Tokyo police arrest 23 men for brokering prostitution

Tokyo police have arrested 23 men for allegedly pimping female workers at sex entertainment stores – the largest number of arrests in a single operation.

Masaki Tooka, a 51-year-old business executive from the city of Fukuoka, and 22 others were arrested in violation of the anti-prostitution law, the metropolitan police said.

Tooka and 10 others admitted to the accusations while the other 12 denied them.

According to investigators, a group involving Tooka operated four such outlets in Tokyo, including in Gotanda and Shimbashi districts, sending female workers to customers' homes at locations of their choosing. Its annual turnover was at least 1.2 billion yen ($7.6 million).

The group operated by constantly changing the names of its outlets. Of the 23 people arrested, police determined that Tooka and another individual were supervisors of the operation while three were store managers. The other 18 were their employees.

Tooka was arrested on suspicion of sending women in their 20s to have sex with three male customers in their 40s and 50s at a hotel in Tokyo's Shinagawa district between April and May.

Police first discovered the group last year when they arrested a woman in Shinjuku Ward's Kabukicho district who was waiting for a client to have sex with. The woman told investigators she worked at an outlet operated by Tooka.

Translated by the Japan Times