Four people, two staff and two customers, were arrested March 3 at the SM bar in Roppongi known as Jail, or Roppongi Jail. Jail is a chain of three outlets with the other two located in Osaka and Nagoya, respectively. Roppongi Jail has been in business since 2001.
This was an undercover investigation with at least one news report stating that an officer had visited the club ten times. The reason for the arrests seems to boil down to alleged acts "against public decency". Another report said the violation was “indecent exposure”.
The sad fact is a lot of the classic films I report on here cannot even be found in Japan let alone outside Japan. This probably isn't common knowledge so it comes as little surprise when I am asked, as happened recently, how someone who is not in Japan can get his hands on these golden oldies.
The most recent query had to do with History of Japanese Torture Punishment (日本拷問刑罰史), the 1964 film produced by Shintoho which is considered to be the first full-fledged SM film in Japan.
As far as I know, this film does not exist any longer. Perhaps Shintoho have a copy in a vault somewhere. Or maybe a lone print is slowly deteriorating in someone's attic. To my knowledge, this movie has not been released on tape or DVD.
Komukai Minako (小向美奈子), star of Flower and Snake 3 (花と蛇3), is suspected of purchasing stimulant drugs and Tokyo police have obtained a warrant for her arrest.
This isn't the first time the 25-year-old entertainer has run afoul of Japanese drug laws. She received an 18-month prison sentence in 2009 for the same offense but her sentence was suspended for three years. As such, Ms. Komukai was on probation at the time the new charges were filed.
I am reliably informed that the morning news shows were all over the story and that Dan Oniroku even appeared in an interview opining on the matter.
I've looked around but there doesn't appear to be any new footage available on the interwebz, just warmed-over stuff from Ms. Komukai's previous run-in with the law.
Ms. Komukai appears to be currently incomunicado. Reports say her whereabouts are unknown.
In this report it says that Ms. Komukai stands accused of purchasing the drugs from a group of Iranians in the summer of 2010 and that her name was on a "customer list" confiscated from the alleged drug dealers. How in the world her name would appear on such a list is beyond me. We'll just have to wait to find out the details. But first the cops have to find her.
Komukai Minako began her career as a gravure/bikini model and then moved on to the strip theater circuit and was eventually chosen for the lead role in Flower and Snake 3, the most recent film inspired by the Dan Oniroku novel. The movie was recently released on DVD and Blu-ray in Japan. She has also made television appearances and is supposed to have a new book coming out.
I don't know about the book but it now seems that her next television appearance will be of the variety where they mosaic out the prisoner's handcuffs.
Say it isn't so!
UPDATES:
02/26 Well, she's back. Komukai Minako returned to Tokyo Friday on a Japan Airlines flight from Manila and was promptly arrested and taken into custody by Japanese police at Narita Airport. Talk about a perp walk! The media were out in force, even grabbing lipstick-cam footage of Komukai during the flight back as well as her arrival at the airport in Manila. Media are reporting that Komukai is denying the charges. As far as I know right now, the evidence against her consists of her name on some Iranian alleged drug dealer's cell phone and perhaps the testimony of an Iranian sleazeball. Here's a report in English.
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02/12 Komukai has been tracked down by a TV news crew in the Makati district of Manila. She was accompanied by an unidentified man who appeared to be in his late twenties. She did not answer questions and eventually got into a cab and took off. Some media are describing Komukai as a "fugitive". The Philippine Immigration Bureau has said that Komukai extended her stay in the country on Feb. 8 and that the extension is valid until March 21.
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02/13 Media are reporting that Komukai canceled her return flight to Japan. She has been spotted at an ATM in an area of luxury hotels in Manila.
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02/11 Still believed to be in the Philippines. Entered January 21. No record of leaving. Apparently, a Japanese national can enter the Philippines without a visa and stay for 21 days. However, the visa can be extended relatively easily. Japanese media are canvassing Manila -- places such as Japanese restaurants. Media report that Komukai has been spotted with a group of men presumed to be Japanese.
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The news is reporting that Komukai traveled to the Philippines in January. Her manager said the trip had been scheduled prior to any knowledge of the most recent revelations. He also said that Komukai had gained a lot of weight in 2010 and he had warned her that it could adversely affect her career.
As far as is known right now, Komukai is still somewhere in the Philippines.
Commentators and legal experts are speculating concerning the punishment Komukai might face if found guilty of the new charges. If found guilty, sentencing might be harsher due to the fact she was on probation for the earlier drugs offense. In addition, she might have to serve the full 18-month suspended sentence from 2009.
Another report said that one of the arrested Iranians had fingered Komukai as a customer.
Just in time for Christmas, Flower and Snake 3 (Hana to Hebi 花と蛇3) will be hitting the video stores on December 3. The movie starring bikini model turned stripper Komukai Minako will be released on DVD and Blu-ray and there also appears to be some sort of special edition.
Blogging has been light lately here at the detective's ramshackle office. Your patience is appreciated.
I'm involved in a number of projects one of which is co-writing a script for a feature film. Now, this is not my original script idea. That will be written after this one. I've never co-written anything before and this is in the early stages but so far it's going along pretty well. I've got a talented and imaginative co-writer so it will be interesting to see where this goes.
In addition, I've set up a website and have a few products I'm interested in flogging. The one that interests me the most is noren. I just love these things. But it dawned on me that I've never once seen a friggin' kinbaku noren. So I made my own.
Now, this one is kind of cool but I've got some better ideas. Also, the problem is, unless you really get into mass production, the price of one of these things is a bitch. The problem is the set-up costs for printing. Plus, the more middlemen you deal with, the higher the price goes. To buy this noren, for example, would cost 25,000 yen. Ouch.
I have an idea how to get the price down and keep the quality high and make it possible to have custom-made noren. Basically, I'm planning on keeping around a few generic noren but I also want to make available noren that you can have made to your specifications. If my plan works, great. If not, it's back to the drawing board.
The Sekkan post will be coming soon. Thing is, this consists of four movies in all and it's a bit daunting. But I'm working on it.
After The Sekkan, I've got a post planned all about Dan Oniroku. Speaking of Dan, quite awhile ago I put out a call to the gaijin community for well wishes to Dan-sensei due to the fact that he is experiencing formidable health issues. The response was gratifying and I got a lot of really nice wishes from people all over the world.
Giving credit where credit is due, I got a lot of responses from folks at Esinem and Harper's ForumBondage. After that, quite a few people came through as a result of a post on the Kinbaku Group on FetLife. Thanks to all those who sent their well wishes to Dan-sensei.
Thanks to rida and another individual who values his anonymity, everything was translated to Japanese. Thanks rida and Anonymous Person!
I never did get the artwork I had originally planned so I put it together a little differently and I think it looks nice. I should be getting it to Dan-sensei shortly and after I do I'll post a picture of it here and probably on ForumBondage as well.
