TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police last week announced the arrest of two company employees for allegedly referring women to the sex industry, reports the Asahi Shimbun (July 10).
According to police, Riichi Fukui, the 34-year-old president of an IT-related company, Masaya Sunouchi, 31, referred two women, including a 22-year-old university student, to a soapland bathhouse in the Yoshiwara are of Taito Ward between last August and November.
On a road in the Kabukicho red-light district of Shinjuku Ward, the women were scouted. “Want to earn a little bit through papakatsu,” a scout asked one of the women about a sugar daddy relationship. “Or, how about working at a soapland?”
The suspects, who have been accuse of violating the Employment Security Act regarding harmful referrals, deny the allegations, police said.
Over the past three years, the suspects are believed to have referred about 6,000 women to the fuzoku (or commercial sex) trade.
In addition to Yoshiwara, the suspects supplied women to red-light districts nationwide, including the Horinouchi area of Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, the Kanazuen area of Gifu City, Gifu Prefecture and the Ogoto are of Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture, police said.
The suspects collected a commission of 20 percent of the earnings of each woman they referred. Since last November, they accumulated 215 million yen in commissions.
Future in Osaka
Also last week, police in Osaka City accused Takeshi Kato, a 39-year-old independent businessman who serves as Chairman of Future Group, of also referring women to the sex trade.
Based in Naniwa Ward, Future Group oversees at least 10 scouting companies in Osaka, Kyoto and Nara prefectures. Between February, 2017 and last December, the group is believed have to referred about 4,700 women to the fuzoku industry.
Over a one-year period, the group accumulated at least 500 million yen in sales, police said.
Kato, who has also been accused of violating Employment Security Act, denies the allegation. “There is no relation [to me],” the suspect was quoted by police.
