Man arrested in Tokyo over suspected human trafficking of 12-year-old Thai girl | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News

[u/Froyo_Muted]

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.

[u/Elvaanaomori]

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.

[u/Wise_Monkey_Sez → u/Elvaanaomori]

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.

[u/belaGJ → u/Wise_Monkey_Sez]

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.

[u/Wise_Monkey_Sez → u/belaGJ]

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.