TOKYO (TR) – Law enforcement arrested the chairman of Natural, Japan’s largest scouting group for introducing women to adult entertainment (fuzoku) establishments, in Amami City, Kagoshima Prefecture on Monday, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Jan. 27).
The apprehension follows the issuing of an arrest warrant connected to the group last week. The warrant also listed the chairman of Natural, 40-year-old Hiroaki Obata, on a nationwide wanted list.
“I won’t say anything right now,” Obata said upon his arrest.
Yamaguchi-gumi
According to police, Natural is suspected of paying protection money to an organized crime group, which is a violation of Tokyo Metropolitan Organized Crime Exclusion Ordinance.
The allegations in the arrest warrant are based on one such incident. On July 24, 2023, Obata and his associates are suspected of conspiring to pay 600,000 yen in cash to a 39-year-old senior member of a Yamaguchi-gumi affiliate as protection money to secure approval for scouting activities in Udagawacho, Shibuya Ward.
Last January, Tokyo police obtained an arrest warrant on this charge under the aim of rounding up the group’s senior members. However, just before a raid in late January, Obata and his associates went missing. As a result, only two arrests were made.
According to police, more than 30 tips were received after the issuing of the arrest warrant on January 21. Investigators were dispatched to one of these locations in Amami on January 23. Three days later, the suspect was found alone and in possession of almost no belongings.
Tokuryu
Obata founded Natural in Tokyo’s Kabukicho red-light district around 2009. It’s a company-like organization for which he serves as its “chairman.”
With operations in the capital and the cities of Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo and Kumamoto, Natural functions like an anonymous, mobile criminal group, or tokuryu. Its primary source of income comes from “scouting kickbacks,” in which they introduce women to adult entertainment establishments in exchange for a portion of their sales.
According to investigative sources, there are more than 1,500 members nationwide. In 2022 they earned more than 4.4 billion yen. A portion of their profits is also allegedly channeled to organized crime.
