TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested four women on suspicion of soliciting prostitution to foreign tourists in the Kabukicho red-light district of Shinjuku Ward.
Though sex tourism is considered an issue, the suspects in this case were likely defrauding tourists instead of having sex with them for money, reports Jiji Press (July 24).
Between May 14 and June 19, Miyu Aoyagi, 20, and the other three suspects are suspected of targeting foreign tourists for prostitution in the area around Okubo Park.
According to police, the suspects stood and waited for customers in the area, which includes a row of love hotels, in a practice referred to as tachinbo.
All four have admitted to violating the Anti-Prostitution Law. Aoyagi said, “I engaged in prostitution only with foreigners and elderly men who I believed were definitely not plainclothes police officers. I created group chats with other girls to share information about police officers cracking down on them.”
For the latter, she shared photos of investigators’ faces and the patrol status around the park within the group, which has 26 members.
The funds were used for gambling, to cover living expenses and pay for host club bills.
“My wallet was stolen”
Through June, police had arrested 75 people for soliciting customers for prostitution in Kabukicho this year. That figure is 40 more than that over the same period last year.
Among their customers are foreign tourists, who are increasingly looking to buy sex around Okubo Park — and they had better be on their guard.
According to police, Aoyagi made about 110 million yen over the last two years. However, police believe a lot of those gains came from fraud.
Between October last year and June, police received around 50 calls from customers. “My wallet was stolen at a hotel,” one said. “I paid but the deed wasn’t done and then [a woman] called her accomplices and they threatened me,” another said.
“Pay me 10,000 yen first”
Another suspect is Yuka Uchiyama. Just before her arrest, a camera for TBS News caught her putting cash she received from a man into her bag and disappearing into the night.
Here’s how she operated: After negotiating a deal — say, for 10,000 yen — with a foreign customer, they both go to a hotel.
“Pay me 10,000 yen first,” she will say. After receiving the amount, she’ll announce, “I came to the hotel for 10,000 yen. This is the end.” She’ll then head for the door.
“Unique Japanese scene”
However, many women actually engaged in sex with foreign tourists for money. The find out why foreign tourists prefer to pick up streetwalkers around Okubo Park, TBS News conducts several interviews.
“There is a YouTuber who introduces that there is a street in Kabukicho where you can have sexual relations [with women],” a Korean man says.
A man from Finland shows the network a TikTok video. He says that he came across the video after it was recommended on the app.
“There are quite a lot [of these videos],” he says. “I think it’s a unique Japanese scene.”
A man from France acknowledges that he went to a hotel with a woman. He says, “This is the best place.”
Sex tourism
Kazunori Yamai, of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, raised the issue of foreign tourists visiting for the purpose of prostitution in the Diet
“Foreign men come to Tokyo for sex tourism,” said the House of Representatives member. “Is this situation really something we can just ignore?”
The Anti-Prostitution Law prohibits prostitution, but there are no penalties for those who buy sex.
Kazuna Kanajiri is the director of PAPS (Organization for Pornography and Sexual Exploitation Survivors). She says that the law needs to be revised.
“[Under the current circumstances] the buyers can approach women as much as they want without being punished If there are no buyers, [women] will not be forced to sell sex. We need legal penalties as soon as possible,” she says.
