By Lesley Downer
August 31, 2008
The Sunday Times
This woman leads a double life. Her boyfriend thinks she’s a secretary. In fact she is one of Japan’s new breed of professional seducers, hired by embittered spouses to entrap their straying partners. And she’ll stop at nothing to get the desired results. Case 1: Mr A and Kyoko3.30pm. Mr A is outside a bank in a busy part of Ikebukuro, a faintly seedy area of Tokyo, waiting for his date. He beams as she teeters across the road on high heels. Kyoko, 20, is half his age. She has a mane of black hair, sloe eyes, a fetching smile and a cute giggle. Her blouse is open to reveal her cleavage and she has on a short skirt and sheer black tights. Mr A is a bald 40-year-old salesman in a crumpled grey suit and glasses.
Mr A met Kyoko by chance in the street; the first time she asked him for directions, then they bumped into each other again, and since then they have been exchanging flirtatious texts.
They stop off at a cigarette machine, then go to a cheap basement restaurant for spaghetti. He has bought her moisturiser and cleanser. She giggles coyly: “Next time, why don’t you give me a ring?” At 4.30 they’re outside a pawnbroker’s, looking at rings. Their shoulders touch, then they reach for each other’s hands.
They head for north Ikebukuro, an area of love hotels with velvet-covered walls, mirrored ceilings and sexy videos that rent rooms for two-hour periods. At 4.45 they go into one. They take a picture of the two of them on her mobile. At 6.07 they leave. At the station Mr A gives Kyoko a furtive goodbye kiss. Next time, he says, he’ll take her somewhere nice – a hot-spring resort maybe, or Tokyo Disneyland. Then he goes back to the office and, later, home to his wife.
Mr A doesn’t know that a team of private investigators is recording his every move. The boss, the ebullient Mr Tomiya, lurks behind a lamppost on the other side of the road and takes photographs as Kyoko meets Mr A. Tomiya’s equipment includes a packet of cigarettes and a pen, both of which are actually cameras. Shimizu, a heavy-set man with a bullet head and cropped hair, carries a black bag. It contains a camera with which he films continuously through a tiny hole in the bag. A third man acts as a lookout. They follow the couple down the street, dodging the crowds and sprinting across red lights, keeping far enough behind so as not to arouse suspicion but close enough so that Shimizu can film.
Mr A, who has been married for 20 years and has a son of 19 at university, is prone to violence and beats his wife. She confided in a male friend, whom she then fell for, but when she suggested divorce to Mr A, he simply hit her. In desperation she turned to the internet, where she found Tomiya and his company, GNC.
Kyoko, of course, is not the girl’s real name. She did not meet Mr A by chance and does not work for a design company, as he thinks. She is an agent paid to seduce him. She regularly texts the team from her mobile and has a couple of GPS devices in case they lose her. Shimizu is her bodyguard and will move in if there are problems. And the whole operation is paid for by Mr A’s wife, who gets an amply illustrated report every time an encounter takes place. The aim is to have Mr A fall so completely for Kyoko that he wants to marry her and asks for a divorce. Failing that, his wife will have a sizable dossier with evidence of infidelity to confront him with.
In Japan, if you have the money you can sort out virtually any problem in your love life. If you want to get rid of an unwanted spouse, retrieve a straying one, get back with an ex or even get together with someone you’ve seen but don’t yet know, there are companies that will help you, using all the technology and expertise in human psychology at their disposal. Not so long ago Japanese wives put up with any amount of infidelity and abuse. A divorced woman was shunned and unlikely to marry again. But these days “people want to be happy”, says Tomiya. The result has been an enormous increase in divorces and in companies such as GNC.
Tomiya founded GNC 16 years ago. It has branches across Japan. His staff perform all sorts of services, from trailing a straying spouse or looking into the background of a marriage or job candidate, to dealing with stalkers, domestic violence, sexual harassment, even hackers. But his main job is sorting relationship problems. In the past year alone he has dealt with 2,000 cases.
Jobs such as separating Mr A from his wife take an average of two to four months. For this the client pays £2,500 a month, plus expenses.
The first step is investigation: finding out as much as possible about the target’s daily habits, likes and dislikes. The spouse reveals what sort of person the target is likely to be attracted to – in Mr A’s case, young girls. The second step is to engineer a succession of meetings between the agent and the target. The third step is seduction.
Tomiya has women on his books to fit all tastes, from unintimidating secretaries and housewives to full-blown sirens like Kyoko, “a top-class agent”. “But,” he adds, “the most important thing is not looks but skill at talking.”
Kyoko finished school three years ago. She had seen TV programmes about girls who worked as temptresses and thought that might be a job for her. She found GNC on the internet. In the past three years she has taken on 50 or 60 cases. She works on four or five at a time, which means she could be having sex with all of them.
“It’s fun. I like seeing the underside of life,” she says, “and the money’s very good. I meet different targets every day. I’m not so keen on the old ones and I sometimes get to like the young ones. I sleep with all of them.” As for Mr A, “He’s not so bad. He’s bald, that’s all.”
Kyoko’s work, Tomiya emphasises, is not prostitution, as no money is handed over. She earns a basic salary of £2,000-2,500 a month, plus bonuses when a case is successful, which they usually are. She can earn up to £5,000 a month, has her own apartment and a boyfriend who thinks she’s a secretary. She’s never been threatened by clients. In any case, “I know the bodyguard is nearby.” As to whether she feels sorry for her victims or guilty at deceiving them, “It’s my job. I keep my feelings separate.”
Once the case is over, the young woman quietly disappears from the target’s life. He never discovers that she was an agent. If he is persistent, she says she’s moving to a far-off city. They text for a while, then he forgets her. If that doesn’t work, Tomiya arranges for a man who sounds like a gangster to phone or pay him a visit and tell him to take his hands off his girl. That always does the trick. Or – more cruelly – her mobile, the lifeline of their relationship, is simply cut off.
Case 2: Mrs B and Takashi9pm. In a very different part of Tokyo, Mrs B is waiting for her date. She works in the glitzy Ginza district, near the new Gucci building, where they’ve arranged to meet. She’s 29 and wears a blue short-sleeved jumper over a sparkly low-cut blouse and pretty skirt. Her husband is away on business. The marriage isn’t going well; in fact, he asked for a divorce, but she refused. Even so, she’s nervous to be seeing someone else.
Mrs B met Takashi on the street. He had burnt his hand and was wearing a bandage – and she is in the medical business. When they met again, he asked for her mobile number. Their texts are perfectly innocent, but she’s noticed that whenever she texts he always replies at once.
The vehicle that pulls up is a cool white sports car. Mrs B’s husband has a BMW, but this is far more stylish. Takashi jumps out, opens the door and helps her in. He’s kind, considerate, gentle – everything she’s ever looked for in a man. As they drive, he chats in a light, amusing way. At 9.45 they are at Morimoto XEX, a smart restaurant in Tokyo’s fashionable Roppongi Art Triangle. Takashi clearly has taste. As they walk in, the staff chorus, “Welcome back.” She doesn’t know what the meal costs, but it must be upwards of £100 a head.
Afterwards they sit on leather sofas upstairs, enjoying dessert and smoking. He’s a little flushed with sake. She lets herself lean closer. What about driving to Yokohama, he suggests? He’s tall, elegant, louche. He has a jaded quality that is rather appealing despite the slightly worn suit and cheap shoes. The bandage is still on his hand. However did she get so lucky?
The young man on the leather sofa directly opposite is playing with his mobile, as everyone does. But he is filming the pair canoodling. The whole scenario has been carefully planned to suit her taste. The flash car is one of a fleet of company cars. The restaurant bill is paid by the company and ultimately by her husband.
“Girls like a bit of excitement,” says Takashi, “‘the thrill of doing something forbidden, the feel of their hearts going doki doki. For Mrs B it’s a thrill to be with a guy who isn’t her husband. She must know she’s taking a risk. But, you see, her husband has a girlfriend she doesn’t know about. So it’s best for them to separate – even though when I disappear she’ll be sad. If I thought about that too much, I wouldn’t be able to do my job.”
Takashi works for a company called ACYours. It was founded in 1997 by Mr Mishima, a rather sinister-looking character with a sparse beard, earrings and a tattooed arm. He explains solemnly that the business is all about helping people. “Before I started ACYours there were businesses that investigated affairs but none that helped solve problems. People get depressed about personal relationships and I wanted to help.”
His company, he says, provides counselling to people in unhappy marriages. He deals with some 6,000 couples a year. Of these, 300 are truly desperate: the husband wants to leave the wife and the wife doesn’t want to go, or vice versa. Counselling is not enough. As to whether he breaks the couple up or helps them stay together, it all depends on who’s paying the bill.
“I feel sorry for Mrs B,” Mishima shrugs, “but look at it this way: it could be she’s been causing him trouble for years.
“It’s much easier to seduce a man than a woman,” he goes on. “Women don’t have affairs for fun; for them it’s serious.” That makes it far more difficult to manipulate a woman than a man. Men are not suspicious when a lovely young girl starts chatting to them. Even a bald 40-year-old salesman in a crumpled suit with a cheap briefcase assumes he’s irresistible to women. Men are also much less hesitant about having sex with someone they hardly know.
A woman is less likely to think of herself as irresistible or to take it for granted that an attractive man will chat her up. She is more likely to be suspicious. Added to which, women are not usually satisfied with just sex – they want love.
Takashi has a sort of lounge-lizard charm.
“It’s more difficult with women in their early twenties,” he says. “Around 27 women start to enjoy sex. I specialise in women in their late twenties who enjoy sex.” He acquiesces modestly when asked if this means he’s pretty good at it.
“I do women up to 45,” he says. “By the time they’re 45 they’re not so interested in thrills. They just want to be together with someone.”
The secret, he says, is sensitivity. “Girls like men who are a little offbeat. Most men are prepared to be considerate to an extent. But girls like someone who can read their feelings.” When he texts Mrs B, the content is unimportant. It’s the fact that he replies straight away.
Takashi has been doing this job for five years. His wife doesn’t like it, “but the salary is high, so she doesn’t complain”. He works on three or four cases at a time; he can make in excess of £3,500 a month. His five-year-old son thinks he’s a private eye who catches bad guys.
“It’s interesting learning how to get on with women,” he says. “It’s a very exciting job.
Case 3: Miss X and Mr C9.30pm. As the sun sets over Tokyo, another case is about to reach its climax on a bridge across a spaghetti of railway lines. Mr C, a tall 30-year-old in a baseball cap, is waiting with a man in a suit. Mr C always used to wear suits; but the girl who dumped him likes the sporty look, so he’s had a makeover. He has also lost weight.
The pair haven’t seen each other for a year, after having been together for three years. The girl wanted to get married, but Mr C was a little reluctant, which turned her parents against him. She broke off with him, moved house, changed mobile number and disappeared from his life. Now he desperately wants to get back with her.
The second man, an agent from ACYours, texts his colleagues, two women agents who joined the ex-girlfriend’s gym some months ago, at the beginning of the operation, and befriended her. They often go shopping together or out for drinks or dinner. Tonight they are having dinner. In a few minutes they will walk across this bridge to the station to get the train home.
After much consulting of mobiles, the two men start to walk. Coming towards them are three young women. Only one of them – a pretty girl with hair dyed brown, in a dress and leggings – is unaware that a fateful encounter is about to take place. Nobody knows what the result will be. Will she turn away and walk off?
They are about to pass when he approaches her. “Aren’t you…? Isn’t it…?” She stops, laughs, expresses amazement. The two chat for a while. The man in the suit strolls away, as does one of the women. Then the client and the target exchange mobile numbers. The first contact has been made.
Bringing separated people back together is altogether more complicated – and more expensive. It also takes longer. ACYours charges £7,500 for three months for breaking up, but £12,500 for bringing together. In some ways the procedure is the same, explains Mishima.
The first step is to ascertain whether the target has a new lover. If the target is a wife or girlfriend, “We investigate her lover and send a female agent to seduce him. The lover falls for the female agent and leaves the target,” Mishima says. “Very often it’s not that the target wants a divorce but that she’s blinded by love and wants to get together with this new lover. If that ends, she’ll return to her husband. In other words, the desire to be with the lover is much stronger than the desire to separate from the husband.
“But it’s not enough to separate the wife from her lover. We also have to investigate why she was not happy with her husband. Maybe the sex was no good. Maybe his salary has decreased or he gambles or spends all his money on drink. The husband needs to tell us all the bad things he’s done and that his wife has complained about.
“Next we improve the husband. If he has stopped taking the wife out, we advise him to surprise her with presents on their anniversary or her birthday or take her to a nice restaurant. If it’s the wife who wants to get back with her husband, we try to make her more attractive.
Case 4: Yuko and HiroYuko is a pretty woman in her late twenties who glows as she speaks. Last May she met Hiro, a tailor, at a party. They liked each other and got together after three months. But then one of her parents became ill and she had to move back to the parental home outside Tokyo.
Hiro met someone else. Yuko had been hoping they would get married. She got in touch with Hiro and said, “Let’s give it another try,” but he said he liked the new girl he was seeing. Yuko was distraught.
“I searched on the internet and found GNC and went to see Mr Tomiya. He told me not to worry. I was so happy to hear that. I’d been crying and crying. Mr Tomiya sent an agent to Hiro to have a suit made. The agent went again and again for fittings and the two became friends. One night Mr Tomiya, the agent and Hiro went drinking. I was in a different bar with a female agent. The male agent called the female agent as if they were lovers and said, ‘Come and join us.’ So I went along too. Hiro was pleased to see me but a bit shy. He was still seeing the other girl.”
Yuko happily reveals that with the help of GNC she had a complete change of image. For a start, she lost 10 kilograms. She used to come across like an old woman with her unflattering hairstyle and shapeless clothes. Now she has a chic layered cut that emphasises her impish looks, and wears sexy clothes and pretty jewellery.
“I’ve also changed the way I am,” she says.
“I used to be tough, but I’m softer now, more feminine. Mr Tomiya boosted my confidence.
I made lovely bento for Hiro and took them to his shop. Eventually he left the other girl and said, ‘Let’s get back together.’
“We went to Guam in May and he proposed! We’re getting married at Christmas.”
The whole operation cost £2,500. “Not expensive at all,” Yuko declares, beaming. “because I got him back!”
Tomiya has ambitions to open a branch of GNC in Britain. Perhaps in the land of Bridget Jones, we could use his services.
Some names have been changed to protect identities.
Lesley Downer’s latest book is The Last Concubine (Bantam, £12.99). It is available at the BooksFirst price of £11.69, including p&p. Tel: 0870 165 8585
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/relationships/article4619389.ece
