Boldly wearing a skirt with her legs hanging out…Chinese woman persistently touting or “smiling just after her arrest,” a bewitching photo of her true face!

“Brother, 2,000 yen for a 30-minute massage.

A massage feels good.”

The women allegedly called out to passersby, blocked their way, and grabbed their arms.

On February 12, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Special Investigation Unit for Community Safety arrested five Chinese nationals, including a massage parlor employee, Seo-Mei Wu, 41, of Toda City, Saitama Prefecture, on suspicion of violating the Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance on Prevention of Disturbances. The women were allegedly touting persistently in a commercial building near JR Shimbashi Station in Minato-ku.

The alleged incidents took place between November and December of last year. On the second floor of a commercial building, the women tried to forcefully lure a passing man into a massage parlor by pulling on his hand. The police received complaints of ‘persistent touts’ and ‘nuisance.

Three of the five women arrested denied the charges. Two of the suspects, including Wu, said, ‘I approached them in front of the store every day. They admitted the crime, saying, ‘I used to call out to them in front of the shop every day and even grabbed their arms. There are about 40 massage parlors in the building.

An anonymous, fluid criminal group.”

The photographer for this magazine photographed the women who were transported to the Atago Police Station of the Metropolitan Police Department immediately after their arrest. Some of the suspects were dressed in skirts with their legs hanging out boldly, and some of them smiled and showed their bewitching faces.

In the Shimbashi area, there has been a series of serious problems caused by malicious touts. In June 2011, a female bar owner was arrested. She allegedly charged a drunken male customer, who was brought to her by a tout, nearly 400,000 yen for just five drinks. When the customer refused to pay, the manager said, “Pay up!　We have a clear accounting system! and forcing the man to go to a nearby convenience store to withdraw money from an ATM.

In January of this year, four men, including a tout in his 20s, were arrested. They approached an intoxicated man on a street in Shinbashi and forced him to go to a restaurant where they knew each other. They allegedly charged the man an exorbitant amount of money, forced him to withdraw about 190,000 yen from an ATM, and then stole his wallet. The men are an anonymous, mobile crime group (Tokuryu), and the total damage is estimated to be in the tens of millions of yen.

In the Shinbashi area, there have been a number of cases where persistent touting behavior has led to serious crimes. The police are calling for the attention of customers of restaurants and massage parlors, and are stepping up their crackdowns.