A 24-year-old woman was arrested on January 22 after a 82-year-old man was found dead in a love hotel in Ikebukuro, Tokyo.
The man, Katsuzo Imano, was found in the room on the night of January 21, covered in blood and with box-cutter wounds on his chest. The money in his wallet was gone.
The suspect, Haruka Fujii, apparently called a former boyfriend immediately after the crime and then attempted to flee. Fujii, the ex-boyfriend, and his younger brother were apprehended at Nishi-Hachioji Station, just outside Tokyo, the following morning.
The image above shows Fujii shortly before she entered the love hotel with Imano. She was tearful after her arrest, supposedly explaining that she and Imano were in a papakatsu relationship. She had already herself called the police from a payphone, alerting them to the dead body in the room.
As previously discussed on this blog, papakatsu is a recent buzzword given to certain kinds of sugar-daddy relationships that are effectively compensated dating.
Imano lived alone in Saitama City and it seems that loneliness prompted him to start the arrangement. Fujii says that she first met Imano on the streets of Ikebukuro on the day of the incident. She has confessed to having a history of compensated dating.
What went wrong in that hotel room? A disagreement over money or sex? Ultimately, Fujii is now the only one who knows the truth.
