News On Japan

Illegal Massage Parlor Busted Offering Sex for 10,000 Yen

TOKYO - A man walked straight out of the building, eyes fixed ahead. He was identified as 54-year-old Taniguchi, the manager of a private massage parlor, and is among nine people arrested on suspicion of illegally soliciting customers for prostitution on the streets of Gotanda, Tokyo.

The arrests followed mounting complaints from local residents, with one person reporting, "They keep pestering people, and the crowd is scary!" According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, there have been 134 calls related to customer solicitation in the Gotanda area since January 2024.

The suspects allegedly approached passersby with pitches such as, "How about a massage? It's 10,000 yen for the full service," and "You can choose after looking at the photos." They are believed to have received a reward of 1,000 yen for every customer they brought in, with as many as 50 clients being served in a single day.

One suspect, 42-year-old Song, reportedly told investigators, "I would call out to more than 10 people a day, and about five would agree." Most of the women providing services were Chinese nationals, and the business operated without signage to avoid detection.

Police estimate the parlor had earned approximately 350 million yen since 2023. Six of the nine suspects, including Taniguchi, admitted to the charges, saying they were doing it to make a living. The remaining three have denied the allegations.

Source: FNN

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Japan’s World Cup campaign ended in the cruelest possible fashion on June 29, as Gabriel Martinelli scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time to give Brazil a 2-1 victory over the Samurai Blue in their knockout match in Houston. Japan had led in the first half and were still level at 1-1 in the final moments, but Martinelli’s late strike sent Brazil into the Round of 16 and eliminated Japan from the tournament.

Strong earthquakes have continued to shake parts of Japan in recent weeks, with 11 temblors measuring lower 5 or above on the Japanese seismic intensity scale recorded across the country since April 2026.

A Kintetsu Railway train derailed inside Kyoto Station on the morning of June 29, forcing partial suspensions on the Kintetsu Kyoto Line for the rest of the day and causing long delays that hit commuters, students and tourists.

A section of stone wall at Hikone Castle, one of Japan’s few surviving original Edo-period castles and a National Treasure whose main keep remains intact more than 400 years after its construction, collapsed after heavy rain caused by Typhoons No. 7 and No. 8, Hikone city officials said.

Japan advanced to the knockout stage of the World Cup after a 1-1 draw with Sweden on June 25, finishing second in Group F and setting up a Round of 32 clash with Brazil in Houston.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Society NEWS

Prosecutors sought life imprisonment for Yukio Tanaka, a senior member of a gang affiliated with the Kudo-kai crime syndicate, as his trial over the 2013 fatal shooting of Osho Food Service president Takayuki Ohigashi concluded at the Kyoto District Court, with a verdict scheduled to be handed down on October 16.

Shinjuku Ward, the Tokyo metropolitan government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department have jointly established a Kabukicho measures council to strengthen efforts to prevent young people known as "Toyoko Kids" from being drawn into crime in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district.

A 23-year-old Chinese man has been arrested and sent to prosecutors on suspicion of dangerous driving resulting in injury after allegedly crashing a Porsche into two vehicles at an intersection in Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward on June 9, leaving three people with minor injuries.

The number of people with dementia or suspected dementia who were reported missing to police totaled 17,345 in 2025, down by nearly 800 from the previous year but still at a high level, according to a National Police Agency summary.

Removal work has finally begun on a massive hose that washed ashore on the coast of Shika, Ishikawa Prefecture, six months ago, but crews are already facing difficulties because the structure is filled with a large volume of water.

A 50-year-old woman has been arrested in Kobe on suspicion of abandoning the dismembered body of her former husband in a large freezer at a condominium unit, where she allegedly continued paying rent for more than 14 years while hiding his death.

A 50-year-old member of an organization affiliated with the Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate has been arrested in Yamaguchi Prefecture after nearly nine years on the run over the 2017 fatal shooting of a bodyguard for the leader of a rival group in Kobe.

An Iranian national has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to smuggle more than 40 kilograms of stimulants from the United Arab Emirates into Japan in March, after customs officers found the drugs hidden in the bottom section of a machine used in the process of making naan bread.