TOKYO (TR) – Investigative sources with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police revealed on January 30 that Access, a scouting group for the commercial sex industry, their highest-ranked scout was paid more than 6 million yen per month.
A whopping figure to be sure — and for a business that remains firmly in a legal gray zone, having had some of its employees arrested in recent months for referring women to places of work deemed harmful, reports Jiji Press (Jan. 30).
According to police, Access has about 300 members who scout women on social media and dispatch them to about 350 establishments nationwide, including to soaplands bathhouses.
Over a period of about five years from around July 2019, Access received a total of about 7 billion yen from adult-entertainment establishments in referral fees and other charges.
Also on January 30, law enforcement in Tokyo and Oita and Ishikawa prefectures announced the re-arrest of Access representative director Kazuma Endo, 3, on suspicion of violating the Employment Security Act regarding harmful referrals.
This is Endo’s fourth arrest. He admits to the charges.
Newly arrested were group executive Naoya Taira, a 31-year-old resident of Okinawa City, Okinawa Prefecture, and scout Daiki Ishiyama, 29, who lives in Udagawacho, Shibuya Ward.
“Platinum” and “Gold”
Access ranks scouts by categories such as “Platinum” and “Gold” depending on the amount of money their women earned. Ishiyama was a “Black” scout, the highest rank, receiving a monthly amount of about 6.3 million yen.
Taira, a senior executive known as the “Chief,” presided over about 20 scouts. He received a portion of the referral fees earned by his subordinates.
The suspects were accused of introducing a woman in her 20s to a soapland in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, in August last year.
Tokyo police have set up an investigation headquarters to uncover the true nature of the group. This year, five people, including the managers of two soaplands in Shinagawa Ward and another other area that received women introduced by Access, have been arrested on suspicion of violating the Anti-Prostitution Act.