Ex-Escort Manager Sent 17-Year-Old to Hotel on Interview Day—“It’s Illegal, But Special”

During an interview at a sex industry shop, the man said to a minor girl without confirming his age sufficiently, such as asking him to present his resident registration certificate.

“It’s not true, but it’s special.”

By July 11, the Metropolitan Police Department’s Juvenile Development Division arrested Sugawara Sadamasa (55), a former manager of the delivery health store S in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, with no fixed address on suspicion of violating the Child Welfare Act. He is said to have denied the charges by police, saying that he doesn’t remember.

“It is said that Sugawara sent A, a girl who was 17 at the time, to work at the delivery health service S from September to October last year. It appears that A presented another person’s student ID during an interview with S, but Sugawara didn’t confirm his age enough and said, ‘It’s actually not good.’

S’s homepage apparently featured a photo and profile at the time A applied for the interview. Apparently, they were already accepting reservations. Sugawara dispatched Mr. A to a hotel in Tokyo on the day of the interview. It is said that men in their 50s provided sexual services. According to the police, Mr. A used the income he earned from S to be his favorite for men’s underground idols.” (National newspaper social studies reporter)

Weaknesses of the girls

S had about 20 women working every day, and is believed to have sold around 400 million yen a year. At the prosecutor’s call on July 11th, Sugawara turned his face down and was always facing down.

If the arrest is true, what was the reason why Sugawara forced a minor girl to work? Ogawa Taihei, a former Kanagawa Prefectural Police detective and crime journalist, talks about it.

“The young girl with a young face may be popular in the store. Given that she had not adequately verified her age, it is possible that the suspect had committed a similar crime before. It is also possible that she had hired her without checking each time the girls applied.

From the girls’ perspective, working at a sex shop is extremely dangerous. They have the weakness of being a minor. In some cases, store managers and other store staff take advantage of their weaknesses, sexually assaulting the girls, and then plucking them out of the rewards they should have.”

In downtown areas such as Shinjuku and Ikebukuro, there have been many cases in which minors have been forced to work at adult entertainment establishments and become troubled.

Apparently was accepting reservations for A-san before hiring.