TOKYO (TR) – More than 100 persons paraded through an entertainment district in the capital on Friday night to promote recently enacted legislation that restricts undesirable street touts, reports TV Asahi (Apr. 8).
About 130 persons, including the chief of the Azabu Police Station and the mayor of Minato Ward, strolled through the Roppongi entertainment area to raise awareness about new legislation for the ward, enacted this month, that restricts the activities of street touts, who often aggressively lure pedestrians into clubs and bars.
Over the past few years, the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo has repeatedly issued warnings about “drink-spiking” incidents in a number of entertainment areas in the metropolis, including Roppongi. Such incidents often result in the victim being robbed. In such cases, the victim is lured into an establishment by a street tout prior to being drugged.
Violators of the newly enacted legislation will be subject to fines. The names of their clubs could also be made public.
According to Tokyo Metropolitan Police, there were about 100 street touts patrolling the streets of Roppongi, with around 90 percent of them being foreigners.
