Spate of attacks on Hiroshima sex industry continues
Two men armed with bats burst into a place in Kokutai-ji in Naka-ku which the Chugoku Shinbun describes as being a former office of a sex club in the middle of the day July 1, smashing it up before escaping. Local police believe the incident was intended to send a message to the increasing number of sex clubs that are refusing to pay protection money, known as aisatsu-ryo or “greeting charge”, to local crime syndicates.
The two men are said to have been wearing sunglasses and masks (one assumes allergy masks) and after entering the office proceeded, without uttering a word, to smash the place up with.baseball bats, before taking off in a car driven by a third man standing watch outside. The whole incident was over in less than a minute.
This is the latest in a series of incidents in which people connected with the sex industry have apparently been targeted. In May, three masked men attacked a man in Atago-machi not far from the Shinkansen Station and smashed up his car with metal bats and pieces of wood. Another person’s car was vandalised in Funariri.
These attacks followed a arson attack on one of the many sex club information booths that are found in the entertainment district in June. It is believed that this booth also refused to pay protection money. A member of the Kyouseikai crime syndicate is under arrest for “forcible obstruction of business”.
