Photo/Illutration The room housing the massage parlor where the Thai girl was forced to work, center, is shown during a police search on Nov. 4. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The operator of a massage parlor in Tokyo was referred to prosecutors on Dec. 8 on suspicion of forcing a Thai girl to engage in lewd acts with customers and himself in violation of the Child Welfare Law.

Masayuki Hosono has admitted to the allegations, saying, “It is true that I made her provide sexual services to male customers and myself,” police said.

This is the first police action against allegations that the girl was made to provide sexual services.

The girl, who was 12 when she was forced to work at the shop, was taken into protective custody as a victim of human trafficking in September.

Hosono, 51, had been arrested on suspicion of employing her in violation of the Labor Standards Law’s minimum working age provisions.

In referring him to prosecutors, the Metropolitan Police Department attached a recommendation calling for “strict punishment,” which means indictment.

Police are also considering questioning customers after identifying them.

According to the MPD, Hosono allegedly failed to take steps required to verify the girl’s age and made her engage in indecent acts with unspecified male customers at his shop from around June 30 to around Aug. 13.

He is also suspected of making her perform lewd acts on himself around Aug. 10.

The girl told police that the suspect, naked, asked her to touch his lower body.

“I felt I had no choice but to comply, thinking that I would be thrown out if I refused,” she was quoted as saying.

The girl arrived in Japan with her mother in late June.

According to her testimony, her mother told her, “Rub the (customer’s) lower body. That is all it is.”

The girl attended to about 70 customers over around 40 days until mid-August.

She was instructed to hand over all the fees she received, which totaled about 627,000 yen ($4,000), to Hosono, according to police.

Article 34 of the Child Welfare Law also prohibits delivering a child to someone likely to make them engage in indecent acts.

The MPD has obtained an arrest warrant for the girl’s mother on suspicion of violating the law by handing the girl over to the shop.

The mother was arrested in Taiwan on suspicion of prostitution and remains in custody. Police in Japan and Thailand are discussing how to proceed with the investigation.

“We will work with relevant agencies to support the girl’s safe return home,” a senior MPD official said.

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