Death of Japanese host Yuya Tanaka after shochu, tequila drinking game was work related, court finds
- Parents of the 21-year-old male employee have won a seven-year legal battle after he died from acute alcohol poisoning after peer pressure on the job
- They are now allowed to claim workers’ compensation, but Tanaka’s father says he pursued the case to make sure such a thing does not happen again
The ruling this week enables the parents of Yuya Tanaka to receive compensation from the state for his death, although the young man’s father in a January interview with public broadcaster NHK said he was determined to pursue the case after it was initially rejected by the labour standards bureau because he did “not want the same kind of thing to happen again”.
In April 2012, Tanaka started working at the Black Pearl host club, where handsome young men are paid to compliment women and are handsomely rewarded in return.
As a newcomer, Tanaka would have been under pressure to drink heavily, and on August 1 that year he took part in a drinking game in which he consumed large amounts of shochu spirits and tequila, Kyodo News reported. Authorities have never divulged exactly how much he consumed.
Tanaka subsequently passed out, although his colleagues did not realise he was seriously unwell until at least two hours later when he was found frothing at the mouth. He died later at a hospital of acute alcohol poisoning.
The Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported that prosecutors filed charges of professional negligence resulting in death against two employees of the host club, although the cases were subsequently dismissed.
Another court did, however, find the operator of the club responsible for Tanaka’s death. In a civil suit heard in February of this year, the owners were ordered to pay his parents damages of Ұ73 million (US$668,000).