Press "Enter" to skip to content

Police putting a new twist on the word ‘crackdown’

The outside of a panchira kissa

Establishments called “panchira kissa” (panty-viewing cafes) are being targeted by the authorities. These are coffee shops where male customers are invited, even encouraged, to peer up waitresses’ already short skirts. In some places, their efforts can be facilitated by use of fishing rods or fans to lift skirt hems, with the objective of viewing the goodies underneath.

The tabloid newspaper Nikkan Gendai (Oct. 4) reports that since a shop in Osaka was hit with a violation on morals charges last April, the police crackdown has been ongoing.

“For example, if you paid an extra fee, the waitress would perch on the bar counter and raise her knees to form a letter ‘M,'” says a regular customer of one establishment. “It was popular, but they had to stop it.

“While she was in that position you could use an atomizer to spray her panties or bra; getting them wet made them transparent. But they stopped that too. And they also stopped letting customers watch girls changing their ‘cosplay’ costumes — although the girls usually wore two pairs of panties underneath (to be safe)…he-he.”

A writer who covers pink businesses tells Nikkan Gendai that the employees in most of such shops were not allowed to intentionally flash their underwear. Nor were they permitted to “date” customers off the premises, i.e., their role was limited strictly to being ogled.

Police stepped up raids on panchira kissa in the run-up to the Group of Eight summit at Lake Toya last July. But the worst may be yet to come. The crackdown is expected to peak in November, the deadline for tallying prosecutions in a calendar year.

The panty-viewing cafe as we know it may, alas, be headed for extinction.

Source: “‘Panchira kissa’ fuuzen no akari,” Nikkan Gendai (Oct. 4, page 5)