TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Friday announced the bust of a studio for allowing photography of school girls in seductive poses, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Nov. 29).
Officers took Takashi Watanabe, the 33-year-old manager of Twin Tail, into custody for the employment of minors in violation of the the Labor Standards Act regarding harmful employment. A 17-year-old girl was taken into protective custody.
At the parlor, located in the Ikebukuro district of Toshima Ward, the girls dress in a variety of uniforms and bathing suits. For a fee of 10,000 yen, customers are then able to photograph these employees in private rooms partitioned by curtains.
On November 1, a male in his 30s was seen filming up the open skirt of a second-year high school girl.
Of the 14 girls registered with Twin Tail, whose ages range between 16 and 22, eight are in high school.
Since January, police have been cracking down on so-called joshi kosei (high-school girl) “reflexology” massage parlors. As a result, the number of photography parlors, known as JK satsueikai, is increasing in the Akihabara and Ikebukuro areas.
According to police, this is the first bust of its kind in Japan.
Watanabe, who averaged 700,000 yen in sales each month, said that he was aware of the activities of law enforcement. “I thought that as long as the bodies of the girls were not touched (by the customers) it would be fine,” he is quoted by police, according to Nippon News Network (Nov. 29).