TOKYO (TR) – More than 100 female club employees in the ritzy Ginza area of Chuo Ward marched together in an effort to rid the district of undesirable street touts, reports Nippon News Network (Feb. 2).
On Wednesday night, 140 hostesses, proprietors and bartenders, many attired in kimono gowns, slowly paraded through a 200-meter stretch of Ginza, shouting to pedestrians that “street touts are not permissible” and warning about the practice of bottakuri, or bill-padding.
Last year, police arrested 10 persons for incessantly hassling pedestrians — a violation of a metropolitan public nuisance ordinance — in the streets in and around Ginza.
Also participating was Takashi Chikazawa, the chief of the Tsukiji Police Station, which is located near Ginza. “Trouble with street touts and illegal parking around Ginza are endless,” the chief said, according to Nikkan Sports (Feb. 1). “We will strongly promote comprehensive measures for crime prevention and traffic management.”
