Photo/Illutration Dekasegi Charme, a website that advertises job opportunities related to overseas prostitution (Captured from website)

Four men were arrested on April 4 on suspicion of brokering two Japanese women for prostitution in the United States under an arrangement that may have involved hundreds of women.

Yoshio Usui, 52, a “sugar dating” club owner from Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward, and two others are accused of brokering the two women, in their 20s and 30s, to a prostitution agency in the United States last spring.

The three have admitted to the allegations, the Metropolitan Police Department said.

The suspects also said they have brokered 200 to 300 women to the United States, Australia, Canada and elsewhere for prostitution purposes, making about 200 million yen ($1.3 million), according to police.

The fourth suspect has denied part of the allegation against him, police said.

The two Japanese women entered the United States in March or April last year and worked at brothels for 10 to 30 days, each earning from about 900,000 yen to 2.5 million yen, the sources said.

Police suspect the two women and more than 100 others contacted the suspects through the job seach website Dekasegi Charme, which opened in 2021.

Japanese police started their investigation after U.S. authorities reported the website to them in April last year.

According to an investigative source, this type of cross-border human trafficking brokerage has grown in Japan because of the higher pay for prostitutes overseas, a trend fueled by the post-pandemic lifting of travel restrictions and the weak yen.

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