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‘JK’ businesses shift from panty peeping to sex at hotels

Friday Dec. 18
Friday Dec. 18

Over the summer, Tokyo police accused Hisa Takahasi, the 52-year-old manager of Idol Academy Star Pro, located in the Akihabara shopping district, of employing women to wear costumes and pose such that their underwear was visible in front of a one-way mirror for a room of male customers.

In recent years, law enforcement has been cracking down on similar operations featuring minors — dubbed “JK” businesses, which originates from the phrase for high school girl (joshi kosei) — under the Child Welfare Law as they are considered breeding grounds for prostitution.

However, all of the approximately 260 registered female employees at Idol Academy Star Pro were adults, mainly in their early 20s. As a result, the police deemed that the shop was improperly licensed under the entertainment business law since customers being entertained much like at a movie.

Pursuit, escape — repeat. The case is an example, says Friday (Dec. 18), for how shops in the industry are continuing to exploit legal loopholes in an effort to meet stiff demand fueled by fantasies for underage girls.

The magazine ventures to one parlor in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro entertainment district which is turning the tables on law enforcement: Instead of girls being viewed by men seated in private rooms, the writer finds a number of salarymen in a large space and peeking through a mirror at a row of young women relaxing in cubicles.

“It would be illegal for the girls to receive money for being viewed,” says an employee. “After a customer chooses a girl, they go to a private room for a massage. For that, there is no problem at all.”

Rates begin at 2,000 yen for the first 10 minutes. The writer selects a girl going by the name “Yuka,” who first introduces herself and then hits him up with a sales pitch. “Take a look at this,” she says. “My fashion statement for today is about the fairly sexy pants I’m wearing. That’s not all; if you select an optional service, it gets even better.”

Simple foot and hand massages are included in the basic service. A hug and a period of resting together are categorized under “optional,” as mentioned by Yuka. An “underground” menu features the use of an electric vibrator and other adult products, she adds.

Moving right along, specifically down the JR Yamanote Line to Shinjuku, the writer selects “Shiori” from a JK business that dispatches masseuses to love hotels and residences.

According to Friday, this business model is exploding in popularity due to the ongoing crackdown. An hour of services at this particular shop goes for 10,000 yen.

At a room in a hotel in the Kabukicho red-light district, Shiori tells the writer that she quit school when she was “around 18 years of age.” Attired in a school uniform costume, she starts by giving the writer a massage as he lies face-up in his boxer briefs on the room’s bed.

A sampling of the wares at Idol Academy Star Pro
A sampling of the wares at Idol Academy Star Pro

As the service progresses, she climbs aboard his torso and brings her body down close so that he can hear her whispers. Now fully stimulated, he sense that she has done this a few times before.

The writer is then presented with a number of additional illicit options, including a hand-job (10,000 yen) and honban, or full sex, (30,000 yen).

Now for the million-yen question: Which does he choose? That is up to your imagination, dear reader.

An employee of the service tells Friday that the market was jammed with shops offering high school girls at the time it opened. He says that a dispatch business model is the way to go. “It’s tough (for law enforcement) to bust an out-call service,” the employee says.

The cat-and-mouse game continues. (K.N.)

Source: “Donnani tekihatsu shite mo itachi-gokko JK bijinesu shutcho massaaji to shingata kengaku kurabu sennyu to,” Friday (Dec. 18, pages 26-27)