Japanese murder exposes world of hired marriage wreckers

The Times ^ | 2/10/2010 | Richard Lloyd Parry in Tokyo

[bruinbirdman]

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 Takashi 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.

A "love hotel": Rie Isohata was photographed entering one with Takashi Kuwabara to
provide grounds for 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

[Dr. Sivana]

Hadn’t U.S. women been known to hire “honey traps” to catch/test their husbands in the pre-no-fault divorce days?

[dixjea]

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,”

[NY.SS-Bar9]

"They never seem to smell a rat when, despite the fact they’re middle-aged, a beautiful young woman falls for them,”

Happens to me all the time - I thought it happened to all us 50 year-old married balding guys ;)

[Erik Latranyi]

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,”

Men are unique in having a second head to think with......women are not saddled with such issues.

[Woebama]

Women that are starved for positive attention can be a very easy “mark.”

[Adder]

Yeah but then we turn around and use the smaller of the two brains....

[mgist]

Women that are starved for positive attention can be a very easy “mark.”
,

Insecure men are an even easier "mark".

[svxdave]

Beautiful young women are probably attracted to 50 year old balding married guy because he has money and/or power. How else would you explain Bill Clinton’s experiences?

[GATOR NAVY]

There was a show called “Blackmail” on TV when we lived in Japan. I wish I could remember the details but IIRC, the premise was something like this. They would send an actor in to attempt to seduce a man or woman while their partner watched the video from hidden cameras. Pretty creepy.