Ex-Tokyo Massage Shop Owner Found Guilty of Exploiting Thai Girl

A former Tokyo massage parlor owner has been sentenced to five years in prison and fined 1 million yen for exploiting a 12-year-old Thai girl to provide sexual services, according to Tokyo District Court. The court found Masayuki Hosono, 52, guilty of conspiring with the parlor's former manager, a 39-year-old Thai woman, to have the minor girl provide sexual services from June to August last year.

Judge Hiroshi Ikegami rejected the defense's argument that Hosono should be acquitted due to his lack of knowledge about the girl's age, stating that the girl's mother had told him she was her 20-year-old sister, but Hosono failed to verify her identification. The judge added that the girl was compelled to work in Japan to repay her mother's debt and came to Japan unable to refuse due to the violence she faced.