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‘Toyoko kids’ congregating in Kabukicho face police crackdowns

TOKYO (TR) – In recent years, the Kabukicho red-light district has been attracting very young delinquents and sex workers.

Specifically, they congregate around the Toho Cinemas complex in the heart of the district. Popularized on social media as toyoko — or “Toyoko Kids,” a reference to the complex — these types, many of them runaways, feel the area is somewhere they can belong to.

But the area’s inherent dangers have come to light right along with its popularity. As a result, members of the force have stepped up patrols and crackdowns, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Dec. 22).

Fanned by social media videos showing people dancing with the Kabukicho’s neon signs in the background, the surge in popularity began around 2018. It then gradually became a place where young people could hang out and communicate.

Then the COVID pandemic hit. As the number of people in Kabukicho decreased during that time, “the number of children here and there was strangely noticeable,” an investigator says.

Things took a “disturbing” turn in 2021. That year, three young boys and girls jumped to their deaths. There were also incidents of child prostitution and a case of young boys fatally assaulting a homeless man.

Since then, there have been a series of drug overdoses, illegal drug sales and sexual crimes against elementary and junior high school girls committed by key figures calling themselves the “King” or “Emperor” of the area.

In short, the area has become a hotbed of crime that exploits the immaturity of minors.

As a result, Tokyo Metropolitan Police’s Juvenile Development Division has been taking youths into custody. Between January and November of this year, 725 people were taken into custody.

The figure is down from the 863 people taken into custody over the same period last year. But the situation remains serious, with a high number of cases of drug overdoses being a concern, police said.