Tokyo Police Are Cracking Down on Businesses That Exploit Underage Girls

When a UN investigator visiting Japan condemned the country's lack of effort to deal with the sexual exploitation of children, she made special mention of JK businesses.

JK stands for joshi kousei, or a female high school student. The businesses offer a wide range of services, from simply taking walks with girls to buying sexually provocative photos of them to having sex.

After the investigator, special rapporteur for the United Nations on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, made her claims, the Japanese government demanded that she retract them. But the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (TMPD) appears to be reacting somewhat differently — by creating an ordinance to regulate JK businesses in the city of 13 million people.

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Police sources admit to VICE News that the businesses are hotbeds of prostitution, and that there have been frequent cases of young girls suffering sexual abuse. In addition, girls often end up graduating from the JK business into the more overt sex industry. Last year, the TMPD raided four JK businesses on suspicion of violations of child welfare laws and other offenses, and subsequently put at least 10 high school girls in protective custody.

But because many of the businesses change their names and locations so frequently, cracking down on them is difficult. Existing laws also provide wiggle room. As reported by VICE News last year, the JK businesses try to circumvent the laws by any means possible, including giving the girls "work" to do — such as folding paper cranes.

Watch VICE News' 'Schoolgirls for Sale in Japan.'

The TMPD will assemble a panel of experts to debate the most effective legislation, but plan to model theirs after an Aichi Prefecture ordinance. Aichi Prefecture was the first — and so far the only — prefecture in the nation to target JK Businesses. It's also home to the Yamaguchi-gumi Kodo-kai, a powerful faction of Japan's largest organized crime group. The yakuza often run sexual massage parlors staffed by underage girls.

Aichi's revised ordinance on the protection of juveniles went into effect last July. Under the law, any business that employs girls younger than 18 who wear costumes — such as school uniforms or maid uniforms — and entertain customers is defined as a "harmful service provider" and subject to regulation.

A look at how Aichi defines JK businesses shows just how pervasive and varied its forms are. According to the prefecture's law, a JK business is any place that employs girls under 18 who:

• Allow customers to peep into their rooms through one-way mirrors in "observation clubs."
• Wear underwear or swimsuits while working as waitresses or dancers.
• Serve alcohol.
• Chat and play games with customers after a meeting is arranged.
• Massage customers in private rooms.
• Take strolls with customers on "dates."
• Clean customers' houses.
• Wear costumes and let customers take photos of them.

The first business to be punished in Aichi after the law went into effect was Studio Ee in the city of Nagoya, which billed itself as a "Field Trip Club."

"I thought this level of stuff was okay," the 51-year-old owner reportedly told police when he was arrested last September. "My sense of it all became dulled."

At Studio Ee, customers would look at girls through a one-way mirror and choose which girl they wanted to observe more closely. The girls chosen would go to the mirror and pull up their skirts or get on all fours. Some girls would masturbate or simulate masturbation.

One of the girls working there was reportedly 17 and said she took the job because she was financially unable to continue her education. In Japan, a growing number of children live in poverty, and many can't afford higher education.

The Aichi Prefecture ordinance doesn't inflict very stiff penalties. Violators can have their business operations suspended for up to six months, and repeat offenders can face imprisonment of up to a year or a fine up to about $4,200.

"Even if the criminals are convicted, the sentences are extremely low," De Boer-Buquicchio said at a press conference last October. "The whole atmosphere of impunity needs to change."

Aichi Prefectural Police told VICE News that the law had been very successful; they've investigated 168 businesses for violations, and warned 58 to shape up or face penalties. There have been no confirmed cases of girls under 18 working at JK Businesses in Aichi since the law went into effect.

The TMPD is hoping to impose heavier penalties than Aichi. De Boer-Buquicchio pointed out the lightness of penalties in Japan related to the sexual exploitation of children. "Even if the criminals are convicted, the sentences are extremely low," she said at a press conference. "The whole atmosphere of impunity needs to change."

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Shihoko Fujiwara, who heads the NPO Lighthouse, which works with victims of the JK business, said she welcomed the ordinance but felt it wasn't enough.

"It's sad that Japan is a society that allows the JK business to flourish in the first place," she said. "Japan treats making girls under 18 sexual objects for sale as a perfectly normal thing, and that needs to change. I hope Tokyo makes a really well thought-out ordinance."

The TMPD hopes to have the new law on the books by the end of the year.

Mari Yamamoto contributed reporting to this story.

Follow Jake Adelstein on Twitter: @jakeadelstein