Wakaresaseya

Wakaresaseya (別れさせ屋, "breaker-uppers") are Japanese businesses that specialize in breaking up relationships, often by drawing one of the partners into an affair or by producing other incriminating evidence.[1][2] For a fee, a customer names a target, and an undercover employee of the company then attempts to initiate an affair with the target or produce other incriminating evidence.[1] Though most often used to gather evidence of infidelity for use in a divorce case, it may also be used for purposes ranging from bringing shame to someone, securing the resignation of an employee, luring away the lover of one's spouse,[1] or breaking up some other relationship.[3]

The activities of these agencies were first widely reported in about 2000, and in 2001 the TV network NTV aired a drama series Wakaresase-ya.[4] In 2005 there were around twelve such companies in Japan, but the field has grown since with companies offering services through the internet.[3]

People involved in the business agree that men make easier targets and will almost always be seduced by good looking operatives.[1]

The business entered the limelight in 2010 when a former operative of a wakaresaseya agency was sentenced for murder. He had fallen in love with a target the company had assigned to him. After he confessed the business relationship to her, she wanted to leave him and he killed her.[3]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Magnier, Mark (10 January 2002), "Breakups Are Their Business", Los Angeles Times
  2. ↑ Coeyman, Marjorie (28 February 2002), "Calling in the Split Man", Christian Science Monitor
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Parry, Richard Lloyd (10 February 2010). "Japanese murder exposes world of hired marriage wreckers". The Times (News Corporation).
  4. ↑ "Wrecking a relationship doesn't come cheap". japantoday.com. 5 January 2010.