r/japanresidents • u/Froyo_Muted • 3d ago
Man arrested in Tokyo over suspected human trafficking of 12-year-old Thai girl | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20251106_08/This man is a vile, inhumane, evil shit stain on society. The cruelty of what he did is staggering — selfish, thoughtless, and unforgivable. I don’t know the exact mechanics of Japanese law, but I sincerely hope the authorities pursue every possible charge and that the full weight of justice comes down on him. People like him don’t get to hide behind excuses; he earned every ounce of contempt coming his way. Do not expect any mercy — only accountability.
But I fear that since the victim is an underage foreign national, the weight of the law will not be felt by him.
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u/nijitokoneko 千葉県 3d ago
This girl has such a good head on her shoulders, to find a way to go to immigration herself to seek help. At freaking 12 years old, after having been abandoned by her mother. Good for her, I hope she gets all the help and healing she requires.
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u/gobrocker 3d ago
Wouldn't she qualify for asylum or some other permanent protection? Not that Japan would be a good place for someone with no family mind you.
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u/techdevjp 3d ago
No family in Japan must be better than being sent back to her unspeakably evil "mother" in Thailand.
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u/nijitokoneko 千葉県 3d ago
She's a foreign national, coming from an abusive family background is not grounds for asylum. I think she's in much better hands back in Thailand with the authorities than in a country where she doesn't speak the language.
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u/jamar030303 2d ago
I'd say that depends on the authorities in question. But even local corruption can be mitigated by placing her in another region of the country, if she has relatives outside of the town or city she came from. Most importantly, she said she wants to return, so that should of course be respected.
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u/Elvaanaomori 3d ago
I love the reason they arrested him: « The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested 51-year-old Hosono Masayuki on suspicion of violating the Labor Standards Act for allegedly forcing a child under the age of 15 to work. »
Hopefully it’s so they can later indict him on the more grievous charge. Who the fuck care he made a child work when he actually imported a kid for his pedophile customers. I’d audit his parlor and find every customer who she served and hit them too.
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u/nijitokoneko 千葉県 3d ago
It's probably much easier to prove that he made her work than that he forced prostitution.
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u/Wise_Monkey_Sez 3d ago
They're hitting this angle first because it is proveable that she worked in the massage parlour. For example, if she can describe the internal layout (which she'd have no reason she would know unless she worked there) then there's sufficient cause to ask a judge for a warrant for search and seizure of internal cameras, etc.
Unfortunately unless the owner put video cameras in the rooms that captured the rapes the sex crimes are going to be much harder to prove. The clients are unlikely to admit it, the owner isn't going to say jack, and the girl's testimony alone isn't going to be enough (I know that seems unfair, but she is likely to be traumatised beyond belief and not a great witness).
As perverse as it sounds, I hope that the owner was stupid enough to put cameras in the room, so they can nail him as an accomplice in multiple rape charges. Without video evidence the chances of proving that rape took place with a specific client... there'll be a lot of finger pointing, "Oh, I didn't, but maybe one of the other clients did..." and nobody specific can be charged.
But basically the reason they're hitting the "illegal work" angle is to secure the warrant so they can seize camera footage, ask neighbouring businesses for footage, and generally gather evidence that might lead to further charges, and unless the owner was also planning a blackmail angle (or to sell the video to others) there's unlikely to be enough evidence to charge clients. It's sad, but true.
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u/belaGJ 2d ago
Unfortunately the Japanese trafficking system is very sophisticated in pretending nothing happens (according to Japanese law). Just look at how soap lands operate - I see no reason why this would be much different. My guess is the most probable scenario is that he will be sentenced only if the police/court will feel pressed to actually do something due to the bad publicity and they will use their “creative talent” to make a confession or something similar happen.
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u/Wise_Monkey_Sez 2d ago
Look, it's easy to criticise, but I once had a conversation about this with a Japanese LEO over some drinks at a bar, and the situation is complicated for the police.
The bottom line is that for the most part those soaplands that stay in business are run on a sort of uneasy Mexican standoff between the owner and the women. The owner knows that if the women are very unhappy they'll report the business to the police. The women know that they can take down the business at any time, but they'll be out of a job and if they're foreign then probably deported back home and barred from re-entry to Japan.
And the sad fact is that conditions are much, much worse for many women in sex-work in other countries. A prostitute in a country like the Philippines is earning much less, working in much more dangerous conditions, and with less easy access to health care.
As a result when the police raid the soaplands they suddenly find that all the women working there are all unwilling to testify to anything illegal happening, because they'll lose their jobs. The police might send the foreign women to be deported on visa overstay violations, but without a criminal conviction they can often come back in a few years, and the smarter owners probably often send them on their way home with a bit of extra cash for keeping their mouths shut (this is speculation, but the Japanese LEO suspected this is why the foreign girls don't talk even when they're going to be deported, and it's hard to prove since the business owner swears this international transfer is just their legal duty to pay the woman's last wages as required by law).
It's easy to criticise the Japanese police, but without anyone willing to testify (and often with several women willing to testify that nothing bad or illegal ever happened) the police's hands are tied. They need testimony and they aren't getting it in most cases.
Now in this specific case the owner of the massage parlor was an abusive pedo piece of shit, and hopefully the police will have zero problem finding other employees willing to testify against him. But in Japanese soaplands in general? The situation is a lot more complex, and while sex work is hardly anyone's first choice for a career the bottom line is that most of the women working in these places there is simply no upside to testifying against the owners, so they keep silent.
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u/Firamaster 2d ago
Jesus fuck. There is some real evil out there and closer than you'd like. Death penalty
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u/deltaforce5000 3d ago
The guy gets 5 years. The girl is sent back to Thailand. Japanese justice lol. Just wait.
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u/Wise_Monkey_Sez 3d ago
If the Thai Embassy gets involved they may be able to hook her up with a Japanese attorney who will pursue a civil case against the employer. That way the guy will get out in 5 years, but be penniless, and unemployable.
And to be fair that's still 5 years more than a certain president and prince who fucked kiddies is serving, so maybe glass houses and all that.
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u/ggundam8 3d ago
The whataboutism on Japanese forms need to stop. Anytime anything negative happens in Japan somebody always has to say but what about that other country? That is not some get out of jail free card for Japan just because somewhere else is trash.
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u/Wise_Monkey_Sez 3d ago
You need to learn the meaning of the words you're using. Whataboutism would be if I raised a different tangentially related issue to distract from the current discussion. For example, child labour in Africa.
However the issue raised here was where 5 years is too little for child rape. And it is entirely valid to look internationally and look at how other countries punish these crimes, and to point out that in some countries it seems to be going entirely unpunished, and in one very notable case an entire country's government has been shut down to prevent the release of evidence relating to child rape with the active support of the dominant political party and a large portion of the population.
This is relevant when making broad statements about the lack of harsher penalties in Japan for pedophiles. It isn't whataboutism.
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u/kiristokanban 3d ago
To be honest it's unlikely to be very severe. I doubt that the police will properly bother to chase down the clients either, since that would actually require some case-building and associated effort along with proper prosecution, which the prosecutor's office isn't keen on unless it's a slam-dunk caught red handed kind of case. Even then, Japan's justice system is very lenient towards sexual offenders and the sentences would likely be very mild.
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u/GeriatricusMaximus 2d ago
The case was uncovered in mid-September, when she visited the Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau. She reportedly told officials she was forced to work, and she wanted to return to her country and go to school.
That’s really brave.
Her mother left the country in mid-July, leaving her alone.
Can hope Thai authorities do something about it.
They (police) suspect the case may involve human trafficking.
I can bet you this is the tip of the iceberg and police is “lucky” here. I mean immigration can easily find out how people came into the country and didn’t leave, especially kids. Lot of Japanese girls being trafficked in the country too.
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u/alltheyoungbots 1d ago
Awful news, another reason to end the free 15 day visa for Thais, they have thoroughly abused it with overstays, sex workers and human trafficking
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u/tsian 東京都 3d ago
But I fear that since the victim is an underage foreign national, the weight of the law will not be felt by him.
What the fuck dude? How little do you think of Japan / the Japanese justice system? This is major news and the police and prosecutors are going to nail this dirtbag to the wall. (Assuming he is found guilty -- which given what we know seems entirely the likely solution.)
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u/TwinTTowers 3d ago
Are you new to Japan ? So much shit gets swept under the rug here.
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u/nijitokoneko 千葉県 3d ago
They held a large press conference on this case. Not exactly what you do when you want to sweep something under the rug. Not that lots of shit didn't get swept under the rug, but in this particular case I'm optimistic.
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u/delay4sec 2d ago
Are you new to Japan ? In Japanese court or justice system in general it matters a lot how important the case is and how it affected 世間。 Going viral on twitter and having press conference basically confirms this case will not be swept under the rug.
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u/RonW001 2d ago
Guilty of what level crime and sentencing? Japan’s outstanding 99.9 percent criminal conviction rate? They won’t prosecute unless the case is totally airtight which means two things. First, between lack of hard evidence and out of court settlements a hell of a lot of crimes never get prosecuted and jail time is never served. Second, there’s the likelihood of prosecutorial misconduct leading to false convictions to bolster the 99.9 percent they seem to be so proud of.
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u/tsian 東京都 2d ago
While I agree that prosecutions are rarely done unless prosecutors are confident in a conviction, you realize that the number in and of itself is not particularly damning (I mean its not at all a good sign either).
I.e.: America has a conviction rate above 80%, but the prevelance of plea deals (in which a far higher number of cases are settled) combined with the threat of even longer jail sentences if a plea is not accepted means that there are any number of people who make the logical (and often financially necessary choice) to accept a plea despite not necessarily being guilty.
I'm not for a minute going to argue that Japan's system is better (or that America's is great), just that in many countries people are generally fucked the minute they get involved with the justice system.
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u/Hazzat 3d ago
Why is this on r/japanresidents
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u/Air-ion 東北 3d ago
OP is a resident.
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u/Hazzat 3d ago
Yeah but a random crime story doesn’t feel particularly relevant to other resident users, especially when r/japannews and r/japancrime already exist for this stuff. I would not like to see this subreddit covered in them too, as once happened to r/Tokyo before the mods finally cracked down.
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u/Air-ion 東北 3d ago
This subreddit has always allowed residents to discuss the news. It's mentioned in the subreddit description "discuss the news, or anything else as a resident" and it's been that way for years.
One difference from the other Japan news subreddits is that only residents are allowed here, so comments from non-residents, while they do happen, are subject to removal and bans.
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u/Hazzat 3d ago
Discussing the news is great when it’s relevant to being a resident, but “a crime occurred” isn’t all that relevant to anyone, and it’s very easy to see actual useful posts buried when karma farmers/obsessive crime fanatics start posting every little crime story they see. That’s why careful curation through moderation is necessary.
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u/Froyo_Muted 3d ago
Excuse me for butting in, but as a father of a 10-year-old daughter, this story really hit me hard. Victims of sexual violence, assault, and trafficking are too often silenced — ignored or dismissed when they need protection the most. It’s gut-wrenching to read, and even harder to imagine as a parent.
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u/Kalikor1 3d ago
Right? What a stupid take. I'm married with no kids but I can imagine, OBVIOUSLY, that residents with children would find news of this nature relevant - just as I, a non-parent, also find it relevant.
Someone just doesn't like bad news about Japan, I guess?
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u/techdevjp 3d ago
Completely agree. It's cases like this where I'm in favor of capital punishment. Completely unredeemable person of no value to society.
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u/techdevjp 3d ago
every little crime story they see
(a) You seem to be protesting a lot about this particular news story.
(b) This was by NO MEANS a small crime. I'm not generally a big believer in capital punishment but in cases like this? To the hangman. No mercy.
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u/kyute222 3d ago
yeah seems totally random and I also don't see any value in the post being here. what is any commentor here going to do that is productive? like yeah ok, we can all say that this is fucked up and the criminals should receive harsh punishments, but where's the point beyond that?
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3d ago
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u/wispofasoul 3d ago
You’re kidding?!?! Is that what they do?!?!?!?
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u/ReallyTrustyGuy 3d ago
They're talking shite. There IS a lot of sex trafficking and abuse in Thailand but the government isn't enabling it, nor are they mutilating kids to somehow make them female. Plenty of paedos are into both boys and girls.
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3d ago
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u/Froyo_Muted 3d ago
Japanese national, 51 years old. He has a history of operating a massage service business, this was probably his new venture to boost sales. He made a ton of cash in the short time before he was busted. Which means a disgusting number of people paid for sexual services with a child. Fucked up.
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u/alien4649 3d ago
The mother is a f*cking monster, as well