TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have busted three deai-kei matchmaking cafes in Shinjku and Taito wards for licensing violations, reports Fuji News Network (Mar. 11)
According to police, Shogo Arimoto, the 37-year-old manager of Mo Mo Cafe, located in the Kabukicho red-light district of Shinjuku Ward, effectively employed women part-time to provide entertainment in violation of the Law Regulating Adult Entertainment Businesses.
The entertainment included the serving of beer and snacks in private rooms, which is a violation of the law given the outlet’s form of license, police said.
In addition to Arimoto, police arrested four other persons, including Yuichi Yoshizawa, the manager of an outlet of Mo Mo Cafe that operates under the same business model in the Ueno area of Taito.
Of the five suspects, four partially deny the allegations. The fifth suspect admits to the charges, police said.
Going by the moniker “Lounge style dating joint,” the establishments claimed to be places visited by a large number of women. However, the women inside were actually employees, police said.
The three establishments accumulated a total of 700 million yen in sales over the past two years, police said.
A recent revision to the adult-entertainment law included a change to how matchmaking cafes are viewed in better reflecting the services they offer. The busts are the first since the change, police said.
