The Twisted Crimes and Disturbing Fetishes of Japan’s Infamous Confinement Prince

What were the headlines in FRIDAY 10, 20, and 30 years ago? In this recurring feature, Playback Friday, we revisit topics that captured public attention in their time. This time, we look back at an article from the June 3, 2005 issue titled: “The Atrocities the Newspapers and TV Would Never Report: The ‘Collar Confinement Man’s’ Grotesque Fetishes and ‘Harem Hell’”

In the early hours of May 12, 2005, a then 24-year-old man, X, was arrested at his home in Sapporo City. He was suspected of confining and sexually assaulting a teenage girl from Akō City, Hyogo Prefecture (18 at the time of the crime) for over three months in his apartment in Tokyo and in hotels.

After this arrest, further crimes committed by X came to light one after another. He was eventually indicted for crimes including unlawful confinement and assault against a total of four victims. In online forums and the media, he came to be referred to as the “Confinement Prince.”

However, X had also been arrested and indicted for similar offenses involving four other women between 2001 and 2002.

This article reported on the shocking crimes by X as they were known by May 2005. (Notes in 《 》 are direct excerpts from past articles. All ages and titles are as of that time.)

His childhood nickname was also “Prince.”

A-ko, an 18-year-old girl living in Akō City at the time, met X through an online chatroom. In March 2004, she was forcibly summoned to Tokyo and confined in his room in Adachi Ward. Bound by a chain and collar, she was subjected to abuse and assault over a span of 104 days. Though she eventually managed to escape on her own, the severity of her PTSD left her so weakened that it took considerable time before she was able to speak about the ordeal. This is why it took nearly a year before X was arrested.

A hostess at a cabaret club in Susukino, Sapporo, recalled X’s demeanor shortly before his arrest:

“He came to the club on May 6. The seats were mostly full, but he sat alone, isolated from everyone else. He claimed to work for a talent agency and bragged, ‘I was drinking with my subordinates earlier, and now I’ve sent them off somewhere else with a ton of money.’ He looked unbelievably creepy — wearing an out-of-season dark brown long coat and sunglasses, trying to imitate YOSHIKI or something. He acted like he thought he was cool, constantly striking poses with his hand against his forehead as if to hide his face.”

X was originally from Goshogawara City in Aomori Prefecture. His family was wealthy, and he was well-known in his hometown for being chauffeured to and from elementary school in a Mercedes by his mother. However, during his school years, he was a quiet, solitary figure. At the time, his nickname was “Prince” — likely meant sarcastically, though he seemed to embrace it.

After dropping out of high school, the sudden death of his doting mother triggered a full emergence of his twisted proclivities. Leaving his family home in what was essentially a runaway, X began manipulating women one after another with slick words, placing them under his absolute control and subjecting them to daily violence.

“I want to build a harem.”

“I’m a doctor, a voice actor, and I’ve got money.”

In April 2001, X, who was then living in a detached house in Ebetsu City, Hokkaido, approached a 21-year-old woman, B-ko, whom he met at a pub in Susukino with this baseless lie, and they began living together. Almost immediately, he began threatening and assaulting B-ko, declaring, “I’m going to make you my slave.”

He then coerced her, saying, “I want to build a harem. Call one of your female friends and let’s have a threesome.” B-ko reluctantly invited her friend, C-ko, then 19, with whom X also began a sexual relationship, and the three started living together. Even during this time, he would frequently subject both women to daily violence under the pretense of punishment — beating them with his fists and a bamboo sword, scalding them with boiling water, burning them with cigarettes, and even slashing them with a knife.

After C-ko was released in September and B-ko managed to escape in December, X immediately began searching for his next victim.

In January 2002, a 15-year-old girl, D-ko, living in Hokkaido, connected with X via a mobile dating site. He introduced himself as “Sakuya”, boasting in emails, “I’m a doctor and also a voice actor,” and “I drive a Benz and a Celica.” He told her, “I’ll make you my pet,” which led D-ko to decide to run away from home and visit X’s house in Ebetsu City.

“When he asked me, ‘What are you going to call me?’ I said, ‘From now on, I’ll call you Master,’ and he immediately brightened up,” D-ko later recalled. “He told me, ‘Serve your Master,’ and when I did as he said, he seemed very pleased, saying, ‘From now on, you’re going to be licked and used all the time.’ But eventually, I wanted to go home and started crying. Then he gave me some coins from a piggy bank and let me go.”

It seems D-ko was allowed to leave relatively unharmed — perhaps because X took her young age into account. In any case, she was fortunate to escape from the brink of a nightmare.

Scouting for women right up until his arrest

In April 2002, X was arrested on suspicion of confining and injuring two women, B-ko and C-ko. At that time, it was revealed that he had also led an almost identical life of confinement with two other women he had met via online chat rooms since February 2002 — exposing further unreported offenses. He repeatedly married and divorced the women he confined. In August 2003, X was sentenced to three years in prison with a five-year suspended sentence for assault, injury, and other crimes against four women. The 2004 incident involving A-ko occurred while he was still under probation, after he had moved to Tokyo’s Adachi Ward.

From X’s home in Sapporo, police seized about 1,000 adult games in addition to sadomasochistic items. Among them, his favorites were “training” genre games. A-ko was reportedly forced to cosplay and violently assaulted in a manner resembling these games. When she was rescued, her body was covered in scars, and the severe stress had caused her hair to fall out.

After A-ko escaped, X moved to a different apartment in Sapporo in April 2005, possibly to evade police investigation. Yet even then, his behavior didn’t stop. A cabaret club hostess recounted:

“When I sat next to him, he kept asking, ‘How many minutes before the girls get switched here?’ I figured he just wanted to see different girls, so I asked him what type he liked. He said, ‘Right now,I’m into the soothing, gentle type.’ It chills me to think what might have happened if a girl like that had been there.”

After his arrest, X completely denied the allegations. However, given his disturbing tendencies, authorities suspected there could be even more female victims yet unknown.

He appeared in court wearing a white suit.

Afterward, X was re-arrested for confining a 22-year-old woman in a Tokyo apartment for about four months, as well as for detaining three other women between December 2003 and December 2004. He was later indicted for confinement and assault against four women, including A-ko.

Because the tracksuit X wore when he was first sent to prosecutors resembled a costume from The Prince of Tennis, he came to be nicknamed “Confinement Prince” online and in the media. It seems he even had a certain following.

During the trial, which began in December 2005, X completely denied the charges, claiming, “I was with the women, but they could leave whenever they wanted. I never confined anyone.” He often appeared in court wearing a white suit, reportedly behaving like a stage actor. There were no signs of remorse — he would casually flip through girls’ novels during the proceedings and at times even lectured the judge about his personal theories on sadomasochism.

In October 2007, the Tokyo District Court sentenced X to 14 years in prison, stating: “It was an extremely malicious crime, disregarding the women’s dignity by depriving them of freedom and subjecting them to his will. There is a high likelihood of him repeating similar crimes.” X immediately appealed the verdict, but the sentence was finalized in July 2012, with his previously suspended three-year prison term also revoked and added to the sentence.

Even based on what has been revealed, X confined and tried to dominate at least eight women. One can only hope that such heinous acts will never be repeated.