Host Club Scandal: Shinchi Family’s Three-Generation Fortune Exposed

Three generations of parents and children run a ryotei restaurant

On October 15, Chishiro Okuda (31), the operator of a sex entertainment business, and her mother Nobuko Okuda (52) and grandmother Takako Okuda (76) were arrested by the Osaka Prefectural Police on suspicion of violating the Anti-Prostitution Law for allegedly facilitating prostitution at a luxury restaurant in the entertainment district of Matsushima Shinchi (Osaka’s Nishi Ward).

“There are about 80 establishments known as ‘ryotei’ (traditional luxury restaurants) in Matsushima Shinchi, one of Osaka’s five major entertainment districts, and Chishiro Okuda, along with her mother and grandmother, operated five of these establishments. Each establishment had about 20 women working in rotation” (Reporter from a national newspaper’s social affairs department).

The three generations of the Okuda family had been running the ryotei. Chishiro Okuda, who played a central role in the business, was said to have expanded the operation to increase profits.

“Matsushima Shinchi has 2 to 3 women displaying themselves outside the stores, and customers can choose the women they like. The more options there are, the more popular the store becomes. To expand her business, Chishiro Okuda opened a host club in Osaka’s Minami area in November last year. She deliberately created outstanding credit for attractive women visiting the host club who seemed likely to become top earners. When these women struggled to pay their debts, she offered them an alternative: ‘If you can’t pay, I can introduce you to a good establishment.’ She then forced them into prostitution at her own ryotei” (same reporter).

 

“The parent-child relationship was not good.”

When a malicious host drives female customers into debt and forces them into the sex industry, it is often through a “scout” who introduces them to a brothel. However, Chishiro Okuda cut out the middleman and saved on the referral fees by sending the women directly to his own teahouses.

“The success of a teahouse relies on how good the women they can attract are. Chishiro Okuda would scout women at his host club, looking for ones who had the potential to become popular. After collecting the debts owed by these women, he would then get them to work in his teahouses in Matsushima New District, making money off them twice. This method helped him increase his business profits,” said an investigator familiar with the case.

Although the teahouse business was doing well, a local resident who knew Chishiro and his mother, Nobuko, revealed, “Their mother-daughter relationship wasn’t good.”

“It seems Chishiro Okuda took Nobuko Okuda to the host club, but from then on, Nobuko got completely absorbed into the world of hosts (laughs). Chishiro Okuda was appalled by it. The situation escalated into a family quarrel, and for a while, they didn’t speak to each other.”

The glory of the “New District Family” was short-lived.