Osaka man arrested for pimping Japanese woman to brothel in Washington

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have announced the arrest on February 10 of a 40-year-old man from Osaka on charges of violating an employment law while acting as a go-between for an American brothels and a woman he scouted on the street for sex work.

The man is of no fixed employ and Korean nationality (probably nothing of note about that — Ikuno, the area of Osaka where he is from, has the largest number of Korean Japanese, who often nominally retain South Korean citizenship).

Man is accused of conspiring with others between February and April 2023 to pimp and introduce a woman in her twenties that he recruited on the street in the Shinsaibashi area of central Osaka to a brothel owner in Washington.

The suspect denies the charges, reportedly saying: “I don’t know what this is about.” It is not clear why he was not arrested until this month (possibly the woman or accomplice was arrested or detained on another matter), or why Tokyo Metropolitan Police are handling the case (the TMP does have some national jurisdiction but we would assume Osaka police should be in charge).

The woman went to the United States in April 2023, following the instructions of a broker from the same scouting group to which the arrested man belongs. She worked as a hotel in Washington, serving 219 men in around a month and earning ¥9.6 million. According to police, the local brothel took a cut of 30%, while a further 20% apparently went to the Japanese scouting group and individual broker.

The issue of Japanese women being pimped into sex work outside the country, including in the United States, has gained a lot of attention recently — and prompting a police crackdown.

And brothels catering to foreigners coming to Japan are facing attention from the authorities, such as the arrests at an establishment in Kabukicho earlier this month. On the other hand, some brothels may run into trouble with foreign clients themselves for various reasons, such as the recent case of the unfortunate place in Sapporo, Hokkaido, where an American man turned violent and assaulted staff.