“Recently there’s been an increase in customers who pay using credit cards,” writes Shoko Harano, pseudonym of a 36-year-old woman who works at the reception of a love hotel, and who contributes a regular column in Nikkan Gendai (March 25).

According to Harano, males account for about 80 percent of card users. Most of them are older (younger men almost always pay by cash), and typically before paying they will ask what name will appear on the monthly card billing.

Fortunately, it’s rare for love hotels in Japan to bill according to the same name on their outdoor sign. And that’s understandable; after all, who wants to have to explain to his wife a charge from the “Hot Springs Motel” or “Making Whoopie Inn”? In the case of Harano’s employer, for example, the name of a sports gym will appear. (“Honey, I was desperate for a workout and a sauna…”)

It’s also interesting, she writes, to see differences in the way genders present their cards. Men tend to yank the card from their wallet and flip it on the counter in a rather brusque manner; female patrons meticulously withdraw their card and pass it over politely. Ladies invariably accept the receipt too, slipping it into their wallets, as opposed to men who just grunt, “Iranai. Suteteoite” (I don’t need it, throw it away).

Likewise for signatures. Male patrons generally produce an indecipherable scribble.

“That’s fine by us, as long as well get the money,” says Harano. “But if they’re so worried about getting caught, it’s safer to pay cash — even if I do get a peep at their wallet’s contents.” (K.S.)

Source: “Ryokin wo kaado de harau dansei ga kamatte kiku koto wa,” Nikkan Gendai (Mar. 25, page 23)

Note: Brief extracts from Japanese vernacular media in the public domain that appear here were translated and summarized under the principle of “fair use.” Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the translations. However, we are not responsible for the veracity of their contents. The activities of individuals described herein should not be construed as “typical” behavior of Japanese people nor reflect the intention to portray the country in a negative manner. Our sole aim is to provide examples of various types of reading matter enjoyed by Japanese.

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On March 9, the Tokyo District Court found Takeshi Kuwabara, age 31, guilty of strangling to death Rie Isohata (then age 32) in April of last year.

According to Shukan Jitsuwa (Apr. 1), Kuwabara had met Isohata while employed as a wakararesase-ya (professional relationship destroyer) by a company based in Tokyo’s Toshima Ward. His client, the woman’s estranged husband, had retained the company to break up her cohabitation with a Tochigi man begun two years earlier.

Tailing Isohata into a supermarket, Kuwabara feigned a chance encounter, flashing a brilliant smile followed by this pick-up line: “Excuse me, but might you be able to direct me to a shop around here that sells tasty cheesecake?”

He then introduced himself as a businessman working in the IT sector, and the two hit it off.

Isohata’s husband, as originally planned, was able to utilize photos of his wife with Kuwabara to initiate divorce on the grounds of infidelity.

But around the time of their third date, Kuwabara made what proved to be a fatal mistake: he fell in love with his prey and asked her to cohabit with him. Despite having a wife and child residing in Tokyo’s Koto Ward, he set up a second home with Isohata in a manshon on the other side of town. Kuwabara soon ran out of funds and fought with his employer, which reveled his true occupation to Isohata.

The infuriated Isohata confronted her lover and the two fought violently.

“Kuwabara is a pretty sleazy character,” a report for a local news desk tells the magazine. “His victim learned what he really was at the start of the divorce hearing. He was also in hock to loan sharks. He claimed he had been slandered by his own family, but actually he may have gone after Isohata because her family had property.”

Upon the handing down of a 15-year sentence for homicide, when Kuwabara faced the deceased’s family and bowed in repentance, Isohata’s father exclaimed, “I’ll hate you forever!”

The cost of retaining a breaker-upper is said to range from 500,000 to 1.6 million yen, with an additional bonus, paid upon successful completion of the assignment, of between 250,000 and 800,000 yen. Yet despite these high costs, there seems to be no lack of demand, not only by married couples but by singles as well.

The wakararesase-ya profession was little known until Fuji TV ran an eponymous drama series in 2001. After that, however, demand took off and businesses are currently said to generate annual revenues of several hundreds of millions of yen.

A search of the Web found about 270 companies that undertake such jobs. Such businesses are enabled by the fact that Japan’s current laws covering stalking, extortion or coercion don’t apply to the profession. “There’s no statute specifically prohibiting what they do,” says journalist Akihiro Otani. “The law banning anti-social activities by organized crime can’t be applied either.”

“Behind it all, what you are seeing is an increase in the number of people who can’t take matters into their own hands and want to delegate it to an outsider,” explains a source in the industry. (K.S.)

Source: “Onna no kyusho wo tsuku wakaresaseya no kuchidoki-jutsu,” Shukan Jitsuwa (Apr. 1, page 46)

Note: Brief extracts from Japanese vernacular media in the public domain that appear here were translated and summarized under the principle of “fair use.” Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the translations. However, we are not responsible for the veracity of their contents. The activities of individuals described herein should not be construed as “typical” behavior of Japanese people nor reflect the intention to portray the country in a negative manner. Our sole aim is to provide examples of various types of reading matter enjoyed by Japanese.

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“I used to work in the office of a parcel delivery company, where there was this young, macho hunk,” writes the anonymous contributor to the February issue of Amour Urajijo, as introduced in the weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun (Mar. 25).

“One night the two of us were working overtime, and after we finished, he brought over a couple of beers and said, ‘Nobody’s here, so let’s have a drink.’

I got a little tipsy and before I knew it we were horizontal in the cab of a truck having sex. And that’s when I found out that he really got turned when he could make his partner talk dirty during sex.

“I thought to myself how lucky I was for the chance to do it with such a gorgeous specimen of manhood, so while we did the deed I let loose with cries like, ‘Ahhh, I don’t want to stop,’ followed by ‘Mmmm, chinko oishii’ (your cock is delicious) and ‘Ohhhh, f**k! F**k!’

“The feeling of humiliation made me even more excited, leaving the truck’s seat sopping with big wet spot.

“But after that, our relationship went nowhere, and feeling uncomfortable around him I quit my job. That was five years ago. But even now, I love to recall those magic moments while I finger myself, doing solitary etchi.”

Bunshun’s byline involves a musical pun from “Nagori Yuki,” a 1970s folk rock tune popularized by female vocalist Iruka, whose penultimate line goes, “Ima haru ga kite, kimi wa, kirei ni natta” (Now spring has come and you’ve become pretty). The lyrics are tweaked to read “kirei ni onatta.” Onatta is a made-up verb derived from onani (onanism, i.e., masturbation), thereby changing the meaning to “Now spring has come, and you were masturbating beautifully.” (M.S.)

Source: “Shukujo no zasshi kara,” Shukan Bunshun Mar. 25, page 109

Note: Brief extracts from Japanese vernacular media in the public domain that appear here were translated and summarized under the principle of “fair use.” Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the translations. However, we are not responsible for the veracity of their contents. The activities of individuals described herein should not be construed as “typical” behavior of Japanese people nor reflect the intention to portray the country in a negative manner. Our sole aim is to provide examples of various types of reading matter enjoyed by Japanese.

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