Female staff and male customers were “indecent” in a restaurant.

It was still daytime when the sun was still high in the sky, and indecent acts were being committed openly inside the store.

On July 19, the Metropolitan Police Department’s Security Division announced the arrest of Masao Sato, 65, a brothel owner, and Kiyoshi Sasaki, 68, the manager of the brothel, on suspicion of public indecency. The store is Red Diamond, located near JR Kamata Station (Ota Ward, Tokyo). The restaurant was reported as a restaurant with entertainment, which is required for cabaret clubs and snack bars, but in reality it is believed to have been a pink salon where sexual services were provided.

The incident occurred shortly after midday on July 17. A female staff member and a male customer were naked and engaged in indecent acts. The man and woman were sitting on a sofa, touching and licking each other’s bodies. There is only a one-meter partition around them. The indecent acts were visible from any other seats.

Sato admitted to the police that he knew he was guilty of public indecency because he was in full view. There were about 10 female employees working at the restaurant. The man and woman who were committing the indecent acts were caught red-handed, but have since been released,” said a reporter from the society section of a national newspaper.

Business was suspended last April.

This is not the only public indecency at Red Diamond. The “Red Diamond” is not the only one that has been suspected of openly indecent behavior.

There was information that sexual services were being offered at the restaurant, and in April of last year, the Tokyo Metropolitan Public Safety Commission imposed a suspension of business. However, after reopening for business, the same services continued. Last November, another accusation was filed, and the Security Division of the Metropolitan Police Department was investigating the matter. The store opened in July 2008 and had sold approximately 20 million yen in two years,” he said.

In June, a manager in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, was arrested for posing as a massage parlor, and in July, an employee in Yokkaichi City, Mie Prefecture, was caught for providing sexual services without a license. What are the reasons behind this? Freelance writer Yuuki Okukubo, an expert on the sex industry, explains.

Up to now, the services provided by brothels have been in a gray zone, just short of illegal. As long as there were no accusations, the police seemed to tolerate them. In the past few years, with the spread of smartphones and other devices, the violation of laws and regulations by each store has become easily exposed on the Internet. With information, the police have no choice but to act.

When the new coronavirus first began to spread, it was difficult to conduct an internal investigation because the number of customers had been slowing down. But recently, customers have returned to all the stores, and illegal activities have become conspicuous.

The police believe that illegal services were repeated at the “Red Diamond” and are further investigating.