Overview
- Tokyo Metropolitan Police referred shop owner Hosono Masayuki, 51, to prosecutors on suspicion of violating the Child Welfare Law for causing a minor to perform sexual acts.
- Investigators say the 12-year-old Thai girl, protected as a human-trafficking victim, was made to engage in lewd acts for unspecified men at a Yushima private-room massage shop between June 30 and August 13.
- Police report that Hosono admitted directing the girl to provide sexual services to male customers and also to him.
- An opinion seeking strict prosecution accompanied the referral, and police are working to identify customers for potential questioning.
- Hosono had been arrested in November on suspected Labor Standards Act and Entertainment Business Law violations, and police also obtained a warrant for the girl’s mother in Taiwan on a related Child Welfare Law count viewed as sex trafficking.