A woman in her 60s, living in the Kanto region, has not seen her daughter in four years. The daughter, who fell deeply into the host club culture of Tokyo’s Kabukicho district, left home and has since cut all ties.

"How did it come to this?" the mother wonders daily. She worries about her daughter, now in her 30s, with whom even basic communication is no longer possible.

After graduating from university, the daughter joined a well-known company. About five years ago, she and a colleague visited a Kabukicho host club for the first time — a seemingly harmless outing that spiraled into something much darker.