bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

paywallTypes

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP’s Asia desk

Japanese police have ramped up crackdowns on sex worker scout groups amid a worrying trend of women going into prostitution to pay off debts incurred at entertainment clubs.
Tokyo police on Wednesday arrested 27-year-old Tatsuya Kitamura, believed to be a senior member of the recruitment group Access, local media reported.
He was detained over violating the Employment Security Act by introducing a woman in her 20s to work at two adult entertainment outlets in Tokyo in July 2024.
The two stores were believed to have recruited about 280 women over a seven-month period, paying 6.5 million yen (US$43,500) to scout groups in referral fees, or “scout backs”.
According to the force, Access sent numerous victims to about 350 sex service establishments and earned 7 billion yen from its operations over the past five years.


It charged 15 per cent of a woman’s earnings as referral fees, and collected cash mailed to a shell office to conceal the flow of money, Jiji Press agency reported.
The force also took into custody Haruto Yamauchi, another executive of the group who was previously arrested over similar cases.
Kitamura was considered a “recruiter” who hired scouts on social media. He had confessed to recruiting about 50 people through platform X, while Yamauchi was a “high-ranking scout” who lured women to work at sex establishments, according to national broadcaster NHK.
The group’s head, Kazuma Endo, was also earlier arrested.
The latest case marks part of an effort by police to shut down the trend.
In January, two members of the country’s biggest sex worker scout group called Natural were arrested on suspicion of violating the Employment Security Act through harmful job introductions, Japanese media reported.
The group commenced operations in 2009 and was believed to be earning 5 billion yen annually.
The 1,500 scouts of the group countrywide would reach out to women who prostituted themselves on the streets, and introduce them to work at sex business outlets in return for referral fees, police said.
Japan has seen a worrying trend of young women turning to prostitution to survive or cover expenses incurred at so-called host clubs, This Week in Asia reported last November.
Okubo Park in the nightlife area of Kabukicho in Tokyo has become a hotbed for such activities.

Host clubs are establishments catering to women, where male hosts offer company and so-called romance while their female clients consume expensive food and drinks. The trade has caused some patrons to rack up heavy debts, with host club operators then forcing them into prostitution to repay the money.
By introducing debt-ridden women to sex outlets, host clubs would also receive referral fees from the workers’ earnings.
In response to the trend, the National Police Agency is weighing a bill to amend the country’s entertainment business law, which would ban forced expensive consumption and sex worker scouting by host clubs, according to NHK.


Ishiba’s gift scandal sparks ‘volcanic’ public outrage, plunging Japan’s LDP into crisis

Hong Kong stocks hit 3-year high on hopes Trump-Xi talks could ease trade tensions

Asia’s commercial property market growing in diversity and complexity

US$27 fee to climb Japan’s Mount Fuji to be levied from May 2025 to tackle overcrowding

Japan

Japanese sex scouts: arrests mark alarming trend of women recruited into prostitution

Pedestrians walk past an entrance at Kabukicho, Shinjuku in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: EPA-EFE

A man walks past a signboard of a bar in the Kabukicho district of Tokyo. Photo: Reuters

‘Beyond maliciousness’: Japanese man who raped 10 girls given life sentence

A Japanese man sentenced to life for raping 10 schoolgirls sparked outrage over lenient punishment and prompted calls for stricter laws. Photo: Shutterstock

A Japanese court sentenced a former hospital employee to life in prison for sexually assaulting 10 girls. Photo: SCMP

Welcome to Tokyo: Asia’s new sex tourism capital?

An older man approaches a woman near Okubo Park in Tokyo’s notorious Kabukicho district. Photo: Eric Fior

A woman looks out at the Tokyo skyline. Photo: AFP

An older man approaches a woman near Okubo Park in Tokyo, presumably to solicit sexual services. Photo: Eric Fior

Men interact with young women waiting in the street around Okubo Park in Tokyo. Photo: Eric Fior

Tokyo’s notorious Kabukicho district – a maze of bars, love hotels and host clubs. Photo: Eric Fior

In Japan, anger over ‘outrageously light’ sentence for ex-lawmaker who raped 12-year-old girl

Tamotsu Shiiki, 58, was found guilty on Monday at the Tokyo District Court of nonconsensual sexual intercourse with a 12-year-old girl. Photo: Handout

The Tokyo District Court. Photo: AFP

People stage a protest rally in Naha, Okinawa in July 2024, following a recent spate of cases of US military personnel accused of committing sexual crimes. Photo: Kyodo

A person sits at the Seiboren office in Kabukicho, Shinjuku, in Tokyo. Photo: EPA-EFE

Masahiro Nakai sex scandal puts Japan’s entertainment industry in crosshairs

Masahiro Nakai (left) poses with his fellow members of popular Japanese boy band SMAP in 2015. He now faces criticism for sexually abusing a woman and his management’s subsequent attempts to cover it up. Photo: AFP

Masahiro Nakai (middle) with his fellow SMAP members at the height of their fame. Photo: Weibo

Music mogul Johnny Kitagawa’s death being reported on Japanese television in 2019. His decades-long sexual abuse of boys seeking stardom only came to light four years after his death. Photo: AFP

Japanese demand laws against Tokyo’s street prostitution – ‘internationally embarrassing’

A man approaches a woman near Okubo Park in Tokyo’s Kabukicho district, presumably to solicit sexual services. Photo: Eric Fior

Men approach young women standing in the street around Okubo Park in Tokyo, presumably to solicit their services. Photo: Eric Fior

A woman walks past a television screen reporting the death of Johnny Kitagawa, founder of Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates, in Tokyo in 2019. Photo: AFP

A host club at Kabukicho, Tokyo. Some Japanese politicians want tougher action against host clubs for forcing indebted female clients to do sex work. Photo: EPA-EFE

This Week in Asia

People

News

Asia

East Asia

The latest arrest of a senior member of the group Access highlights an extensive industry preying on debt-ridden women


The latest arrest of a senior member of the group Access highlights an extensive industry preying on debt-ridden women.


Crime

Sexual harassment and assault

Women and gender

Human trafficking