The Arrest
A day after Hiroshima police announced the arrest of a street tout in the city's nightlife district, they turned to a different figure on the same streets: the scout.
On Tuesday, September 29, 2026, the Hiroshima Prefectural Police arrested a 22-year-old restaurant employee from Showa-machi in Hiroshima's Naka Ward on suspicion of violating the Employment Security Act by referring a person to "harmful work," according to reports by RCC Chugoku Broadcasting, HOME Hiroshima Home Television and the Chugoku Shimbun.
Police allege that in February, the man touted on a downtown street in Naka Ward, drew a woman who was 20 at the time into the bar where he then worked, and brokered a job for her at a sex business, which she went on to work at.
Police have not disclosed whether he admits the allegation, citing the ongoing investigation, RCC reported.
A Suspected Scout Ring
Police believe the man is a member of an illegal scout group, a network that recruits young women in nightlife districts and places them with sex businesses in exchange for fees.
According to RCC, police had received multiple tips that such groups were operating openly in Hiroshima's downtown districts, approaching women and collecting payments for placing them at sex businesses and similar venues. The man's alleged role surfaced during that investigation.
Police believe he was paid for the referral. Beginning at about 6 p.m. on September 29, investigators searched the sex business where the woman worked for about three and a half hours, HOME Hiroshima reported. Police say they are working to map the group behind him.
The Chugoku Shimbun reported that the arrest was made by the Hiroshima Central Police Station together with the prefectural police's headquarters for comprehensive measures in downtown and entertainment districts, the same unit involved in the touting arrest announced on September 28. None of the reports named the sex business or said how much the man was allegedly paid.
The Law Behind the Charge
Japan's Employment Security Act regulates job placement. Article 63 makes it a crime to place or recruit a worker for "work harmful to public health or public morals," a provision prosecutors routinely apply to scouts who place women at sex businesses. It is one of the act's heaviest penalties: imprisonment of one to 10 years or a fine of ¥200,000 to ¥3 million.
The fee side of the trade has also been squeezed. A June 2025 amendment to the fūei-hō (the Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Act) bars sex businesses from paying scouts for introducing job-seekers, the so-called "scout-back." Police across Japan have since used the ban against business operators, while the Employment Security Act remains the main tool against the scouts themselves.
A Busy Week in Hiroshima
The case adds to a run of enforcement in Hiroshima's nightlife districts. On September 28, police announced the arrest of a 53-year-old man accused of touting a plainclothes officer in Nagarekawa in May, under the prefecture's nuisance prevention ordinance.
Nationally, police have made scout groups a priority, describing them as a pipeline that moves young women, often indebted to host clubs, into sex work. Earlier this month, Tokyo police took the unusual step of publishing the verbatim LINE messages scouts send to women they have approached on the street.
The man arrested Tuesday has not been charged. Under Japanese procedure, prosecutors will decide whether to indict him.
Sources: RCC Chugoku Broadcasting, September 30, 2026, 5:00 a.m. (via Yahoo! News Japan), for the arrest, the suspect's age, occupation and residence, the allegation, the tips about scout groups and the suspected payment. HOME Hiroshima Home Television, September 30, 2026 (via Yahoo! News Japan), for the woman's age at the time, the bar, and the timing and length of the search. The Chugoku Shimbun (Chugoku Shimbun Digital), September 29, 2026, for the charge and the police units involved. Article 63 of the Employment Security Act for the penalty range; Osaka Prefectural Police guidance on the 2025 fūei-hō amendment for the scout-back ban. Earlier arrests are drawn from this site's September 29 and September 5 articles. An arrest is not a finding of guilt. Consistent with the Japanese reports, no one is named here.