Japan Today
crime

Japanese 'sugar baby' given reduced prison sentence

24 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© KYODO

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

24 Comments
Login to comment

The picture of the Sugar Baby should have been included in the story.

12 ( +20 / -8 )

get 155 millions, pay back 18. Get reduced 8 yr sentenced, wow 'being a sugar baby' really works. I want to be a Sugar Daddy when i grow up.

18 ( +19 / -1 )

"Itadaki Joshi Riri-chan," literally "Sugar Baby Riri,"

It's literally "Woman on the take, Riri".

8 ( +8 / -0 )

get 155 millions, pay back 18. Get reduced 8 yr sentenced, wow 'being a sugar baby' really works. I want to be a Sugar Daddy when i grow up.

It happens when you've been lickin' the Sugar Daddy for too long.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

She needs to pay back ¥155 million FOR STARTERS, then the income tax plus penalty, then extra money on top of that.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

It's literally "Woman on the take, Riri".

Confusingly now "literally" is used with the meaning of "not literally but figuratively".

6 ( +9 / -3 )

"The damage you inflicted on the victims is not limited to money," Presiding Judge Mihoko Tanabe told Watanabe after handing down the ruling. "I would like you to think again about how to compensate the victims in the future."

I'll let your imagination figure out what he suggesting Riri to consider

3 ( +5 / -2 )

The picture of the Sugar Baby should have been included in the story.

Grow up..

-18 ( +0 / -18 )

The picture of the Sugar Baby should have been included in the story

Oh gosh, please no! Those eyes completely void of any human emotion still give me the creeps

7 ( +7 / -0 )

The Nagoya High Court handed down the reduced sentence to Mai Watanabe, known by the moniker "Itadaki Joshi Riri-chan," literally "Sugar Baby Riri," as damages had been paid on her behalf to one of the victims. The court upheld a fine of 8 million yen.

Wow, I guess when you have money, or in her case a Sugar Daddy who paid on her behalf, you can buy your way out of prison time! Seems like she should have paid the victims full restitution as part of her sentence and not simply a fine of 8 million.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

That's a longer sentence than Japan courts have given for murder, in some cases.

9 ( +12 / -3 )

The picture of the Sugar Baby should have been included in the story.

Grow up..

Tell that to the three Japanese guys who allowed themselves to be defrauded in an effort to date “Riri-chan.”

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Confusingly now "literally" is used with the meaning of "not literally but figuratively".

Indeed. The opposite of "literally".

It seems like someone at Kyodo or Sora News decided that this woman is to be referred to "Sugar Baby Riri" in English, and the translation has stuck. It is not a literal translation and strikes me as clickbait. It may draw attention to the story or make people laff, but belittles what this woman has done.

Almost all women involved in sugar daddy relationships do not rampantly defraud their marks or publish a manual encouraging other women to do the same. They are not criminals. This woman gleefully bounded over the line into criminal activity and should be punished for it. Her publishing the manual shows zero remorse, so the punishment should be severe. Her shovelling much/most/all her ill-gotten gain to hosts shows that she is just as needy/psychologically weak/foolish with money as her marks.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

It's literally "Woman on the take, Riri".

@kohakuebisu

Not to nitpick but ...

On the take generally refers to someone willing to take a bribe or being corrupt as in Most of the LDP members are on the take.

Sugar baby is an apt translation.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Itadaki Joshi isn’t a “sugar baby”. It’s a honey trapper / scamming sugar baby. Isn’t this the woman who wrote a book?

6 ( +6 / -0 )

The sentence is absurd. It is more than others have received for child abuse and even murder.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Sugar baby is an apt translation.

I disagree, because as Aaron says a "sugar daddy" is a knowing consensual relationship, in places like the US. The sugar daddy knows what he is getting/paying for. This woman Riri claimed she loved the men to get money out of them. That's fraud.

If you look online, there are Japanese comments saying that this woman was not involved in "papa katsu", the Japanese equivalent of "sugar daddy". Japanese seem to think it is cool that "papa katsu", itself unusual Japanese slang, comes out as "sugar daddy" in English slang, but recognize that this woman was not doing "papa katsu". She was duping men.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

masterblasterToday  12:52 pm JST

It's literally "Woman on the take, Riri".

@kohakuebisu

Not to nitpick but ...

Sugar baby is an apt translation.

right! So scammer, rip off artist, cat fishing, con artist, thief, liar, financial abuser, emotional abuser come to my mind. Sugar baby? And what did the victims get in return!

I could be 60 year old multimillionaire, dating a 25 year old, but we all understand the relationship. As they are both happy and consenting. She was scum!

2 ( +3 / -1 )

She gets longer than people who murder their spouse or child, as well as child molesters etc. When those crimes usually get 3-5 years often suspended sentence I see a lot of "Japan's prisons are tough so....." so what's the reasoning behind this? Being a sugarbaby to idiots willing to give money to pretty young women, is worse than murder/pedophilia?

2 ( +4 / -2 )

We shouldn’t blame her for this situation! The blame goes to the loser men who all gave her the money WILLINGLY! It’s not like she had a gun to their head and demanded money ( knowing Japanese law system is so corrupt that if she would have murdered someone for money then she would have been given a lighter sentence )! Loser men are the only reason that these sugar daddy’s exists!

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Being a sugarbaby to idiots willing to give money to pretty young women, is worse than murder/pedophilia?

It isn't but evading taxes at such high figures is... From a government stance, which is probably why she got pinned.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

these men fell for obviously filtered & doctored pics and videos (for those who want to see what she (thinks) she looks like, can have a look here (copy and paste) : https://www.tokyoreporter.com/crime/woman-handed-8-years-in-prison-for-swindling-men-met-online/

........ one would have to be pretty desperate to fall for something looking like that , and even more desperate & gullible "believing" the images are real, (though they´re bad enough even having been faked ) once they fell for the visuals (ugh) these "men" were perfectly ripe for the picking , and to be fooled by the obvious fakery, the entire sick scenario .... all of it leaves me finding it difficult to muster up any sympathy for her or the idiots who actually got swindled by her.

Ffs! what the hell is wrong with these people ?!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The sentence appears to be very harsh, but even after appeal different judges came to a similar conclusion.

It is not only about her activity to scam money out of men, but also about tax evading and about creating a manual and teaching other woman how to fool men.

These three men are truly idiots who had too much money, but this does not justify a woman to cheat them out of such a huge amount of money.

I think this sentence is somehow a warning to such greedy women not to overcharge stupid men - nobody would care if she takes from these 3 men a few million yen over 3 years, which is really not such a short time - but to defraud 155 million yen is such a huge amount which cannot be ignored.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

JimOct. 1 05:54 pm JST

We shouldn’t blame her for this situation! The blame goes to the loser men who all gave her the money WILLINGLY! It’s not like she had a gun to their head and demanded money 

At the beginning she was not investigated or arrested for cheating loser men. Police got some information that she is selling a manual about how to cheat older men out of money and indeed, a woman was sucessful following this manual and collected about 10 million yen.

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15242651

Watanabe was also accused of selling manuals on the internet on how to swindle money from older lonely men.

One buyer, a 21-year-old woman who lives in Nagoya, has been convicted of fraudulently gaining about 10 million yen through the instructions.

The fact that “Watanabe sold manuals and encouraged others to commit similar crimes was malicious,” the court said.

> In August 2023, Watanabe was arrested by Aichi prefectural police on suspicion of aiding and abetting fraud over the sale of manual to the Nagoya woman.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites