Tokyo police have arrested two men for allegedly receiving kickbacks for arranging for a woman, who had significant debt at a host club in Tokyo’s Kabukicho district, to work at a brothel in Oita Prefecture through a broker, investigative sources said.
The two arrested men are Koshiro Obokata, 28, a worker at host club Since You...α, and recruiter Yoshiiku Watanabe, 34. Two other men in their 30s to 40s working as brokers were also arrested on similar charges. All four have admitted to the charges.
It is the first time a worker of a host bar, where women pay to drink and talk with men, has been arrested over receiving kickbacks for brokering prostitution.
According to investigators, the suspects allegedly introduced the woman, who is in her 20s, to a brothel in Beppu, Oita Prefecture, in February 2023, and received about ¥335,000 in total between March and May of that year.
They had allegedly received 9% of the woman’s sales.
Watanabe, based on Obokata’s request, is suspected of showing the woman’s information and picture to a broker, who would then share it with multiple brothels in order to tender bids. The woman was dispatched to the highest bidder.
The two had initially been arrested in June on suspicion of introducing a separate woman to a brothel in Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture.
The issue of young women, some as young as 18, racking up large debts at host clubs has been a problem for several years, with many of them ultimately ending up as prostitutes in order to repay their debts.