Japan's earliest private detectives appeared in 1895, and after nearly a century of development, there are now over 5,700 detective agencies and related organizations, encompassing more than 22,000 private detectives and associated professionals.
Although 70% of these institutions' business involves catching infidelity, primarily to help employers win divorce cases—quite different from detectives depicted in mystery novels—sometimes they still get involved in criminal cases, assisting the police in locating suspects.
