Arrested girls bar manager rumored to be former race queen and wrestler

What happens to those sexy, leggy race queens (grid girls) when their careers dry up? Well, in the case of Chisato Morishita, they might go into politics. A lucky few switch to grave. Others run bars.

And possibly get arrested for doing so.

Last week, people went crazy about the beautiful, chatty bar manager who was among five arrested in a police crackdown in Kabukicho, Akihabara, and Ikebukuro, and now some details and rumors about her background have emerged.

Tomoko Nagata is accused of operating Wisteria as an unlicensed girls bar in Kabukicho because her female staff were not just serving customers but sitting at their tables to talk to them. This counts as “entertainment” and hostessing, and so violates the law unless the establishment is registered as a hostess club.

Nagata admits that her staff did sit with men but denies the charge of “entertaining” customers.

A girls bar is just that, a bar where the staff are all young women, but the staff are not meant to sit at your table or booth. Many girls bars just have counter seats at the actual bar to avoid this issue, so customers can admire and chat with the girls behind the bar while they are still nominally serving.

The 41-year-old Nagata was shown in footage being taken away from the bar by police while talking happily with officers, all smiles and charm.

Of course, it’s far from the first time that netizens have been stunned by the beauty of a girls bar employee in trouble with the cops.

But it seems that Nagata is actually Akane Watase (渡瀬茜), a former race queen, gravure idol, and female wrestler. She released several image DVDs in the 2010s and appeared as a grid girl at a lot of races in the same period. She was also performing as a wrestler at this time.

Her age doesn’t quite match the reported age of Nagata (Watase is meant to be 38) but it wouldn’t be unusual for idols and models to under-report their age. Watase’s official social media and blog have not been updated for several years.

One thing’s for sure, Nagata and Watase certainly look a lot a like.

Being a former wrestler would also mean that she could easily deal with customers who make trouble at her bar!