A 27-year-old man has been arrested after allegedly setting up an orgy with prostitutes. Japan’s leading newspaper refers to the suspect as a “manga artist”, a label with which some online disagree.
According to one of Japan’s leading newspapers, Asahi.com (via Tokyo Reporter), the suspect, Takeshi Higuchi, allegedly violated Japan’s Anti-Prostitution Law. Asahi reports that three women and four men allegedly took part and were arrested in a Shinjuku hotel room. The women apparently work in Japan’s fuzoku industry (sex-related industry).
The Asahi headline clearly states, “Manga Artist Arrested for Allegedly Providing a Place for Prostitution, Solicited Participants Online.” The paper reports that since summer 2013, Higuchi allegedly used online bulletin boards to invite people to join in twenty or so of these orgies, supposedly collecting 5 million yen ($54,000) over the years. The price per person to participate each time was reportedly 20,000 yen ($216).
Over on Japanese anime blog Yaraon!, the issue that some commenters have is how Higuchi is being referred to as a “manga artist” in the Asahi article’s title and again in its first paragraph. Later in the article, it states that Higuchi self-published “moe” style characters under the nom de plum “Souto”. The feeling shown in some tweets and comments on Yaraon! is that the paper should have referred to him as a “self-published artist” (同人作家 or doujin sakka) instead of as a “manga artist” (漫画家 or mangaka), making a distinction between the two. Others wondered why adult videos could film orgies in Japan without being arrested or if orgies were ok as long as you didn’t collect participation fees.
Picture: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock
Comments
5 responses to “‘Manga Artist’ Arrested For Allegedly Organising A Sex Party”
Hmmmmmm.
20,000 yen seems very reasonable. Very reasonable indeed…
Same deal as in the US. Prostitution is illegal in many states… unless you’re filming it for distribution. Kinda stupid, really.
Probably simply that they’re considered ‘actors’ in that case and not prostitutes.
Ahh. Sex for money is only immoral if you’re paying for it instead of being paid for it… Gotcha.
…
People are So. Weird.