Wakaresaseya

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Wakaresaseya, or "breaker-uppers," are Japanese businesses that specialize in breaking up relationships. For a fee, a client names a target, and an undercover worker tries to start an affair with the target or to produce other incriminating evidence. The goal is usually to help with a divorce, but the service can also be used to shame someone, pressure an employee to resign, lure a lover away, or break up another relationship. Costs typically range from 500,000 to 1.6 million yen, plus a success bonus of 250,000–800,000 yen. Men are seen as easier targets who are more likely to be seduced by attractive operatives. Reports about these agencies began around 2000, and a TV drama about them aired in 2001. By 2005 there were about a dozen companies, and by 2010 the number online was around 270. The industry drew wide media attention in 2010 after a former operative murdered a target he had fallen in love with, who wanted to leave him.