Summertime, and the hookin’ looks easy, Johns are jumpin’ and the gals are high

A young girl plying the trade known as enjokosai, or compensated dating, is hardly new. Yet, observes Shukan Jitsuwa (Aug. 19), the glut of school gals on summer break and the harsh economy are combining to make present conditions in Tokyo anything but a seller’s market.

The tabloid cites the entertainment areas of Shinjuku, Ikebukuro and Shibuya as common hot spots. Many young females migrate from the countryside and must offer sharp discounts, or gekiyasu enko, as slashed bonuses for salaried workers have become the norm.

Seated on a street corner is a 19-year-old from Niigata Prefecture. “I came to Tokyo to earn money for one week,” says the brown-haired girl. “I have only have a few hundred yen. Tonight I can’t find anyone. If someone will pay 5,000 yen and the hotel fee that’s acceptable…”

In Shibuya, the writer finds a deeply tanned female in a miniskirt. She does not offer sex, only hand-jobs, and handles five customers a day. Referred to as tekoki enko, the service costs 3,000 yen a pull. Read more

Maria Ozawa’s deri heru debut, popularity of ‘land mine’ gals top sex biz trends

For a rundown of the top-ten stories thus far in 2010 in the fuzoku trade — that is, businesses offering sexual services — weekly tabloid Shukan Asahi Geino (July 8) turned to Yoshikazu Murazaki, the editor-in-chief of monthly entertainment guide Manzoku.

“Shaking the industry the most has been the deri heru (out-call sex shop) debuts of big-name AV actresses Mai Nadasaka and Kei Megumi at club Muteki in Shibuya and Maria Ozawa at Club Tora no Ana,” explains the editor.

The magazine adds that AV stars had appeared at such establishments in the past but the recent trend has been with bigger names offering their services. “Over the next three months, we expect that even more girls will make their debut,” says the manager of club Muteki. Read more

The puerile perils of proletarian prostitution

Earlier in May, police in Chiryu City, Aichi Prefecture, arrested a 25-year-old man on charges of assault and robbery against a 34-year-old woman while in a love hotel.

Nikkan Gendai (May 29) reports that Kenta Hayashi, unemployed and with no fixed abode, allegedly used his hands or a towel to strangle his victim until she lost consciousness. He then stole 5,000 yen in cash and her cell phone from her handbag.

Hayashi admitted to police that he had met the woman via an encounter site on the Web.

“His motive was simple robbery and he had no intention of killing her,” a police source is quoted as saying. Read more

Tokyo furikome fraudsters go from princes to paupers

In a love hotel district of Tokyo, a minivan picks up a young woman. “What the hell were you doing?” she barks to the driver. “You are behind schedule.”

Kotaro Nishijima, which is not his real name, smiles in acknowledging his female passenger, who is young enough to be his daughter.

He currently earns 300,000 yen each month transporting gals in the deri heru trade (out-call sex) to their clients — a far cry from his days as head of a group of 80 that carried out frauds via phone communication (furikome sagi), which typically involves deceiving victims into wiring large sums of money to the group’s bank account. Read more

Hard times: Japan’s commercial sex version of ‘fast food’ squeezes it out to rake it in

Even with Japan’s economy in the doldrums, salarymen have not necessarily forgone the pleasures of visits to sex shops. They’ve just reduced their outlays.

The sex industry’s current version of fast food for the masses are tekoki-ten (hand job shops), where the going rate for a 5-finger burp job is 5,000 yen.

Nikkan Gendai (May 15) learned of this when the Metropolitan Police Department reported the arrest of 34-year-old Daijiro Nogami, proprietor of “Love Search,” on violation of a public morals charge. Read more

Teen hookers’ demands for dough dented by deflation

After efforts by the authorities to crack down, the practice of so-called enjo kosai (“compensated dating”), a euphemism for teen prostitution, appears to be on the rise again.

Nikkan Gendai (Apr. 10) reports several instances of police nabbing teen tarts and their adult johns, including three arrests this past week alone.

In all three cases, the johns were said to have met up with the girls through “encounter sites” on the web.

What’s surprising, the tabloid reports, is how cheap such recreational activities have become. The 30-year-old real estate developer caught with a 17-year-old high school student told police she had agreed on 5,000 yen to do the dirty deed. That’s less than drinking in a cheapo snack bar. Read more

TV Tokyo talent dispensing deri heru services in Shibuya?

The claims from a caller dialing Shukan Jitsuwa’s tip desk were most tempting: “Right now I am in a love hotel for a deri heru service with a girl who resembles an idol I’ve seen on television. I have to say that it really looks like her! I’d like for you to confirm whether I am correct or not! We are in Shibuya at…”

Being a magazine that frequently covers the activities of call girls, as a deri heru gal might be best described, such an offer for the tabloid proved too irresistible to ignore and for an article appearing in its Apr. 22 issue a reporter was dispatched to the scene within one hour.

Upon arrival the couple were in the midst of exiting the lobby — at least a male matching the description conveyed over the phone was accompanied by a shapely lass in stockings, high heels and a long winter coat (as she was seen to be wearing in a pair of grainy black and white photos supplied by the tabloid).

That gal, the reporter concluded, was talent Urara Hanazono. A writer specializing in the idol beat, who joined Shukan Jitsuwa’s main reporter at the scene, gave his stamp of approval on the identification. Read more

Tokyo pink salons providing delectable deri heru substitute

This claim from a fuzoku writer — that is, one specializing in the sex industry — sounded far too appealing for Shukan Jitsuwa (Apr. 8) to ignore: “There’s a pink salon in Otsuka serving more than 200 customers a day. In this economy, that is unbelievable.”

Naturally, the tabloid felt obligated to investigate the premises, located in Tokyo’s Toshima Ward — no name for the establishment is given but a Google search reveals a few candidates — and discovered that Japan’s ongoing deflation has sent cash-strapped patrons stampeding to pink salons in favor of deri heru (out-call) sex services.

For the uninitiated, a pink salon supplies non-coital sexual services, while deri heru call girls are a bit more comprehensive.

“Since last summer, fuzoku prices have fallen like a rock,” says that same sex scribe. “In Tokyo, standard deri heru fees have dropped from 15,000 yen for 60 minutes to 10,000 yen for 40 minutes. The smaller outlay is appealing to customers. But these days, even that can’t top the reasonable fees charged by a pink salon.”

Unlike deri heru, prices have not changed, but the services rendered have been boosted. Patrons can now expect turns with three different ladies — referred to as 花びら回転 (hanabirakaiten, or literally flower petal rotation) — an increase over the two that was once the industry standard. Read more

Tokyo’s Kabukicho teeters on the brink

Once known as Asia’s top entertainment quarter, Shinjuku Ward’s red-light district of Kabukicho has seen a hallowing out at its core. Monthly magazine Takarajima (April) takes a look at the devastation wrought by police crackdowns and the ongoing recession.

At the end of 2008, the multi-use Koma Stadium, notably known as a home to enka theater performances for a half-century and situated at the heart of Kabukicho, shut its doors. Over a year later, a construction plan for the site has not been set in place. Meanwhile, near JR Shinjuku Station, a large 10-screen cinema complex has since opened at the edge of the Kabukicho boundary. This encroachment, which has forced the shuttering of other long-running theaters in the area, combined with the closing of the cinema screens inside the Koma Stadium complex, has left only four screens remaining in all of Kabukicho, which was once regarded as a cinema Mecca. Read more

Toyota’s tremors send sex businesses sagging in Japan’s Detroit

“Yes, it’s true that police have been cracking down more heavily, and shop-type sex businesses have been disappearing,” says the manager of a “delivery health” (outcall sex service) in Toyota City. “There are more deri heru now, and many places let customers ‘play’ for less than 10,000 yen a visit.”

Slumping demand for automobiles, reports Shukan Taishu (Feb. 15), is proving a disaster for nightlife in Nagoya, Toyota township and other municipalities in the Chubu district.

“When Toyota was doing well, its factories operated in three shifts,” the manager continues. “We got lots of customers in the daytime too. We operated round the clock. But now the only time we get busy is on weekends.”

Toyota Motor Co. Ltd. has not been “doing well” at all. In its domestic market, the company sold 2,792,274 units in 2009 — down by a whopping 30.4 percent from the year before. The small sales boost enabled by the government’s eco car tax incentives may have helped move more hybrids, but not nearly enough to make up for the shortfall. Read more

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