Police arrest operator of high-end Yoshiwara soapland Louvre for prostitution

This week, one of the biggest crime stories related to the sex industry has been the arrest of five people at a high-end brothel in Yoshiwara on suspicion of violating the Anti-Prostitution Act.

The 55-year-old operator, who was among the arrested on June 22 and June 23, is suspected of earning ¥5.5 billion in revenue over approximately eight and a half years. Investigators think Louvre had as many as 36 woman on its books. It has been in business since 1983 and would serve around 20 customers a day, who paid ¥80,000 for a two-hour session. Customers would pay about the official fee of ¥30,000 at the reception desk and then a further ¥50,000 to a woman once in a private room as a surcharge for “extra” services.

Louvre is located in the old red-light district of east Tokyo that is still home to many soaplands and such brothels, despite recent gentrification. Yoshiwara was in the news earlier this year because it was the location for soapland visits that were part of a major academic bribery case.

Given how many soaplands and similar types of sex establishments in Yoshiwara, let alone other parts of Tokyo, it is always curious why a particular place gets raided. The most likely reason is that police get tipped off by an ex-employee or that certain people in the police or mafia did not get the right payoff to avoid a raid.

In this case, a woman who used to work at Louvre apparently made claims about the establishment last August online, which possibly forced the authorities to act. She apparently had a grudge against the operator.

So if you are charging customers ¥80,000 for two hours, you should probably make sure enough of that money goes to the ladies who do the work and stay on their good side, or they may end up reporting you to the boys in blue.