TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - South Jakarta`s Little Tokyo area at Blok M district looked rather quiet on Wednesday night, August 22, at around 23:00. Usually, the area is packed with visitors. All bars and karaoke places were closed, and only a few restaurants were open.
Apart from the fact that yesterday was the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, when bars and karaoke venues are closed, it seemed that the area quieted down following last week's raid related to the scandal involving Japanese athletes who got kicked out from the 2018 Asian Games.
Four of Japan's national basketball team's players were sent home after they were discovered to have paid for sex in the Blok M area, wearing the team jersey.
Read: Japanese Athletes Sent Home on Prostitution Scandal
The Japanese delegation chief for the Asian Games, Yasuhiro Yamashita, said that on August 16, the four basketballers— Yuya Nagayoshi, Takuya Hashimoto, Takuma Sato, and Keita Imamura—left the athletes village to have dinner in a Japanese restaurant at Little Tokyo, Blok M.
But the quartet did not return to the village after the meal. Instead, they spent some time with prostitutes in a nearby hotel until morning.
"This is a violation of discipline and I apologize to the entire Japanese citizens," Yamashita said.
Japan has expelled the four athletes on August 20. Yamashita said they were told to pay for their own flights home.
Read: Anies Comments on Asian Games Athletes` Prostitution Scandal
Following the incident, the South Jakarta Pamong Praja Police raided the area. On August 20, six women suspected to be sex workers were arrested and brought to the capital's Social Office.
M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH
