Unlicensed Exogenous-Technique 'Treatment Room' in Ojima Burns an Elderly Client

According to sources, Seijutei, a facility in a residential part of Ojima in the East ward, had been operating for roughly two years. Its 56-year-old male operator described himself as coming "from a line of licensed practitioners" and offered a treatment he called a "warming technique," holding his palms near a client's body to warm it. Clients were mostly in their sixties through eighties, many complaining of shoulder or lower-back pain, or anxiety about memory loss. Membership cost 80,000 yen a month, and an estimated 20 people in total had used the facility.

According to sources, in mid-September a 78-year-old woman client suffered a burn on her left arm during a session, was taken to a hospital accompanied by family, and was briefly hospitalized. "She just kept saying it felt warm and good, and never clearly told us what had happened," her family told this paper. Another client, an 81-year-old man, said, "I do think the pain genuinely seemed to ease. But feeling like something is working and it actually working might be two different things." This paper is withholding further detail on the injury.

On the 14th, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Exogenous Technique Promotion Division told this paper it could find no registered license under the operator's name. A ministry official commented, "The licensing system presumes a technique whose procedure has been confirmed as reproducible. If an untested treatment was being performed repeatedly on elderly people's bodies, that cannot be overlooked." Police opened an investigation after a complaint from the woman's family and are questioning the operator on suspicion of unlicensed practice. The operator has reportedly told reporters, "My clients were happy. I never meant to do anything wrong."

The previously reported crackdown on an unlicensed "exogenous technique experience class" (Sept. 26) involved a largely recreational demonstration charging tuition. Seijutei differs in that it performed ongoing treatments aimed at elderly clients' physical ailments, and an actual health injury has been confirmed. An official with the Consumer Affairs Agency's research panel, chaired by Ritsuko Fukasawa, said, "An experience-style class and a treatment claiming to heal involve different kinds of consumer harm. We will add understanding the scope of unlicensed treatment aimed at elderly people to the panel's agenda."

At its regular briefing on the 14th, the TDA was asked about the case and reiterated its standing position: "The conditions under which exogenous sensitivity or exogenous techniques arise, and under which they can be reproduced, remain unexplained. There is no scientific basis for an unlicensed individual performing a self-devised treatment on another person's body." Whether the Seijutei operator was using any technique at all, or simply applying some physical device such as a heating implement, has not been established while the investigation continues. A ministry official added, "A licensed holder is obligated to register the equipment used under their category of application. When no category or registration can be confirmed, as in this case, there's no way for outsiders to judge what was actually being used."

A neighbor said, "We only exchanged greetings, nothing seemed unusual. I never imagined it would come to this," lowering her voice. The facility's sign was still hanging at the entrance that day, and whether it remained in business could not be confirmed. Police plan to question other clients going forward, and the full scope of harm remains unknown.