Japanese murder exposes world of hired marriage wreckers

[Blue_Tires]

He was charming and single, she was bored and stuck in a sterile marriage, and their encounter in the aisles of a local supermarket seemed like a chance for them to change their lives for the better.

But the affair ended in betrayal, recrimination and death after a sequence of events as lurid as the plot of a pulp novel.

Prosecutors in Tokyo called yesterday for a 17-year sentence for Takeshi Kuwabara for murdering his lover, Rie Isohata, last year.

But the most extraordinary thing about the case was not the killing — by strangulation, after a bitter argument last April — but the circumstances in which the couple met.

Although Kuwabara inadvertently fell in love with Mrs Isohata, he had been paid to track her down and seduce her as a professional wakaresaseya — or “splitter upper” — hired by her husband to provide him with grounds for a divorce.

The case is raising questions about the ethics and legality of “splitter uppers” — shady, but seemingly widespread operatives to whom a surprising number of Japanese turn.

As Mrs Isohata’s father said during the trial: “I can never forgive a business that toys with the emotions of human beings.”

Wakaresaseya perform a variety of functions, but all of them arise from the Japanese dislike of direct confrontation. Rather than pleading with him face to face, a woman whose husband is having an affair may hire a splitter-upper to seduce his mistress away from him. Parents may engage their services to prise off the unsuitable lover of a son or daughter. Dozens of wakaresaseya companies advertise on the internet, under names such as Lady’s Secret Service and Office Shadow. They employ models, actors and personable people of different backgrounds first to trail and then to seduce their quarry. The classic wakaresaseya operation was the one commissioned by Mrs Isohata’s husband.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7021033.ece



obligatory reference comment at the bottom:

FRANKO FILE wrote:
There's a job opportunity for John Terry if he can't play football again.
February 11, 2010 12:44 PM GMT

[On the Road]

1. Wow

Somehow that does seem very Japanese. Surprising that it works -- those home-wreckers must be either very hot or very persuasive.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Interestingly, people must be generally aware of these services. You would think it

would make them suspicious when some hottie came into their lives and tried to woo them away from their spouse. (Unless, of course, they were grateful for the opportunity to get out of their marriage. But I wouldn't think that entering an affair would give them an advantage during the divorce process, especially if there was a no-cheating prenup in place that would cut their share of the finances down.)

[Javaman]

4. Honey, this is my cousin, Oshi. I know he smells, doesn't bathe or brush his teeth...

eats off the floor, never uses the bathroom and instead prefers the quiet encounter of his own underwear, he is still family and he has no where to live, so, he's living with us. :)

[maxsolomon]

2. late stage capitalism sure is inventive!

add this to haitian orphan sales and its quite a month for new career options.

[Raineyb]

5. This line had me laughing

The wakaresaseya say that men are the easiest targets. “They never seem to smell a rat when, despite the fact they’re middle-aged, a beautiful young woman falls for them,” one said

:rofl:

Indeed.

[blondeatlast]

6. Speaks volumes, doesn't it?!

:rofl:

[Blue_Tires]

7. night kick