
The Ikebukuro Police Station has accused Tadao Furuyama, a 60-year-old part-time employee, and five other persons of violating a metropolitan ordinance that prohibits being a public nuisance.
According to police, the suspects persistently harassed pedestrians on Ebisu St. in the Nishi Ikebukuro area in inquiring about whether they were interested in various sex businesses. “How about a soapland?” one of the suspects reportedly inquired in referring to an erotic bathhouse. “We will get you a cute girl.”
Over the past year, the station has become aware of about 4,600 incidents that have taken place in its jurisdiction whereby such solicitation has led to the pedestrians being defrauded or overcharged, a process known as bottakuri. Of that figure, more than 60 percent originated on Ebisu St., police said.
