"OK, so the cafe didn't have all the right documents filled in. Still, it was only a panty flashing place, so it came as a real shock to hear that arrests had been made there. This business is going to become harder and harder to get by in," the operator of a cabaret club in Osaka's Nanba district says to lowbrow men's weekly Shukan Jitsuwa (5/1).

The operator is talking about an Osaka Prefectural Police raid that shut down P-Doll Umeda Nakadori, a panchira kissa or panty flashing cafe, which now has the dubious honor of being the first of its type to be targeted by vice cops in Japan.

"Operator Issaku Ebata was arrested for breaking the Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Law by (allegedly) operating an unauthorized establishment," a reporter for a national daily tells Shukan Jitsuwa. "He opened his first place in (the Osaka entertainment district of) Minami and the new style of sexy service his place offered was incredibly popular. The Umeda place he opened last summer was also doing really well and was always packed to the rafters on weekends."

Osaka Prefecture is currently home to about 20 panty flashing cafes, where punters pay for a beer or coffee served by waitresses clad in skimpy uniforms who deliberately show off glimpses of their undergarments ... and more.

"All of the waitresses wore maid's outfits where the hems of the miniskirts were just 10 centimeters from between their legs. There were mirrors set up all throughout the cafe and if the waitresses moved their hips even slightly they would be flashing their panties in a way that was viewable from a multitude of angles," a regular at one of Ebata's establishments tells the weekly.

That wasn't the only kind of service Ebata's cafes were offering, either.

"For a 500 yen tip, customers could get a fishing rod they were allowed to use to raise the waitresses' skirts and then use a magnifying glass to get a really close look at their knickers," another regular tells Shukan Jitsuwa. "Some girls would even change their panties in front of customers for the right price."

The business model was serving the entrepreneur well.

"The cafes were making about 12 million yen a month, which is in the same league as most hostess clubs. But it was clear that these places were not your ordinary, everyday cafes and that seems to have been what turned authorities' eyes toward them," the newspaper reporter says.

Attracting attention with a bawdy business probably wasn't the smartest thing the operator could have done. For the past few years Osaka cops have clamped down on adult-oriented businesses, especially in the Umeda district.

"Pink salons (handjob bars) have basically been run out of town. Even those places that are still in business have taken up self-restraining measures like refraining from advertising in the papers or updating their Websites, which in turn means they're attracting even fewer customers," the hack tells Shukan Jitsuwa. "Some pink salons have turned themselves into regular hostess bars, but the cops are still picking them up. Osaka Prefectural Police are taking an incredibly tough stance against sex businesses, even those that do have all the right permits." (By Ryann Connell)