The Re-Arrest
Three weeks after Tokyo police arrested the operators of a Shinjuku shop that billed itself as a men's esthetic salon, they arrested the same men again — this time over the shop that came before it.
On Wednesday, September 30, 2026, the Metropolitan Police Department's public morals division re-arrested Ryota Kasahara, 26, of Nishi-Ochiai in Shinjuku Ward, and two other men, employees of his business, on suspicion of violating the Anti-Prostitution Act — the baishun bōshi-hō — according to reports by the Sankei Shimbun, TV Asahi (ANN) and Nippon Television (NNN). The reports named only Kasahara.
Police allege that on June 23, 2026, the three conspired to set up a "play room" in an apartment in Hyakunincho, Shinjuku Ward, and provided it as a place where a woman working for the shop would sell sex to customers.
The shop at issue is Shinjuku Shinchi Plus (新宿新地ぷらす), which Kasahara operated, Sankei reported. It is the predecessor of Bonnō-ji, the "men's esthe" shop at the center of the men's first arrest on September 9, which this site covered at the time.
"It Is a Prostitution Business"
The new allegation describes the same model police laid out three weeks ago. According to Sankei, the shop called itself a men's esthetic salon on its website and charged a base rate of 10,000 yen for 15 minutes, while the women working there sold sex.
All three men admit the allegation, the outlets reported. TV Asahi quoted them as telling investigators it was "a prostitution business, no question."
Police say the business changed its name several times to stay ahead of enforcement, according to TV Asahi. NNN reported that the men had renamed the shop as a countermeasure against police raids, and that investigators found the same conduct at the shop the men had run before Bonnō-ji.
Police estimate that Shinjuku Shinchi Plus and Bonnō-ji together took in about 80 million yen between March and September 2026, Sankei reported — the same figure police gave at the first arrest.
The Scout Connection
The September 9 arrests left one question open: who sent the women. The re-arrest begins to answer it.
An analysis of a suspect's smartphone turned up contact with "Natural," an illegal scout group, NNN reported. Sankei described Natural as one of the largest illegal scout groups in Japan and said police suspect a link between it and one of the men. TV Asahi reported that the MPD is investigating whether multiple scout groups, including Natural, illegally referred women to the men's shops.
Scouts recruit young women in nightlife districts and place them with sex businesses for fees. Placing someone in "work harmful to public morals" is a crime under the Employment Security Act, and a June 2025 amendment to the fūei-hō — the Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Act — bars sex businesses from paying scouts for introductions. Police have not said whether any scout-related charges will follow in this case.
The Law in Play
The charge, as before, is place provision under the Anti-Prostitution Act. The 1956 law does not punish the woman who sells sex or the man who buys it; it targets third parties — those who solicit, procure, contract, manage, or supply the room. Knowingly providing a place for prostitution carries up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 100,000 yen; doing so as a business carries up to seven years and a fine of up to 300,000 yen.
The "men's esthe" label matters because the fūei-hō has no license category for massage-style salons. A shop that calls itself one avoids the zoning and filing rules that govern licensed adult businesses, and becomes criminal only when police can prove that sex was sold on a specific date in a specific room — which is why cases like this one keep arriving as Anti-Prostitution Act arrests rather than licensing cases.
Under Japanese procedure, police can hold suspects on a new allegation after the first, and prosecutors will decide whether to indict on each. An arrest is not a finding of guilt.
Sources: Sankei Shimbun, September 30, 2026, 12:56 p.m. (via Yahoo! News Japan), for Kasahara's age, residence and shop, the June 23 allegation, the Hyakunincho apartment, the 15-minute/10,000-yen rate, the estimated 80 million yen in sales from March to September including Bonnō-ji, the suspected link to Natural, and the admissions. TV Asahi (ANN), September 30, 2026, 4:34 p.m., for the repeated name changes, the quoted admission, and the inquiry into multiple scout groups. Nippon Television (NNN), September 30, 2026, 3:14 p.m. (via Yahoo! News Japan), for the renaming as an enforcement countermeasure and the smartphone analysis. Penalties are from Article 11 of the Anti-Prostitution Act. The first arrests are drawn from this site's September 9 article. Only Kasahara was named in the September 30 reports, and he is the only person named here.