Arrested for distributing pink flyers

My name is Kozo Kiyama, and I'm 28 years old. I worked as a staff member at a delivery health parlor in Chiba Prefecture for about a year, but no matter how hard I worked, the owner never raised my salary, so I decided to quit and start my own business.

I only had about 500,000 JPY in savings, so I borrowed money from friends and acquaintances and somehow managed to scrape together about 4,000,000 JPY.

(Now, time for my independence!)

The first thing I thought about was that I couldn't let the owner of my previous workplace find out about my plans.

Because if he found out about my independence, I would be kidnapped and beaten up.

The owner used to be a yakuza, and from what I heard, he used to help his comrades when they made mistakes in the old yakuza days, including when they had to cut off their fingers.

He has a violent personality, and I had no idea what kind of trouble he would cause if he found out that I was opening a store in the same Chiba Prefecture.

(Scary, scary...)

So, when I told the owner that I wanted to quit, he asked me a lot of questions like, "Why?" and "What are you going to do after you quit?" But I lied and said that my parents were sick and that I had to take care of them.

I also said that I might come back when my parents got better...

This is how I managed to quit my job safely, and my next destination was Tokyo.

Even before I quit my job, I had been looking for a place to use as an office, but I couldn't find one.

Because first of all, in order to open a delivery health parlor, you need to submit a "Notice of Commencement of Business" to the police, who are the window for this process.

And to do that, you need the permission of the landlord.

In other words, you need their consent to rent out the property as an office for a delivery health business.

So, I couldn't just choose any property.

But it was taking too much time.

(I have to hurry, my money is running out...)

When I thought about it carefully, it made sense that popular properties wouldn't want to rent out to a delivery health office, especially those that are close to the station and newly built.

So, most of the remaining properties were quite old and located away from the station, in less popular areas.

The only good thing was that the rent was cheap.

Thanks to the help of many acquaintances who I asked to look for a place, I was able to find a property about a month after I retired.

It was a run-down 10-story apartment building a little away from Kabukicho. I rented rooms 302 and 501.

I really wanted the office and waiting room to be next to each other, but there was no choice because there were no vacant rooms.

Also, all the rooms in this apartment were one-room studios. I wanted a 3LDK, but there wasn't one available.

Of course, there was no parking lot, so I rented a parking space nearby.

By the way, the parking fee was 50,000 JPY per month.

The initial investment was quite high.

I mean, the rent for two 100,000 JPY rooms, two months' security deposit, one month's key money, and the advance rent added up to 800,000 JPY. On top of that, I spent 300,000 JPY on creating a homepage, and 500,000 JPY on two computers and a sofa.

That alone was 1,350,000 JPY.

The rest was advertising expenses.

First, the job advertisement.

Because it wouldn't make sense to put out a business ad if I didn't have any girls working for me, right?

I mean, I can't send anyone out if I don't have any girls.

So, I spent 300,000 JPY on job ads first.

Anyway, that's how I spent 1,650,000 JPY in the initial stage.

Girls are not coming in

Okay, now that I have some girls working for me, I can take their photos, upload them to the site, and put out some ads!

My first step towards becoming a millionaire was finally starting!

But...

The girls weren't coming in.

After about a month, I interviewed three people, but none of them were hired.

Because our shop charges 28,000 JPY for 60 minutes, so we can't hire girls who aren't up to a certain standard.

So, we need to hire girls who are worth the price to some extent.

This is how the first girl was finally hired after two months.

Her pseudonym was Miki, and she was a college student. She was a very cute and nice girl.

Now, I took pictures of Miki in the park, selected four of the best shots, retouched them, and uploaded them to the site.

(Okay! Now I can put out some ads!)

I called an advertising agency, had them come to the office, and placed ads on several sites for a total of 300,000 JPY.

(Now, let the phone ring!)

Miki preferred to wait at home, so I had her wait there when she was on duty.

The phone isn't ringing

But...

The phone didn't ring.

Since the phone wasn't ringing at all, I checked out the websites of my competitors.

(What's the difference between my shop and the others...)

The answer was clear.

All the other shops had more than 10 people on duty... and some had more than 20.

Compared to that, my shop only had one person on duty...

With this, customers can't choose a girl...

(I see... I have no choice but to increase the number of girls!)

So, I decided to spend more money on job ads.

I had been spending 300,000 JPY a month, but I increased it to 500,000 JPY.

And since I couldn't afford to have Miki quit, I also increased the advertising budget to 500,000 JPY.

(Now, it's time to go all in!)

Struggling more than expected

However, even after a month, there were no inquiries from girls.

Miki was also reducing her schedule because she wasn't getting any customers even when she was on duty.

She used to work three days a week, but now she was down to one day a week.

But it was my fault for not being able to make her earn enough.

(But this is bad... I only have 300,000 JPY left of the 4,000,000 JPY I started with... I won't be able to put out any ads next month...)

I had no choice but to resort to flyer distribution.

I knew it was illegal, but I had no other option because I didn't have any money.

I couldn't just close down the shop like this.

So, I designed a flyer that combined a job ad and a business ad, and ordered 1,000 copies for 9,800 JPY.

I thought that with this, I would definitely get inquiries from both girls and customers.

Distributing the flyers

The flyers arrived at the office in about two weeks.

After working until 3 a.m., I started distributing the flyers to the apartments around the office.

I decided to do it for two hours every day, from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m.

(Okay! I hope the phone rings at least a little more now...)

The amount I could distribute in two hours was 400 flyers, and they would be gone in three days.

So, I ordered more and spent all the money I had.

(If this doesn't work, I'll have to close down the shop!)

I spent all my money on 2,000 flyers.

(Here goes nothing!)

The additional flyers arrived in about two weeks, so I resumed distribution.

Arrested on the spot

One day, after work, while I was distributing flyers as usual, someone suddenly shouted at me from behind!

"What are you doing?"

I was startled and turned around, but it was just an ordinary-looking uncle.

"Umm, I'm putting flyers in the mailboxes..."

I tried to explain in a panic, but he didn't seem like he would let me off the hook.

"Hey, wait there! Don't run away!"

The uncle immediately called the police.

Two police officers arrived in about five minutes, and I was arrested.

(Well, it's over...)

I had no choice but to give up.

I was apparently charged with "trespassing" for entering private property without permission, and violating the "Public Nuisance Prevention Ordinance".

Conclusion

By the time I realized how difficult it was to open a delivery health parlor, it was too late.

It ended in a very disappointing result.

"Trespassing" is punishable by up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 100,000 JPY. In Tokyo, violating the "Public Nuisance Prevention Ordinance" can result in a fine of up to 500,000 JPY or detention or a fine of a lesser amount.

After paying for my crimes, I hope to find a decent job this time.