OSAKA (TR) – Osaka Prefectural Police have busted the management company for dozens of web sites that on the surface sought the companionship of women while concealing the fact that they were to work in the sex trade, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (Jan. 10)
On Tuesday, police accused Koichiro Kusabiraki, the 36-year-old representative director of Rek International, and three other employees of violating the Employment Security Act regarding introductions to harmful businesses. None of the suspects has commented on the allegations.
In January, a woman, 20, who responded to a “rental girlfriend” advertisement on the site of the Japan Girlfriend Agent Center, which is managed by Rek International, wound up employed at a “delivery health” out-call sex service, according to police.
The Employment Security Act designates work at fuzoku (adult entertainment) parlors as harmful, making introductions to such businesses prohibited.
The content of the advertisements on the Japan Girlfriend Agent Center indicated that women were to be paid 3,500 yen per hour to go on dates with men with no sexual contact being required. However, the women were later told that providing sex would be necessary to get paid during interviews with the suspects, police said.
The women were then referred to sex businesses. The suspects are believed to have received a portion of the sales accumulated by the women as commissions, police said.
“I couldn’t refuse”
The matter came to light after women lodged complaints with police. “This job is not what I thought it would be,” one woman said. Another was quoted, “I couldn’t refuse [to work at the sex parlor].”
Rek International established about 150 similar sites, the majority of which used the same kind of advertising to refer hundreds of women to sex businesses.