Boldly dressed for a night out on the town…Kakeko, reputed to be “cute” on the Internet, ran into a wall in child-rearing [After the Serious Incident].

I would like to raise (my child) together as father and mother.”

The woman who participated in the black market robbery and called the victim as a “caller,” said in court, her eyes downcast.

On December 7, Hitomi Kumai, 26, was sentenced to two years in prison for stealing 4.14 million yen from elderly people. Kumai was a member of a special fraud group based in the Philippines. She was ruled by a senior member of the group called “Rufie” who terrorized her.

Kumai explained in court how she became a ‘kakeko. ‘An acquaintance invited me to take a part-time job overseas for about a month, where I could earn about 500,000 to 1 million yen,’ she said. Kumai went to the Philippines in October ’19. He said he immediately suspected something was fishy, but he could not escape from the organization. Kumai also stated. He showed me a video of him pressing a cigarette on a member who tried to run away and hitting him with a beer bottle,” said a reporter in charge of justice for a national newspaper.

Kumai is a brilliant woman. Her grandfather was a member of the prefectural assembly and a distinguished person who once received the Order of the Rising Sun. Kumai also went to a famous art university in Tokyo.

At the university, she participated in the “Fresh Campus Contest” to determine the cutest new student. In high school, she was a member of the track team and gave the impression of a sports girl, but after participating in the contest, she started going out at night in bold outfits. While her life became more lavish, I heard that she was always in need of money. I often saw her walking around with a man who seemed to be older than her. She must have applied for the black market job for the high reward,” said an acquaintance of Kumai.

Kumai, who was unable to escape from the fraudulent organization, turned to crime. What surprised the public was not only his spectacular career or the crimes he committed.

He became romantically involved with Kairi Fujita (24, sentenced to three years in prison), who was deported with him, and became pregnant with her child in the Philippines. After returning to Japan, she gave birth. Kumai was released after her arrest due to her physical condition, and she commuted to court from her home. During the trial, she was raising her child with the help of her parents and volunteering at an elderly care facility to remember her crime.

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, Kumai said in court that he and his girlfriend, Fujita, wanted to raise their beloved child together. However, the cost of his complicity in the black market robbery was not small. If sentenced, he will have to face his crime in prison and be separated from his newborn child for a while.

From the January 5 and 12, 2024 issue of FRIDAY