OSAKA (TR) – Osaka Prefectural Police have busted a specialty hostess club in Chuo Ward for allegedly employing a teenage girl, reports the Sankei Shimbun (May 30).
In April, an 18-year-old boy employed at Bar Noa, located in the Shinsaibashi area, allegedly instructed the girl, 14, to distribute information sheets on a road near the establishment.
The suspect, who has been charged with violating the Labor Standards Act regarding employing minors, admits to the allegations.
Known as a “girl’s bar,” Bar Noa is licensed as a eating and drinking establishment but whose services approached that of a hostess club.
According to police, Bar Noa employed five middle school students. The 14-year-old girl sought work by posting a message on a social-networking service indicating that she wanted work at a girl’s bar.
The girl was initially arrested by an officer in plain clothes for violating a public nuisance ordinance for handing out the information sheets.
The bust of Bar Noa coincides with law enforcement’s intensifying supervision upon so-called “JK” (joshi kosei, or school girl) parlors and bars that employ female students to wear uniforms while entertaining male customers.
