Japanese Prohibited from Entering Chinese-Exclusive Brothel Raided During Spring Festival, Capturing Shocking Interior

‘They finally caught him.

I always wondered why they were left out in the open.”

On February 22, such posts appeared one after another in the Chinese community in Japan on the Web.

On that day, news broke that a private massage parlor in Ikebukuro had been busted by the Ikebukuro Police Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, and that the five owners, one a Japanese national and the other a Chinese national, had been arrested for violating the Anti-Prostitution Law (providing a place for prostitution) and one Chinese female employee for violating the Immigration Control Law. The store reportedly had sales of several tens of millions of yen in one year.

While it is not uncommon for illegal sex stores to be exposed, this case made headlines because the store was a “special massage parlor” well known among Chinese residents in Japan.

Mr. X, a Chinese resident in Japan who runs an advertising agency business in Tokyo, revealed, “The brothel that was exposed was a ‘special massage parlor’ that is well known among Chinese residents in Japan.

The brothel was called “Wolf Friend” and had been operating in Ikebukuro for about 10 years. At that time, the fee was 10,000 yen for 60 minutes, including the actual performance. The system was to call a woman to a small room in the store or a hotel. The most distinctive feature of the store was that it was for Chinese customers only, and no Japanese were allowed.

In fact, a FRIDAY reporter fluent in Chinese once went undercover at Wolf Friend, pretending to be a Chinese national. The reporter was told that the restaurant was a source of funding for the Chinese mafia because it was difficult for the Japanese police to discover its illegal business practices by designating it as a Chinese-only restaurant. What this reporter saw there was a bizarre sight.
The restaurant was located on the fifth floor of a multi-tenant building a two-minute walk from the west exit of Ikebukuro Station. Upon opening the door, a Chinese woman, who appeared to be in her 50s, greeted us. She led us to the back of the store. There, more than 20 young Chinese women were sitting in a row, their shoulders and legs exposed in a daring manner. We were told to choose one of them and head for the playroom. I picked a beautiful woman with long black hair (Ako), paid 10,000 yen, and moved to a room one floor above in the same building.

At the back of the room, there were three small rooms of about four tatami mats separated by a thin board, and Ako opened one of the doors and entered. The playroom, which had only a single-size bed placed in the middle of the room, had a strange odor, a mixture of mildew, sweat, and semen. A creaking vibration could be heard coming from behind the thin wall panels. When a Japanese reporter visited the store again later that day, he was plucked out of the store by a male clerk as soon as he said “Good evening” in Japanese.

When FRIDAY reported on the situation at the restaurant in October 2007, the restaurant temporarily closed its doors. However, it reopened within a few days. Since then, it has been openly operating for more than four years.

Recently, the women were divided into several ranks, with the lowest price being 12,000 yen for 60 minutes. The highest price was 26,000 yen for 60 minutes. Japanese and Caucasian women were also enrolled, and they were positioned in a higher rank than Chinese women. They accepted reservations from customers on their website and on the Chinese SNS WeChat, as well as on LINE open chat. They probably thought that as long as they didn’t deal with Japanese, the police wouldn’t act,” said X.

Why was this restaurant, which has been half-openly offering sexual intercourse for many years, exposed at this time? A reporter from the society section of a national newspaper believes that the background is the large increase in the number of visitors to Japan.

The authorities were on the alert during the Chinese New Year. They believed that illegal business activities targeting visitors to Japan, such as white-collar taxiing, would become more active, and they focused their efforts on cracking down on such activities. The store was also seen as being used by Chinese visitors to Japan, and this was probably the reason for the bust.

However, the aforementioned Mr. X said, “It is meaningless to expose only Wolf Friend. There are three illegal sex store groups in Tokyo run by Chinese with the Chinese character for “wolf.

This time, a man in his 70s with a Japanese name was arrested as the main suspect. If he is a naturalized former Chinese national, it is not unusual, but I have never heard of a genuine Japanese national being involved in the management of Wolf’s Friend. He must have been what is called a “cracked-down agent.

There are more than 20 Chinese-only brothels in Tokyo alone” (Mr. X). The battle between the Japanese police and the illegal sex industry lurking in the Chinese community in Japan will continue.

From the March 29, 2024 issue of FRIDAY