Photo/Illutration The Las Vegas Strip in 2019 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

A woman who operates a dating club in Ome, western Tokyo, and two others were arrested on Jan. 31 over allegations they recruited a woman in Japan for prostitution purposes in Las Vegas.

The arrests came after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security asked Japan’s National Police Agency to protect the recruited woman, who is in her 30s.

Tokyo police believe the three suspects received commissions from an overseas prostitution ring and have recruited other women in Japan for sex work abroad.

According to police, the three conspired to send messages titled “Las Vegas dating deals” through the Line communication app to the woman when she lived in Japan around March 2023.

The messages mentioned working conditions, such as “1-3 deals for 5-hour shifts a day” and “1.8 million yen ($12,180) guaranteed,” police said.

The 37-year-old suspect who operates the dating club has denied the allegations.

“I did not think the job involved prostitution,” she was quoted as saying.

The other two suspects have admitted to violating the Employment Security Law, police said.

The recruited woman, who has returned to Japan, told investigators she was aware that “dating deals” meant prostitution, police said.

She had known the dating club operator before she applied for the job offered on the Line messages.

The woman traveled to the United States in early May last year and was twice dispatched to male clients of Asian descent in the Las Vegas area.

Later, after she ran into problems with a local prostitution ring over customer service and remuneration, she consulted local authorities.

The woman returned to Japan in the same month and was taken into protective custody by the Metropolitan Police Department.

She also told investigators that she had worked as a prostitute in Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the Philippines through introductions by a different person, police said.

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