The Real Pickup Academy Case: A Memo from a Former Prison Colleague

On January 12, the Supreme Court of Japan dismissed the appeal of Yasusuke Watanabe, 45, who was accused of quasi-forcible sexual intercourse with a group of women he had picked up after getting them drunk and intoxicated.

Watabe was the director of the Real Nampa Academy (RNA), a pick-up school. He taught his students how to “get” women for a fee, but the reality was that he made them drink strong alcohol, made them unable to resist, and then sexually assaulted them.

In 2018, Watabe was arrested and later charged with quasi-forcible sexual intercourse with three women in their twenties for intoxicating and sexually assaulting women he had picked up. He was later indicted for quasi-forcible sexual intercourse with three women in their 20s. He had consistently denied the charges, but the Tokyo District Court in the first instance found that he had committed the assault and sentenced him to 13 years in prison, which was upheld by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court also upheld the verdict. “I couldn’t stand the severity of the bullying and was driven into a corner.

One of the RNA students, Takuya Hanyu (then 33), a former company employee who was convicted of quasi-forcible sexual intercourse and group quasi-rape against two women and sentenced to seven years in prison in 2018, is currently serving time in a prison in the Kanto region. One of the prisoners, Mr. A, told us about his behavior in prison, and Mr. B, who testified this time, said that he attempted suicide after being bullied by Hanyu, who was getting bigger and bigger in prison.

He was originally scheduled to be released on parole, but due to his suicide attempt, his parole was cancelled and he was released at the end of the term, seven months away.

Mr. B had been in the same prison as Hanyu until last year due to a traffic accident. He had been serving in the same prison as Hanyu until last year due to a traffic accident, and together with Hanyu and another inmate, he was in charge of the sanitation section of the “new inmates’ factory,” which was responsible for giving guidance to the new inmates.

Mr. B was the youngest among the hygiene staff, but his sentence was shorter than any of the other three. Since he had an underwriter, he was about to undergo a “preparatory interview” for parole and was steadily making arrangements for his release. Attempting suicide is a violation of compliance in prison and is subject to punishment. Of course, Mr. B knew this, but he couldn’t stand the bullying of the inmates and tried to die. Three months had passed since they started working together at the factory.

He refrained from revealing the specific method of his suicide, but he took time to prepare to escape the bullying.

It took me about a month from planning to execution. I wanted to do it thoroughly. I was already trapped to that point.

At that time, I couldn’t sleep and only slept three to four hours a day, so I had to learn the timing of the patrols by the prison guards on the night shift. The prison guards wore athletic shoes at night so that we wouldn’t hear their shoes, but I could tell by their presence. I counted and learned how long it would take for them to come around,” said Mr. B.

That’s how the day came. The night patrol happened to be conducted by a prison guard who had a distinctive way of walking, and even though he was wearing athletic shoes, he could hear the sound of his feet squeaking as he walked. He was found soon after he lost consciousness. After being taken to the protection room, he was punished.

Hanyu’s bullying, which drove Mr. B to suicide, was said to be verbal.

He had set up his own rules, which he called ‘Hanyu Rules,’ and controlled them even more closely. The prison tacitly approved of it. Whenever he strayed from the Hanyu Rules, he would say something sarcastic to me.

The Hanyu Rules are even more detailed than the prison rules, and every day I was told, “Even if your head is over capacity because of your age, please be firm. When he found out that Ms. B had a certain qualification, he told her , “If you’re smart, please do your work with a little organization in your head,” every time he lectured her.

Every time I strayed from the hanyu rule, he would say, “We’re new factory hygiene, so it’s natural that we can do it without being taught! I still have that phrase looping in my head. I think I’ve been traumatized.

Mr. B wrote down his days in prison in a notebook. After she was assigned to a new factory and started working with Hanyu, she began to have trouble communicating with him, and her notebooks became longer and longer. The following are the contents of the notebook that Mr. B kept at that time.

At the post-bath inspection, Mr. Ha scolded me for my clothes.

I was hoping that today would be the day that I would not be warned about anything, but from this morning on, Mr. Ha was giving me a hard time about how I folded the bedding, scolding me for not putting the dishwashing detergent in the dishwasher, and in the evening, when I was getting dressed, he scolded me by saying, “Don’t just stand there with your head in the sand. I was scolded. （If you don’t want to commit suicide, you’ll have to be reassigned.

Why am I so incapable of doing my job?　I’m working very hard myself, but because my sentence is so short, do they see me as working on it with a lax mind?　In fact, did Ha-san tell you on X X X X. Does Ha-san see me as doing my work in a lax manner?

I’m trying my best to work hard every day, taking care not to be a burden to the other inmates, but if that’s not enough, I want you to fire me.

I’m not cut out to be a sanitation worker.

Ha picked a fight with me during the evening inspection.

With each passing day, the notes contained more and more blaming.

The notebooks contain more and more blaming statements, and Mr. B says, “I’m being told what to do, and I feel like I’m becoming a burden to them or a hindrance to them because I can’t do my job.

Why Hanyu is not seen as a problem

The reason why he refers to Hanyu as “Ha” is because, “After the suicide attempt, my notebook was confiscated by the prison as evidence, but when I asked for it back when I was released, they told me to erase everything I wrote about Hanyu.

Thus, Mr. B was punished for attempting suicide, which was a violation of prison regulations, but when he talked with other inmates who were sent here, he learned that he was not the only victim of Hanyu’s bullying.

When I was sent up for discipline, everyone would ask each other which factory I came from. When I told them I was a sanitation worker at the new plant, they would ask me, ‘Why a sanitation worker? They would ask me, ‘Why the sanitation staff? First of all, because sanitation staff are not brought up for discipline. Then, when they asked me why I was being punished, I said, ‘No, I was mentally cornered,’ and they all said, ‘Hanyu, right?

We also found out that Mr. B was not the only one the hanyu prisoners had driven to suicide. In the four years since he was imprisoned, several other inmates have gone down the same path as Mr. B because of disputes with him.

But the hanyou has no direct hand in it, so it’s a non-issue. The prison won’t do anything. Even if he complains about the damage, it’s not because he was caught red-handed. Even if you complain about the damage, they say, ‘It depends on your way of thinking. The prison itself is very reactive.

A number of inmates have suffered from mental illness due to attacks by Hanyu. The prison will probably try to force the other inmates to put up with him until he is released.