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Tuition trouble pushing Tokyo’s college co-eds toward prostitution

Shukan Post Sept. 12
Shukan Post Sept. 12
Shinchosha Publishing last month released “Japan’s Sex Workers,” a book by Atsuhiko Nakamura (@atu_nakamura) that, among other things, provides information on the variety, skills and salary of Japan’s estimated 350,000 ladies of the evening.

One section in particular that left Shukan Post (Sept. 16) drooling was regarding the joshi daisei, or female college student.

In an interview, the author tells the magazine that female co-eds are entering the industry in increasing numbers over money issues, and, unlike before, the trend now includes students at top-tier institutions in Tokyo.

“Back 20 years ago, there were university females in the sex trade,” says Nakamura. “They were ostentatious types, doing it for entertainment expenses or in order to buy high-end brand goods. But nowadays, these girls are selling their bodies to pay for tuition and living expenses.”

Largely to blame for the increase is the funding (or lack thereof) from home.

A study in 2013 by the National Federation of University Co-operative Associations indicated that the average monthly allowance provided by parents to their children enrolled in a university dropped to 72,280 yen, a figure that stood at 102,240 yen in 1996.

Further, a 2012 survey by the Japan Student Services Organization revealed that one out of three students relies entirely on parental support while going to school.

Akira Ikoma, the editor of a guide to the men’s entertainment called Ore no Tabi (My Journey), says that the phenomenon is especially true among girls who come to a university in Tokyo from the countryside.

“To work in a restaurant, one might earn an average of 1,000 yen an hour,” says the editor, “and there’s no shortage of employees who wreck themselves through the break-backing work involved.”

According to Nakamura, the fuzoku industry, or sex trade, proves to be an intriguing and lucrative option.

 A sex business featuring college girls in Tokyo
A sex business featuring college girls in Tokyo
“The pay is high, and the employee can choose her own schedule,” says the author. “These are the chief reasons students take on fuzoku jobs.”

Likewise, students from institutions of higher learning, such as Tokyo, Keio and Waseda universities, are in the greatest demand, claims Shukan Post.

“If two girls look similar, a customer will prefer the one with a higher educational background,” explains the manager of a “delivery health” shop, which is a business that dispatches girls to waiting customers. “For a guy, it creates a certain type of excitement. If we say we have a girl from such and such university, the number of repeaters increases.”

Fuzoku writer Taizo Ebina last year told Nikkan Gendai that the going rate for honban, or full sex, with girls from Tokyo University is 50,000 yen, with Keio and Waseda universities following at 45,000 and 40,0000 yen, respectively.

A fourth-year student at Waseda works at a soapland erotic bathhouse. “I’m doing it to save money for a legal exam,” she says.

The brand value the universities carry is huge.

“Rather than just a college student, she is a college student from a prestigious university,” says Nakamura. “That adds tremendous value.” (A.T.)

Source: “Kyuzo suru kogakureki ‘kosei fuuzoku-jo’ odoroki no oitachi, shibo doki, iibun,” Shukan Post (Sept. 16, pages 127-131)