As first reported by SankakuComplex, a soapland was shut down by police officials in the Hyogo prefecture after the discovery of a 13 year old girl who got employed as a prostitute.

Let me first explain to the people not familiar with the word “soapland”. A soapland is a special version of a bathing house where women wash their male client’s body for a fairly high amount of money. Do not confuse a soapland with an onsen, though they exist for both men and women; soaplands are usually what the rest of the world would call: a brothel with bubbles. Most Japanese men prefer the worst soaphouses, because they suck at what they do..  … to be taken quite literally.

Continuing the story:
After following the lead of an anonymous tip claiming to have seen a seemingly-underaged girl at a soapland, authorities in the Hyogo prefecture raided the premises. Police confirmed the “exceedingly unusual” fact that one of the soapland girls was actually a 13-year-old middle-schooler. The 44-year-old manager of the establishment got convicted for child prostitution and child welfare law abuse. This particular soaphouse was 1 of “only” 60 establishments in the Fukuhara district of Kobe.

Further investigations resulted in 3 more arrests and revealed she was introduced to the soapland by a mutual acquaintance, and fraudulently obtained employment there by using a friend’s ID to claim she was actually in her twenties. She worked there 1 week before authorities were tipped off about her presence; the proprietor maintains he “thought she was an adult.”

The girl, even after trying to apply for a job as a prostitute under a fake ID, currently remains free of charges as police officials seem to be fairly ignorant towards underage girls who willingly breach law to start a carreer in this type of sector. On the other hand, if police could have had claims this was a case of “enjo kousai” (very young girls going out with much older men in exchange for money, gadgets or designer goods) in which case the girl would have been arrested for participation.

The 13y old’s unapologetic comment after interrogation was:  “I wanted money to play around with. I thought you could earn quick cash at a soap.”