_Manga Artist_ Arrested for Allegedly Organizing a Sex Party

A 27-year-old man has been arrested after allegedly setting up an orgy with prostitutes. Japan’s leading newspaper refers to the suspect as a “manga artist,” a label with which some online disagree. According to one of Japan’s leading newspapers, Asahi.com (via Tokyo Reporter), the suspect, Takeshi Higuchi, allegedly violated Japan’s Anti-Prostitution Law. Asahi reports that three women and four men allegedly took part and were arrested in a Shinjuku hotel U31 com room. The women apparently work in Japan’s fuzoku industry (sex-related industry). The Asahi headline clearly states, “Manga Artist Arrested for Allegedly Providing a Place for Prostitution, Solicited Participants Online.” The paper reports that since summer 2013, Higuchi allegedly used online bulletin boards to invite people to join in twenty or so of these orgies, supposedly collecting 5 million yen (US$40,900) over the years. The price per person to participate each time was reportedly 20,000 yen ($164). Over on Japanese anime blog Yaraon!, the issue that some commenters have is how Higuchi is being referred to as a “manga artist” in the Asahi article’s title and again in its first paragraph. Later in the article, it states that Higuchi self-published “moe” style characters under the nom h25 com สล็อต de plum m358 เครดิตฟรี 188 “Souto.” The feeling shown in some tweets and comments on Yaraon! is that the paper should have referred to him as a “self-published artist” (同人作家 or doujin sakka) instead of as a “manga artist” (漫画家 or mangaka), making a distinction between the two. Others wondered why adult videos could film orgies in Japan without being arrested or if orgies were okay as long as you didn’t collect participation fees. Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter@Brian_Ashcraft Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.