A 62-year-old man who sued a high-end club hostess for fraud

This is a story about Shigeru, a 62-year-old man who was close with me and worked at a company that was one of our clients. Shigeru sued a hostess from a high-end club for fraud.

Shigeru will be retiring in three years. He joined his current company after graduating from university and has worked diligently for several decades. He's a straight-laced, honest man.

He divorced his wife ten years ago, and though he has a daughter, he hasn't seen her in a long while.

Since he favored me, he invited me out for drinks about once every two months.

Shigeru seemed lonely when he returned home to an empty house.

I wondered why he had divorced, as he was a gentle, sincere, and straightforward person.

I asked him about it once in the past, but he seemed hesitant to answer, so I didn't press the matter further.

However, I assumed there must have been some issue between him and his wife.

So, I was surprised to hear that he was frequenting a club in Ginza.

Later, he took me to the club twice.

The woman he favored was very beautiful. Her name was Misaki, a 26-year-old Japanese beauty who looked lovely in a kimono.

The two of them seemed to be getting along well, and Shigeru even talked about the possibility of marrying Misaki.

However, there was a 36-year age gap between them!

While I was initially worried about such a relationship, I was also happy and surprised to hear about Shigeru's remarriage plans.

After all, I wanted him to find happiness.

However, the club where Misaki worked was an exclusive, high-end establishment with very expensive fees.

On top of a seat charge of 50,000 JPY per person, Shigeru spent more than 150,000 JPY each time he visited.

Given his modest salary, he must have been dipping into his savings.

Misaki had debts

One day, I heard from Shigeru after a long time, and we decided to meet for drinks in Ginza.

I wondered if he would treat me to the high-end club again.

But as we started drinking, a surprising truth was revealed.

Shigeru intended to sue Misaki for marriage fraud. Naturally, I asked him why.

Apparently, Misaki had a live-in boyfriend and told Shigeru that she couldn't marry him.

Upon hearing the full story, I learned that Shigeru had met Misaki through the club mama, who was an acquaintance of his company's president.

Shigeru fell head over heels for Misaki, who was graceful, kind, and attentive, and he became a regular at the club.

Misaki also grew fond of the sincere and gentle Shigeru, and they began talking about living together someday.

However, Shigeru had a grievance.

Since the club was closed on Sundays, he wanted to go on dates or watch movies with Misaki, but she rarely agreed to meet.

The only times she would meet him outside the club were when he took her out as his companion, and even then, she wanted their time together to be exclusive to those days.

When Shigeru insisted on meeting outside the club, Misaki said she was working part-time at a food factory on Sundays and couldn't meet him. She then asked him to pay 50,000 JPY per meeting if he really wanted to see her.

Shigeru ended up paying a total of 150,000 JPY per month, meeting her three times a month and paying 50,000 JPY each time.

While this was a significant expense on top of his drinking and dating costs, he gradually spent his hard-earned savings on Misaki.

Eventually, Shigeru began to think of Misaki as his girlfriend.

However, they did not have a physical relationship.

Misaki had asked him to wait until they were married, which was manageable for Shigeru, who didn't have a strong sex drive.

However, he wondered if their relationship could truly be called a romantic one without even a kiss.

Holding hands was the extent of their physical intimacy, and Misaki said she would consider marriage after her debts were settled.

These debts were from when she had co-signed a loan for a previous boyfriend's business, and they amounted to over 6,000,000 JPY.

The boyfriend was currently missing, leaving Misaki with the debt.

Shigeru continued this arrangement with Misaki for three years.

Incredibly, he had spent 36,000,000 JPY during this time!

Not only had he spent all of his 20,000,000 JPY in savings, but he had also incurred 16,000,000 JPY in debt.

At his wits' end, Shigeru begged Misaki to quit her job and marry him.

However, she refused.

She said she couldn't marry him until she paid off the remaining 3,000,000 JPY of her debt.

Shigeru was left with no other choice.

He agonized over whether to reduce the number of dates or club visits.

After much thought and consultation, he decided to give up on Misaki and ask for the money he had spent on her to be returned.

There had been no kisses or physical intimacy, and each date had cost him money.

Shigeru finally realized he had been used.

By giving up on marriage, he wanted to stop his debts from increasing further.

The road ahead would be challenging. He might not be able to recover all the money he spent at the club, but he had to try.

He would first try to negotiate, but he also decided to leave the matter to a lawyer.

He might only recover a small amount

While Shigeru decided to sue Misaki for marriage fraud, there were some challenging issues.

First, it would be difficult to prove fraud.

Misaki had said, "It would be nice if we could get married someday," but there was no written promise, and her behavior was ambiguous, making proof difficult.

Most of the money he spent was on drinks at the club, so recovering the full amount would be challenging.

The 50,000 JPY per date, the luxury brand bags and wallets he gave her – recovering these would also be difficult.

According to the lawyer, even if they won the case, the amount recovered would likely be small.

Conclusion

He had spent all his savings and incurred 16,000,000 JPY in debt. No wonder he gave up, no matter how much he loved her.

In the end, it turned out that Misaki had a boyfriend and was living with him.

Whether it was meeting her at the club or outside, it all cost money, as did the gifts.

Women in the nightlife industry are often experts in simulated romance, and pure-hearted older men like Shigeru are easily deceived.

I hope Shigeru can quickly get his life back on track.