6 Arrested for Involvement in Tourist-Targeted Prostitution Business; Brothels in Kabukicho Catered to Visitors Using Translation App

The Yomiuri Shimbun

18:00 JST, February 4, 2025

Six men have been arrested on suspicion of providing rooms for prostitution targeting foreign tourists, in violation of the Anti-Prostitution Law, the Metropolitan Police Department announced Tuesday.

The arrested included Kazuki Sudo, 54, from Hyakunincho, Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, manager of SPARAKU, a brothel in Shinjuku’s Kabukicho district. The arrests of Sudo and five others were made on Sunday and Monday, police said.

According to the announcement, the six were suspected of having female employees use rooms at SPARAKU and another brothel in Kabukicho from October to December last year, knowing that the women would be prostituting themselves. Sudo allegedly admitted to the charge, saying, “We appealed [to foreign tourists], telling them that we could provide cheap sex with Japanese women.”

Sixty to seventy percent of the two brothels’ customers were foreigners, and they did business in currencies from 16 countries and regions, including U.S. dollars, Chinese yuan, and the currencies of India, Qatar, Mexico and Argentina.

The female employees apparently used a translation app to communicate with foreign customers.

It is rare for the police to expose brothels that cater to foreign tourists, and the MPD believes that the two locations were bringing in a total of about ¥1.2 million per day.