TOKYO (TR) – Last month, Saitama Prefectural Police found a high-ranking yakuza member and a popular adult video (AV) actress along with a sampling of cocaine in a dramatic hotel raid.
Shota Sugawara, a 32-year-old executive of a syndicate affiliated with the Yamaguchi-gumi, and 27-year-old AV actress Seika Abe — who performs under the name “Serina Arata” — were eventually arrested on suspicion of use and possession on August 24 by the Sayama Police Station.
By any measure, a scandalous tale. However, based on a report on the site for Shukan Shincho (Sep. 1), a relationship between a gangster and AV starlet is hardly unusual.
Stashed in the bedsheets
The arrests stem from a July 14 raid. Investigators, who had been tracking Sugawara for a string of robberies and scams, burst into a hotel room in Tokyo’s Toshima Ward intending to apprehend him on fraud charges.
Instead, officers found Sugawara and Abe together on a bed, discovering 0.7 grams of cocaine stashed in the bedsheets and on a bedside table.
While Sugawara has admitted to the allegations, Abe has denied using the drug.
Swimming prodigy
Abe’s arrest marks a steep fall from grace for the former athlete. Operating under stage names such as “Momo Aoki” and “Serina Tsutsumi,” Abe debuted in the adult industry in 2021, citing a sports injury that forced her into retirement.
Prior to her AV career, she was a celebrated swimming prodigy, competing in the national Junior Olympics as a child and being selected for international synchronized swimming competitions during junior high school.
“Hybrid” criminal
Meanwhile, police describe Sugawara as a dangerous “hybrid” criminal. In addition to his traditional yakuza role, he is alleged to be the mastermind behind a tokuryu syndicate, whose members communicate anonymously via social media.
Prior to the drug bust, Sugawara’s tokuryu group had been highly active. On February 19, his ring orchestrated a telephone scam, defrauding an 80-year-old man in Koshigaya City out of 500,000 yen.
A week later, the group scouted a former jewelry store in Kisarazu City, Chiba Prefecture for a robbery. The plot was only abandoned when Sugawara failed to recruit enough disposable “foot soldiers” for the heist, and a 20-something recruit tipped off the police.
Shibuya as AV hub
Crime journalist Ryo Fujiwara noted that the pairing of a yakuza boss and an AV star is hardly a coincidence. Sugawara’s upper syndicate is notorious for illegal drug trafficking and controls territory in Shibuya Ward, a major hub for AV talent agencies.
Fujiwara also pointed out that traditional yakuza are increasingly turning to modern Tokuryu schemes to survive.
“Yakuza members are suffering from a decrease in income. The illegal drugs their syndicates specialize in are seeing declining demand, and foreign trafficking groups are ravaging the market,” Fujiwara explained. “Sugawara was likely struggling for cash and set his sights on the criminal profits generated by fluid crime groups.”
