Major social networks in Japan have been forced to close hundreds if not thousands of online communities alleged to have been used for online dating, whilst police have launched a drive to close unregistered dating sites; all this comes as a result of a new law forcing any sites with dating activity to register with police or shut down.

An attempt to crack down on the popular schoolgirl job of prostitute, euphemised as “enjo kousai”, or compensated dating, is the reason for the ban.

With the choice to close or register, sites have little option, and major social sites Mixi and Mobagetown have been purging any suspect groups.

The major provisions of the restriction are designed to keep minors from accessing the services; ages should be checked by the management, by way of either providing copies or images of official documents certifying age, or by utilising credit cards or similar means to ensure minors are excluded.

With a full list of all the users of such services in hand, operators must also provide full details on demand to police, and can be ordered to close at the discretion of authorities. It appears no oversight of this capability is provided for.

Public access to such sites is also strictly forbidden, with registration now required in all cases.

The ban also lays out restrictions on who can run a site, making it clear that yakuza and convicted lolicon should not be involved.

Posts to a site which attempt to solicit underage sex are strictly forbidden, with a comprehensive variety of posts covered. Fines of up to a million yen are possible for anyone (including the minors) making such offending posts.

Several thousand sites have registered with the authorities; it is not clear how many remain or how many have closed unrecorded as a result of the law. Police continue to hunt the uncooperative sites.

Considering that both the lolicon and the schoolgirls seem intent on actively seeking each other’s company by whatever means, it will be interesting to see if this has the intended effect, or merely popularises other means…

Via ZakZak.

These measures come in the wake of an increasing amount of state mandated Internet censorship in Japan; now all PCs and mobile phones must come with filtering provision, and a nationwide database of “undesirable” sites covering everything from porn to unpalatable political views has been set up.

This database has already been made the subject of ridicule, with vast numbers of sites misclassified by way of entirely opaque processes; more disturbingly, the system has at times been abused by ne’er-do-wells who report innocuous sites they wish to see filtered.

Lax checking ensures that these reports can result in an inappropriate ban, which is only repealed by a report from the website operator, requiring constant vigilance.

ISPs and savvy net users alike have been exasperated at the lack of technical consideration given to the matter by politicians, who in most cases are not well versed in Internet matters.

Prostitution is said to be rampant in Japanese schools, with schoolgirls of ever younger ages selling their bodies for extra spending money, both to adults and amongst themselves.

Prices for girls in elementary school are said to have dropped below ¥3,000, leading some to wonder what has and will become of the nation’s public morals…

In many cases the prostitution is conducted through “deai-kei” sites, often relationship focused BBSes designed for use with mobile phones.

In one illustrative case, a middle school boy pimped out a thirteen-year-old girl for over ¥60,000 in total using such a site, whilst other schoolgirls used the site to sell their bodies themselves.

With these sites facilitating enjo kousai (“compensated dating”) to an unprecedented degree, a whole culture (or industry) of schoolgirl prostitution has sprung up, with girls being called “JC” in the slang of the sites, and with the large amounts of money involved encouraging involvement in the trade.

In a similar case to the above, a boy in middle school is said to have advertised “Recruiting JC in Kanagawa. You can make a lot so anyone looking for dates come to me,” and to have pimped out a 16-year-old girl for ¥40,000.

Such prices are said to be the exception rather than the rule, and prices drop even further when pupils engage in prostitution amongst themselves, or when they are younger, with high school students selling themselves to one another for a paltry ¥3,000, and middle school pupils charging even less.

These sites have been subjected to increased police scrutiny amidst a major police crackdown, but it appears that many sites have no difficulty in operating discretely without police supervision posing a problem.

Nationwide filtering of children’s access to the Internet is touted as a solution, and is now in effect, but it seems this rather underestimates the ingenuity of such children, particularly when large amounts of money are at stake.

The girls selling their bodies in this way have apparently been getting younger and younger, with elementary schoolers now increasingly turning to prostitution as an easy way of accumulating pocket money; an account of which is provided by the clinic:

“The age at which kids are getting into sex is getting lower. Even girls in middle school are becoming very sexually active. A high school boy came in recently with a second year middle school girl recently, and the pair had been sexually active. The boy asked me to tell his friend about STDs, although at least she was with a good boy.”

However, promotion of condoms has apparently kept pregnancies to a minimum. Even so, some girls are blasé about the matter, and are happy to be pregnant. Even teachers are said to turn a blind eye to pregnancies rather than have to get involved.

Additionally, sexually transmitted diseases appear to be making an impact. Disturbing reports from healthcare professionals indicate that in some clinics, up to 30% of patients were in their teens.

One case is described in lurid detail:

“There was a girl in the fifth year of elementary school who was doing enjo kousai, she was a groupie for talents. Her pantsu were always soiled [with blood], and she kept coming in with Chlamydia.”

The clinic staff warned her to stop having sex, but she persisted, and kept returning. Eventually she stopped visiting the clinic entirely.

Via J-Cast.

Amongst university students the practice of such informal prostitution is said to be even more common; Japan’s womanhood has at some point apparently became a mass commodity, and it is difficult to see any reasons why this should be the case, at least ones more helpful than “because they are harlots”.

It does however seem the traditional approach of only blaming the men (and boys) involved, and then subjecting them to criminal sanction, has only created a culture where schoolgirls boldly hawk themselves with impunity.

Possibly it may be time to consider why it is these girls are so ready to sell themselves for additional pocket money, and whether it is indeed appropriate to absolve them of all responsibility for their actions…

Purchasers of  this AV exposé of the amorous adventures of “Ami” could be forgiven for complaining of foul play…

Curiously, the sample pictures on the cover and website all seem to be avoiding showing her face in detail…

No wonder it is going for a bargain price.

Three schoolgirls have been arrested for taking nude photographs of themselves.

The trio, aged 17 and 18, attended a Chiba high school, and like so many of their peers decided to earn some additional income from prostitution.

Using one of the countless mobile phone dating sites which exist to facilitate this trade, they took photographs of their underwear and nether regions using their mobile phones and sent them to a prospective customer, a 22-year-old man who turned out to be under investigation by police in connection with some similar pictures of female high school students.

Some 100 images were involved in the case, all taken by the girls themselves, though how many were actually explicit is not made clear. There was apparently also some pantsu hawking involved.

Police subsequently charged all three girls, including the 18-year-old, with supplying child pornography; the girls explained that they “just wanted some cash as the summer holidays were coming up.”

Via FNN.

It seems Japan has followed the US not only in introducing these laws, but also in ensuring they are applied wherever possible in the manner least intended…

A man who paid two 14-year-old schoolgirls to have a threesome with him in his car for ¥5,000 has been arrested.

The 22-year-old unemployed man, a resident of Fukuoka prefecture, apparently got in touch with the two middle schoolers after they began looking to hawk their bodies on a mobile phone dating site.

With the girls apparently seeking some easy money through enjo kousai (casual prostitution), and he looking for underage sex, he offered them a ride, and the trio later had sex together, with the main paying 5,000 for both girls.

However, the father of one of the girls began to suspect she was engaged in prostitution and approached police, who investigated and soon pressed charges against the man for violating anti-child prostitution laws.

Japanese schoolgirls are increasingly selling their virtue as a way of easily making extra cash, but rarely does one of their suitors secure them so cheaply, with ¥2,500 each being a great bargain compared to some, and one of the cheapest prices yet seen for a youthful Yamato maiden.

Via Mainichi.

As many as 1 in 500 Japanese women have appeared in pornographic movies, it is claimed.

The claim, originally published in a Japanese magazine, is based on the observation that Japan publishes well over 10,000 adult videos annually, from which is derived a population of 100,000 or more women who have at one time performed. Some 9% of these are also thought to be casual rather than professional performers.

The former editor of a gravure rag, with experience of photographing over 400 women, is quoted in support of all this – “I get the impression women really like being photographed nude [...] on the surface they may be embarrassed but I never saw one who didn’t like it.”

Accounts from actual performers are more mixed.

Korean media covering the story reports hopeful Koreans commenting that “Japanese culture is really messed up” and “if you ask 100 Japanese women for sex, 1 is bound to agree.” Of course, Koreans are in no position to criticise their neighbours, and in any case it appears a lot more than 1 would agree if asked nicely enough.

Since the group of women appearing in such films changes each year (especially with the maximum career length of a porn star being quite short), the “1 in 500″ figure might actually understate matters significantly.

Add to this the widespread suspicion that a large number of Japanese women either work as prostitutes or engage in informal “enjo kousai” prostitution relationships in school, college or otherwise, and it would appear the doubts about the moral character of Japanese women often voiced in neighbouring countries (to say nothing of in Japan) are not entirely without merit.

A school is in trouble for expelling a schoolgirl for having sex with her teacher, and refuses to reinstate her despite being ordered by a court to do so.

The incident began at a private Shizuoka prefecture high school where an 18-year-old schoolgirl enjoyed a sexual relationship with a male teacher at the school.

She was boarding at the school and was reportedly recognised for academic excellence and had received a scholarship.

When the relationship came to the attention of the school, they promptly dismissed the teacher for his conduct. As the girl is 18 and thus an adult, no crime has been committed.

The girl continued attending school, but was expelled soon after – the school displays the usual peculiar Japanese understanding of the term “voluntary”:

“She showed no remorse, and ignored our recommendation she drop out of school voluntarily, so we expelled her.”

They then offered a “compromise” of expelling her but recognising her graduation if she pursued a course of self-study, but she refused, saying “I want to see out the end of my high-school years together with my classmates.”

The girl had intended to continue on to a technical college, but with her graduation cancelled due to expulsion she was unable to proceed.

The local district court considered her expulsion excessive, pointing out that “[permanent] expulsion should only be used when the student shows no likelihood of reform” and provisionally ruled that as it was a first offence she should have been temporarily suspended for 2 months instead.

However, the school refused to obey the court ruling and let her attend, with the principal complaining “We can’t preserve discipline if our punishments are vague… if they come out with a final verdict, we’ll go along with it.”

The school was subsequently criticised for disobeying a court, with one educational critic pointing out that “If a school won’t obey the law, they are in danger of becoming dictatorial. They should obey the ruling no matter what they think about it.”

Her father comments that “I can’t say my daughter is blameless, but she is sorry and I would like to see her graduate with her friends.”

A 49-year-old man has been arrested after “tricking” a 13-year-old girl into having sex with him by pretending to be a schoolboy whilst arranging an encounter with her, and then saying “my son couldn’t come, I’m his father” when it came to closing the deal.

The 49-year-old Osaka factory worker used a mobile phone dating site to arrange a paid sexual encounter with a local 13-year-old girl hawking herself on the site, claiming he was a boy at middle-school.

When it came to the meet-up however, he simply claimed that “my son couldn’t come – I’m his father.”

The girl seems to have either believed him or (perhaps more likely) was simply in it for the money and did not care who she had to have sex with to get it – she went along with the man to a love hotel and the pair sealed the deal.

The man also decided to make a record of his antics, and filmed their encounter using his mobile phone.

However, when the matter eventually came to the attention of police this resulted in them elevating the charges from the enjo-kousai gold standard of “committing indecent acts with a minor” to the much juicier “manufacturing child pornography,” charges he admits to.

As ever, the aspiring young prostitute escaped any charges.

It is not clear whether the man actually had a son, although in Japanese “son” also happens to be slang for “penis,” so he may have been telling the truth after all…

Police have arrested a teacher for filming himself raping some 70 schoolgirls, who had apparently been selling their bodies online only to be tricked into meeting him so he could drug them for sex.

According to investigators, the 56-year-old Tokyo middle school teacher was found to be in possession of 150 DVDs, 100 of which contained recordings he had made of himself sexually assaulting young women. Police estimate at least 70 of the films involved minors, as they helpfully came with school names and years.

In addition, searches of his phone and PC turned up 1800 email addresses thought to be connected to the case.

Police finally cottoned on to his antics when the case of a 15-year-old girl he had drugged and ravished in a Shinjuku hotel came to light.

His modus operandi was apparently simply to pick up girls prostituting themselves on deaikei sites – in the case which came to light, he introduced himself with “I’m Hiro, 32. Won’t you meet me in the city for ¥80,000?”

He then asked the girl to send him pictures of herself topless. She sent him the pictures, but declined to meet him. Over the next 2 days he sent approximately 100 mails demanding she meet him and threatening to make public the pictures she had sent him.

She finally caved and agreed to meet him, which led to her being drugged and assaulted.

Still she did not report the matter – only when she had returned home only to find him demanding to meet her again whilst threatening to come to her house or tell her school did she finally opt to report the matter to police.

The fact that most of his victims were schoolgirls selling their bodies online likely contributed to their reluctance to report the incidents – although such prostitutes are treated as victims rather than criminals, even reporting unsuccessful efforts at blackmail would lead to police or parents investigating what the girl was doing on such a site in the first place, leading to counselling, shame and a loss of future income.

It is not clear whether he actually paid any of his later victims for their services as agreed, although if he was offering ¥80,000 (well over the going rate) it seems unlikely, and the extremely high figure likely attracted particularly gullible or greedy girls who could ill afford the attention, to say nothing of his efforts to harass and blackmail them.

He admits the charges:

“I’ve been using child prostitutes for the past 10 years. 4 or 5 years ago I started targeting 14 or 15-year-old girls who do as they’re told, and blackmailing them. Seeing the ‘other face’ of girls the same age as my pupils was especially arousing. I would enjoy watching the DVDs later.”

Police are investigating the full scope of his activities.

The local school board apologised for employing a serial child rapist as a teacher, calling it “exceedingly regrettable”:

A Japanese schoolgirl shares the shocking details of her sordid career of prostituting herself to creepy lolicon online, a practice otherwise known as “enjo kousai,” supplying a personal account of the kind of events normally only read about as the endless reports of lurid sex crime arrests which fill Japanese newspapers.

The exchange, via 2ch:

“Is anyone interesting in hearing about my past experiences with enjo kousai?”

[enjo kousai (often abbreviated as "enkou," meaning "compensated dating,") is an extremely common form of informal prostitution in Japan, with the archetypal form being that of a schoolgirl or student who advertises her services to older men using one of the vast number of "deaikei" dating sites, or one of the big Japanese social networking services]

“We’re waiting.”

“I’ve not written this up so it may be a bit slow in coming.

I started enkou in my first year of middle school.

It seems depression runs in my family, and my parents often lashed out at me, out of their own depression perhaps. I was pretty much a hikki.” ["hikki" = hikikomori]

“Oh.”

“I had tons of free time so I started using my PC a lot. First watching stupid movies on YouTube, but one day I came across a certain chat service. Well, it was Yahoo! Chat…”

“Were you a bitch type?”

“I’m not a bitch now.”

“I’m just going to start up Yahoo! Chat…”

“Tell us your specs.”

“Chibibusa. I’m not a fattie though.”

“So I was chatting all day and eventually I got bored, as you might expect. What next – I wanted to make some cash. I considered affiliate blogging, but I couldn’t do it on my own so I started looking for someone who do it with me.

Then some old guy hooked me. At first I thought he’d help me, but he started saying there was an easier way to make some cash… I was interested.”

“At first he just wanted to meet me for lunch and said he’d give me 10,000 just for that. I was only in middle school so that was a lot of cash, it was too good an offer to turn down.

As I been stuck in my room for so long I decided to go out. We met, he was more handsome than I thought, we ate and he gave me the cash and that was it.”

“What, you’re too good at this!”

“Making money so easily, naturally I wanted to make more. So I posted my email up on a certain board, and soon I had vast numbers of enquiries. I arranged a hookup with a suitable guy.

I thought we’d eat and spend some time together like before, but that day was different.”

“So he was 25-year-old guy, quite hot, and he told me there was something more interesting we could be doing – at a love hotel. I knew a little about this, but I didn’t really know about love hotels and I was interested.

I was pretty interested and he was quite hot, so I agreed to go with him.”

“Was it good?”

“It was my first, so I thought it was going to be incredibly painful, but it was OK. However, it did not feel good.

He was really excited, but I didn’t really get what all the fuss was about.

Anyway, I went home with ¥30,000.”

“Once I was home I thought about it, and how easy it was. So I went onto the board again to find another guy.

If you say you are in your first year of middle school and your periods haven’t started so coming inside is OK, you certainly get a lot of attention!”

“So, I couldn’t believe it – my best offer was ¥80,000. I couldn’t understand why anyone would pay ¥80,000, but I went ahead with it anyway, did him and got the cash.

Like the last time, it didn’t feel good or bad, I just let my rather excited partner get it over with. Then I got the cash and went home.”

“¥80,000…”

“I kept doing this over and over. I wasn’t going to school much and had no friends so I had no real way of spending the money.

But I understood the value of money (or so I think) so I saved it up. I kept doing it and raking in the cash, and before I knew it I was in my second year of middle school.”

“In year 2 I thought I’d give actually going to school a try. It was more fun that I thought!!

I had friends and gave enkou a break, and my period started so I became a real girl.

Soon the money I saved dwindled with me being generous with my friends and such.”

“6 months later I had no more money, so I decided to start enkou again to get some more, it was the only way I could go back to my old life, and I was burning through cash horribly.

I arranged another encounter, met up with him, but this time was different.”

“Good! Keep going!”

“This time it wasn’t a hotel, it was his house, and there were 4 other people there. I thought it was pretty hairy and I should go, but I was only a kid and couldn’t really get away, so I was passed around. It wasn’t good or bad, but I was terrified and I could only think about when it would end.

He seemed nice enough, but I was really scared. And they all came inside, so I was really worried. In the end, I didn’t get paid, and they all came inside, so it was the worst day.”

“You didn’t get paid?”

“This is harsh…”

“My periods had started so I was terrified of getting pregnant. Luckily, it was due on the next day so I decided to wait.

It came, I was relieved.
But I didn’t have the money.

I thought I had just been unlucky, and started looking for my next partner without learning a thing. Of course, this time it would be a guy who would use a rubber.”

“The next time I found a guy, I was really nervous because of what happened with the last one. It was some guy in his forties.

I thought we’d do it with the condom at the hotel, but when we got there he offered another ¥30,000 to do it without protection, saying he’d pull out, so I agreed and we did it. He did come outside, but I was still really nervous.

I got ¥60,000 and went home. Unfortunately, I learnt I could get more by offering unprotected sex.”

“Enkou is scary stuff.”

“So you were selling your body.”

“I want to come inside too!”

“After that I did guys who would use condoms, and my period came as normal, so I just thought I wouldn’t get pregnant if they came outside.

But a lot of the time I let them forego the condom in return for more money, if they’d promise to come outside.

I was lucky and didn’t get pregnant with all that unprotected sex, so I became firmly convinced that I would not get pregnant if they did not come inside.

I was going to school a bit and treating my friends and buying what I wanted, so I was happy enough.”

“By this time I was in my third year, but I still kept doing enkou. I got used to finding these guys, doing them, getting paid and going home, it was just like a job.

I also learnt about bad days as well. I still did it on bad days, but I made sure it was with a condom. Then it happened.”

“Thinking that a girl like this is going to end up as some poor guy’s wife… ´д｀”

“Girls with prostitution experience like this still manage to catch and marry men.”

“He was supposed to be wearing a condom, but he was not wearing it and came inside me. I didn’t notice whilst he was doing me.

On the train as I was going home, it started dripping out, and I was like ‘what? what?’ and got pretty unhappy.

So I thought it would be pretty bad if I got pregnant and told my parents I had been doing enkou.

If I think about it now, I should probably have told them it was my boyfriend or something.

My parents were furious and my mother was in tears. I finally understood the seriousness of it all. I was taken to hospital and made to take some medicine, and I threw up.”

“Aaaaaah!”

“Morning after pill?”

“After that I was taken to the police, and told them everything. Even the police were furious with me, I really thought I’d quit then.

It was a while ago so I don’t know the details, but that day’s partner was arrested. Others I had done were also arrested.

After all that I changed school and tried to be a normal girl. I’m in my second year of high school, I don’t really think I’d do anything like that again…”

“Interesting stuff, keep going!”

“The end?”

“It’s ended, right?”

“Also, I was checked for STDs – I didn’t get any. I was pretty lucky.

What really troubles me now is if I have a boyfriend, should I tell him of my past?

Honestly, you wouldn’t want to date someone who had done enkou, would you? I’ll answer any questions if you have them.”

“It’s best you not tell anyone you’re dating. If you never tell anyone this, they’ll never find out. It’ll only hurt them, so you should take it to your grave.”

“I’ll do that.”

“How much did you make in total?”

“I think it was over ¥3,000,000. I’ve used most of it up.”

“Sex with someone you love is the best. It would be nice if you can have that. Do you have a lover at present?”

“I had a boyfriend, but it was more him liking me and me not caring much.”

“If only there was enkou for men…”

“It’s not that there isn’t anything. A host I know told me he had been paid 1,000,000 to eat some old woman’s excrement. It’s a long story though.”

“Do tell.”

“He was working as a host [at a club] and agreed to meet a customer outside the club. He thought it was just going to be sex at a love hotel or something.

As soon as he got there, she crapped on a table and divided it into 4, offering ¥250,000 to eat each portion. He said he ate all 4 and got ¥1,000,000.

Even if you aren’t hot, if you’re a good talker you can get in with some rich old woman or something?

Though he said he could still taste it in his mouth a week afterwards…”

“That’s a bit harsh. Though I’d think about it if it were a JK.” [JK = "joshi kosei"/"highschool girl"]

“It’d be harsh with anyone’s…”

“Urrgh.”

“I can’t believe it!”

“Women are scary.”

NHK has aired a shocking special on schoolgirl prostitution, or “enjo kousai” as the media persists in calling it, going into great detail on the topic – although many have questioned the extraordinarily sympathetic tone the programme adopts, as well as the fact it was aired on morning TV and included some perhaps unnecessarily detailed guidance as to how to decipher the online slang used in the trade…

The special on enjo kousai aired as part of NHK’s morning show “Asa Kara,” and is presented below with some translation and annotation:

“By having sex with someone, it means I’m needed by someone”

“Puchi-enkou – I sold things like hair and spit to people if there were buyers.”

["Kamimachi" - men arranging to lodge homeless girls at their place in return for sexual favours]

“I go to the man’s house, and in return for letting me stay I let him have my body.”

“[Whilst doing him] I wanted to die, and afterwards I did some wrist cutting.”

“I went there and we did it in his car.”

“After he treated me to a meal the next day…”

“… he told me to take my money and get out, he only gave me ¥1,000 though.#

“If you’re in your thirties or forties I bet you have sex even if you’re not paid.”

“I think it’s pretty sad to be doing a dirty woman like that.”

[How to say 'JK for 15,000, hotel fee not included, at Ikebukuro' in enkou cant]

A certain amount of scepticism regarding how NHK chose to present this issue (not least in managing to find a schoolgirl prostitute whose main objective is not money) is undoubtedly warranted, and naturally there is only one place to turn to when it comes to information regarding paying schoolgirls for sex:

“Was it really necessary to expound so fully upon the slang used on enkou boards?”

“Why are they airing this stuff in the morning!?”

“So she’s pretending she’s some kind of tragic heroine…”

“They are really spoiling these kids with this coverage – ‘won’t you understand them?’ etc.”

“Honestly, this programme is practically affirming schoolgirl prostitution.”

“And now they are going to blame everything on the parents.”

“Parents who raised such a spoiled brat really are to blame.”

“These kids have everything but they still want even more!”

“Are those people morons or something? Call it prostitution, not ‘enkou’!”

“Why is a child doing these things!?”

“They need to stop calling it ‘compensated dating’!”

“Just the kind of bitches you guys love.”

“Damn, I got hard.”

“She’s just a total prostitute, isn’t she?”

“Why are we supposed to feel sorry for these criminals?”

“Give us a break, airing this stuff in the morning!”

“This is a pretty helpful programme.”

“It’s a bit early in the morning to be continuously saying sex all the time…”

“What are they babbling about? ‘Darkness of the soul,’ give me a break!”

“You’ve got a home, so return there!”

“Crazies, no thanks.”

“A cutter…”

“Normal people cannot understand cutters.”

“‘Wrist cutting is proof I’m alive’ – not that stuff again…”

“There’s no meaning at all to wrist cutting. It’s just self-gratification.”

“Crazies basically just try to act out the role of tragic heroine.”

“I get the impression she just likes being miserable.”

“One of the presenters seems to want to say ‘stop making your environment into excuses to prostitute yourself.’”

“Why do people give children mobile phones?”

“Having kids is such a gamble.”

“Quit blaming it on the age we live in!”

“They are trying to make out that this is more about family problems than it is about prostitution itself.”

“Why are we even listening to the self-serving opinions of a prostitute?”

“The pussy is such a set-up!”

For a more frank account, see the previously featured confessions of such a girl to 2ch.

A Shinjuku host has been arrested for luring a 16-year-old girl into his club so he could force her into prostitution, making her service three customers in half a day.

According to police, the 21-year-old man worked as a host in a club known as “Extreme,” in Shinjuku’s notorious Kabukicho district. Appropriately enough, he worked under the name “Outlaw.”

In April he successfully enticed a 16-year-old “unemployed” Saitama prefecture girl into the club; she had run away from home.

He admits he did so with the intent of making her prostitute herself in order to pay his fees, and also that he knew she was underage (both for sex and alcohol).

She visited the club regularly until July, at which point the host confronted her over her tab, which then stood at ¥70,000. She could not pay.

He told her to “Earn the cash by finding customers at a deai-kei site! Come back here by 3PM with ¥40,000!”

The girl did as she was ordered, using a deai-kei site to solicit three men, whom she serviced at a Shinjuku love hotel not 500m from the host club, completing her business in less than half a day.

Her story came to the attention of police some days later when she was arrested  for attempting to solicit customers on the street herself.

They eventually moved to arrest the host on charges of inducing a minor to engage in obscene ,and for having her engage in illegal prostitution. He admits the charges.

Given her domestic situation, the apparent ease with which she solicited and serviced 3 customers, and the likelihood that she was able to pay for earlier host encounters, it seems she was already an experienced harlot before the host presented her with his bill – though she will not apparently be facing any charges.

Host clubs, the male equivalent of hostess clubs, typically lay on stylish young men and hugely expensive drinks to women looking for raucous entertainment and a faux relationship.

Providing sex is often part of the arrangement, although as the business hinges upon keeping customers coming back in the hopes of eventual consummation, it may be withheld as a sales tactic. Often their customers are other sex industry workers.

Police have arrested an 18-year-old boy for having sex with a 17-year-old girl, charging him with child prostitution.

Tochigi police charged the 18-year-old schoolboy with child prostitution after he “knowingly” (in fact it is illegal whether known or unknown) promised to pay ¥10,000 to a 17-year-old schoolgirl for sex, which the couple subsequently engaged in.

Police report that he admits the charges. Once convicted, he faces a maximum of 5 years in prison and a fine of no more than ¥3,000,000.

Online the Japanese are as usual unable to comprehend the application of their own often bizarrely applied sex crime laws:

“What was wrong with this? If you can arrest him for this, everyone’s going to be arrested.”

“I don’t understand why someone would pay a girl their own age for sex.”

“I don’t get it. Was it the money changing hands which caused problems? Why not just offer her a meal?”

“If he was arrested without actually having paid her anything it is pretty harsh.”

“It’s a crime even if you don’t pay them. Really messed up law.”

“If you’re 18, do it normally!”

“I suppose they should just arrest everyone under 18 who has had sex.”

“No wonder our birth rate is so low.”

“This is just sad. Don’t young people in this country have any freedom?”

“Get cheated by a whore and you can expect to go to jail.”

“[Quoting the letter of the law] The chil prostitution laws define a child as anyone under 18, so if you pay for sex with them…”

“The problem was that he paid for it. If he had done her for free they wouldn’t have arrested him.”

“Give her a present in exchange for sex = no problem.

Give her money in exchange for sex = be arrested.

So just give her gift certificates in future.”

“Presents count as compensation for the purposes of the law.

You can’t give her so much as a strap for her mobile phone.”

“So buying a girl a meal and taking her to a hotel is a crime?”

“This makes any dating where you buy someone a meal prostitution.”

“So practically all minors who are dating are guilty of child prostitution as they have given gifts to each other?”

“Another prostitute playing the victim card to get a guy arrested.”

“Why don’t they ever arrest the seller as well?”

“This is like busting the buyer in a drug deal but letting the seller go every time.”

“They should arrest the girl too, it’s not like he raped her. For all we know she may have pressured him into agreeing.”

“So if the ages were reversed, they’d arrest her? I wonder.”

“So now we have 18-year-olds paying each other for sex. You’re supposed to coax them into it!”

“I can kind of understand some old guy doing this, but an 18-year-old doing it is just sad…”

“The 18-year-old kid probably said he’d pay her but didn’t, so the 17-year-old slut tattled on him to the cops.”

“For ¥10,000 you could just go to a soapland…”

“If it was Tochigi they don’t have trains or anything there, he could have just been paying her travel expenses. Imagine having to take a 15km taxi ride into another town.”

“Kind of strange to ban money changing hands but allow things like Christmas presents.”

“What’s important is how this came to light. Did she rat on him after a problem with payment? Or did they get busted using a deaikei site?”

“She might have got herself busted from other customers and only then did he come to light when she shopped them all in to police.”

“And to think you can marry girls at 16.”

You lot have got the wrong end of the stick here. He was busted for exchanging something for sex with a JK [high school girl]. If they were really dating it wouldn’t be a problem. Even a 50-year-old dating a JK would be OK.”

“That’s not true – I know a guy who was in his early twenties and dated a JK, and after they split she hated him and reported him to police and they arrested him. The sex itself was a crime. He could never trust women after that.”

“Enko amongst actual school kids is just sad. Do it once you’ve become some fat old guy. For boys it’s supposed to be free.”

“School kids buying and selling one another. Sad.”

Police have arrested a young man who managed to bargain a schoolgirl prostitute down to a fee of “several hundred yen” by taking advantage of the fact she had neglected to bring enough money to pay for her passage home, after she reported him.

Hyogo prefecture police report a “self-proclaimed” 19-year-old university student has been arrested on child prostitution charges after arranging to meet a 16-year-old high school girl at a Kobe park, at which they negotiated a sexual encounter in which the youth paid her “several hundred yen” for sex.

Their association began when the young man began posting on her blog, and soon they were exchanging emails in which the girl agreed to sell herself to him for ¥60,000.

However, when she turned up at the park it transpired she had not brought any money at all, and could not afford her own train fare home. Taking advantage of this fact, her client somehow managed to bargain her down to just enough to cover her fare home.

The incident came to light when the girl shopped her stingy customer to police. He admits the charges. As both a female and a minor (although technically her client is also a minor), she faces no charges.

2ch’s substantial population of prostitution experts do not whether to be envious of the young man and his ruthless negotiating skills, aghast at the collapsing value of the Japanese schoolgirl, or exasperated at a 16-year-old prostitute being able to employ the police as her de facto pimps:

“This is harsh!”

“That guy was too tight!”

“And of course, the woman gets off scot-free as always.”

“This is great! I like this guy!”

“Pretty sad for a 19-year-old to be using JK whores though…”

“At 19 you should still be able to get with JKs for free without much difficulty.”

“So did they actually do it at the park? Scandalous…”

“It’s pretty shameless how she went to the police to dob him in like that.”

“I wonder if she told them the guy didn’t pay her properly?”

“Why don’t they ever arrest the girl?”

“What was she thinking when she went to the cops about this…”

“No matter how much of an idiot she was I doubt she told them straight up that he just didn’t pay her. She should really have realised he was not serious about paying her ¥60,000 for a date though.”

“It’s his fault for not realising one of these bitch-brained whores is capable of doing anything if provoked.”

“Going to the police over your own crimes really is…”

“This is why you pay up front.”

“Please, tell me they arrested this prostitute as well?”

“She bought a one-way ticket…”

“Come on, for 60,000 you could make a number of trips to a soapland. What was she thinking?”

“I heard you can get these girls for the price of two cigarette cartons lately, I guess it’s true.”

“‘Several hundred yen’ – what a hard bargain!”

“Talk about deflation…”

A teacher charged with a slew of child prostitution offences has managed to avoid jail, the judge apparently being impressed by his remorseful character and a generous out of court settlement he paid.

The 38-year-old Kagoshima prefecture high school teacher used an unnamed “game site” (probably referring to Mobage or Gree, both of which have become hotbeds of enjo kousai activity) to arrange paid sexual encounters with a 13-year-old middle schooler and a 16-year-old high schooler.

He paid them each ¥10,000 for sex at local hotels on different occasions over a 3 month period, and also took the opportunity to take lewd pictures of them, which eventually resulted in a variety of child prostitution charges being brought against him, which he admitted.

His name apparently came to light after police questioned the girls with respect to an unrelated matter, which probably involved them turning over all their previous customers.

Prosecutors sought an 18 month prison sentence, which the judge obligingly granted – with the proviso that it be suspended for 3 years, so the lucky teacher will not have to spend any time in prison if he can somehow avoid the temptation of further schoolgirl encounters for the next 3 years.

The judge seemed to be satisfied that as the teacher has paid extra (presumably to the families of his “victims”), he is well on the path to recovery:

Your perverted sexual preferences may well have taken root with your victims, exerting a malign influence over them.

On the other hand, you concluded an out of court settlement, and expressed remorse for your actions.

Despite noting that his pursuit of schoolgirl sex was “habitual,” the judge observed that “there is a low chance of him re-offending.”

The city which employs him has called his actions “regrettable” and promised it will “discipline him thoroughly,” perhaps suggesting a temporary pay cut or even a transfer to another school may be in the offing.

The perverse plans of an exceptionally devious voyeur who secreted a camera inside a traffic cone came undone when not only did one of his schoolgirl prey somehow see through his ruse, but it also emerged his camera had helpfully recorded his own face – and after arresting him police soon discovered his schoolgirl violation antics went much further than just their modesty.

The 43-year-old unemployed Osaka man secreted a camera inside a traffic cone and then placed the cone in a car park along a school route he had determined was heavily frequented by female high schoolers.

He managed to secure a variety of low-angle photographs capturing the thighs and underwear of passing girls, but an incredibly perceptive schoolgirl became suspicious of the newly appeared traffic cone and tipped off her school, who in turn informed police.

Police found the cone in question had been altered by drilling a small hole and then taping a camera attached to sponge padding to the cone interior behind the hole in such a way as to afford an excellent view of passing schoolgirls.

Unfortunately for the devious pervert, it also afforded an excellent view of his own face and car, allowing police to apprehend him easily.

After charging him with voyeurism, the further investigations of police soon uncovered the fact he had paid 5 schoolgirls aged from 15 to 17 for sexual favours, leading to a slew of additional child prostitution charges.

Police have dropped child prostitution charges against one of their number who was caught paying girls aged 13 and 16 for 3P sex, accepting his excuse that “they looked at least 20,” prompting much outrage online.

According to Hokkaido prefectural police, one of their (completely unidentified) officers repeatedly paid two girls aged 13 and 16 for sex at a Sapporo hotel, having met them with the aid of a deai-kei site.

After he was caught, the officer, in his forties, claimed “they looked as if they were at least over 20″ and maintains they lied about their ages.

Prosecutors inexplicably dropped multiple child prostitution charges against him, although police did punish him with a 3 month suspension. He has since tendered his resignation, perhaps intending to take up teaching instead.

The “I didn’t know they were underage” defence is not usually admissible in underage sex trials, even when lies and false IDs are employed by the underage party, and such prosecutions commonly end in convictions – although police prosecutors can still decline to prosecute in the first place, as happened here.

Online, the fact that scores of similar prostitution cases involving defendants protesting that they did not know their partners were underage ended in conviction has prompted a great deal of comment, even more outraged than it is envious:

“What the hell?”

“They certainly look after their own.”

“Come on, a 13-year-old who looks as if she is over 20?”

“16 is believable but not 13.”

“Rejoice, you damn lolicon! In Hokkaido it is legal as long as you can say you didn’t know they were underage.”

“But only if you are an official.”

“Normally they report names, ages and occupation as soon as they make an arrest, never mind about whether it results in a conviction or actual charges.”

“Nice to see our public servants are putting our taxes to good use by spending them on having sex with children with impunity.”

“Talk about organised criminals.”

“Shows what sort of person should consider the police as a career choice.”

“We’re really no better than the likes of North Korea if our authorities act as a law unto themselves like this.”

“In the private sector you’d be sacked and convicted… on the other hand our police get to quietly retire only when they get caught, without charges.”

“They’d do anything to bring down a normal person and call them a liar, but when it comes to their own they are innocent.”

“So if we want to have sex with minors we just need to become police or teachers?”

“The cops in this country are worse than the yakuza…”

Police have declined to press charges against an officer who used his police badge to pluck a girl off the street and make her accompany him back to a love hotel in order to “help me with my inquiries into schoolgirl prostitution,” astounding those who still expect the Japanese police to obey the law rather than just enforce it.

According to police, the 26-year-old police sergeant approached a 17-year-old girl walking home in Chiba prefecture’s Matsudo city, flashed his police ID at her and told her “I’m investigating a case of enjo kousai [prostitution], would you come with me as I have some questions for you?”

He then made her accompany him to a nearby love hotel, with the intention of having sex with her there, although she managed to break off the encounter in the lobby.

He was off-duty and out of uniform when the incident occurred, but did apparently use his real ID.

The incident came to light as soon as his victim returned home and told her parents, who contacted police. The officer responsible was identified from surveillance cameras in the hotel lobby, and he was later arrested and charged with kidnapping.

Police say that as he only kidnapped the girl and did not get to have sex with her, charges of attempted rape or indecent assault do not apply.

The officer admitted the charges, saying “I took her there so I could commit indecent acts on her.”

Police also report at least 3 similar incidents involving an assailant using a police ID in the area in the weeks leading up to his arrest.

Despite all this, prosecutors dropped all the charges against him, claiming his victim has declined to press charges.

Disgust at the unwillingness of police to submit to the same laws they claim to enforce has been boiling over yet again:

“So they bullied the girl into dropping the charges?”

“Either that or they bribed them.”

“Rape is legal for police officers?”

“What an amazing profession – you can try to rape girls and they just drop the charges against you.”

“How does anyone expect an excuse like that to lead to sex?”

“Useless cops never punish their own.”

“The cops have turned into a criminal organisation.”

“They are Japan’s largest crime syndicate!”

“I am amazed you can even decline to press charges for something this serious.”

“This reminds me of the recent case where the police arrested a man for stalking after he gave a love letter to a woman working at a convenience store.”

“I’m no legal expert but I’m sure a case like this should be able to go ahead whether the victim wants to press charges or not.”

“She’s even a minor for God’s sake. Try kidnapping a girl off the street and what do you expect would happen to you?”

“They arrest underage couples who are actually dating and let something like this go…”

“You can just get away with using your police ID to commit crimes now? Japan has become lower than Mexico. This isn’t even funny…”

“There must be scores of people who’d do whatever you want if you flash a police badge at them. You can’t expect to let him get off on this!”

“This is the same as if he flashed his gun at her. It’s criminal coercion either way.”

“How many different crimes could you wring out of this? Just falsely using his badge is surely a crime, and I doubt you need a criminal complaint to prosecute.”

“This is outrageous. How can an adult make a child drop charges against him?”

“Cops and teachers just get to do whatever they want, don’t they?”

“If a civilian did something like this their life would be over already…”

“Even if you discount the attempted rape, this is still kidnapping. How can they not prosecute?”

“Corrupt police are supposed to be severely punished – just how rotten are these cops now!”

“He hasn’t even had to quit being a cop…”

An Internet-savvy lolicon has admitted to using his blog to rape and video some 40 schoolgirls, aged from 11 to 16.

Police arrested an unemployed 42-year-old man residing in Kitakyushu, after he was caught meesing up with a 12-year-old JC at an Osaka hotel for sex, which he helpfully videotaped.

He admitted to engaging in sexual relationships “with about 40 middle and elementary schoolers,” using blogs to establish connections with the girls.

Police have identified 50 “victims” (it would appear they were all consenting and possibly engaged in prostitution) from the 50 videos and 6,000 pictures he kept on his PC, finding they spanned 7 prefectures and confirming the details of 10 girls, who were found to be aged 11-16, with 7 under 13.

He is said to have approached the girls on their “blogs” (precisely what service was used is not specified), then invited them to visit his own blog, where he would offer them “advice” and counsel, culminating in an encounter at his hotel once he had gained their trust.

Other charges include rape (apparently of the statutory variety with respect to the girls aged 12 and under), child prostitution and child pornography related offences.

Even on 2ch the man has his detractors:

“I need to know how to do this blogging stuff, tell me guys.”

“I don’t how you get to know girls using a blog like that?”

“I’m so envious, he should get the death penalty for sure.”

“This is pretty amazing going – I wonder if he was handsome?”

“I bet the cops took their time going over those 50 videos.”

“What is with these filthy Osakans! And they fancy themselves the next capital!”

“He’s from Kyushu… besides, whatever region he’s from, he’s as Japanese as you lot (myself included).”

“Another Korean!? Handy things, Koreans.”

“Definitely amazing if it was all consensual, he must have been handsome?”

“I want to be a cop.”

“What blog did he use to pull this off?”

“Probably Ameba. There are loads of elementary schoolers using their AmePigu avatar social game system, so he could just masquerade as one of their peers.”

“What, you think any of those users aren’t old guys pretending to be elementary schoolers?”

“They have lots of adult women too. But for meeting JS/JC like he did only Ameba fits the bill.”

“And why aren’t they busy raiding the service which made all this possible for once?”

“They need to tell us what blog he used to carry out this horrible crime.”

“AmePigu is full of JS/JC and housewives. As you might expect, there aren’t that many places for under 16s to hang out and chat, so they are all corralled into there. They kept approaching me when I went on there, they are all sex-crazed…”

“Quit all that ridiculous stealth marketing for AmePigu. Most of the kids on it have been banned by their parents after all the reports of what happened there…”

“As if the parents have a clue about this. The restrictions are by Ameba. You can’t go in the room of a minor anymore, or talk to strangers. They have to come to you.”

“Wait, who loses out from all this again?”

“These poor kids will face all kinds of worries and torments as they grow up. And they probably will never realise what trash they are for doing something like that. Where do you think all the sex workers come from? I think it’s better low-teen sex is criminalised.”

“What, they earned a fortune doing this I bet…”

“It was consensual, and I suppose there was an element of curiosity and he was good looking? They may just have been precocious brats, but I do think this kind of thing differs from actual abuse.”

“There are no real victims. It’s not a big crime, and what’s wrong with JC+ having sex?”

“How was this supposed unemployed guy affording to travel all over the place for sex? Was he on benefits or something?”

“It was all consensual prostitution, but some of them were under the age of consent so it handled as rape.

Rather more scary than there being some serial rapist maniac out there is the fact that there are so many little schoolgirls out prostituting themselves on the Internet and willing to let guys tape themselves doing it…”

The latest findings about the romantic interests of the Japanese to be inspiring interest are the not entirely surprising statistics that 60%  of Japanese men are interested in females of any age, as long as it is as young as possible.

15,000 Japanese men were quizzed as to how young a girl they would consider valid targets for romance:

Up to 1 year younger: 0.8％
Up to 3 years: 2.6％
Up to 5 years: 9.5％
Up to 10 years: 16.2％
Up to 15 years: 8.6％
Don’t care how young!: ：59.4％
Out of the question!：3.0％

Whilst most of the reasons older Japanese men might prefer dating young ladies are obvious, surveys have also regularly demonstrated the stringent standards Japanese women tend to apply to the incomes of their prospective husbands – and with only older men capable of attaining these high levels of financial and professional attainment, it is perhaps as well they are flexible.

As for women, 16,000 were asked how young they would go – and most were clearly not nearly as keen on younger partners as their male counterparts were:

Up to 1 year younger: 4.2％
Up to 3 years: 15.1％
Up to 5 years: 26.1％
Up to 10 years: 15.1％
Up to 15 years: 2.8％
Don’t care how young!: ：20.5％
Out of the question!：16.2％

As usual these findings have been widely discussed amongst circles not known for their aversion to young girls themselves:

“Damn all you lolicon!”

“Policeman, over here!”

“Who is surprised by these findings?”

“How is this news?”

“As long as they are not second-hand!”

“So in other words, all men are lolicon.”

“Us Japs are all hentai lolicon. A real creepy set.”

“All my friends married older women… one is 10 years older.”

“Agnes is coming.”

“I’m 30, so up to 22 years younger is my limit.”

“Non-virgins are just sluts!”

“So 60% of Japanese men really are lolicon?”

“I don’t think I could manage an elementary schooler.”

“Young ladies like older guys, older guys like young ladies, it’s love on both sides!”

“You guys are really intent on turning this into a discussion of your fantasies, aren’t you?”

“It’s a bit weird that 100 years ago adults were marrying 15-year-olds and now this is treated as child predation.”

“Well, back then it would have been someone who waited until after 20 who was abnormal.”

“It hardly matters what age guys they asked. It’s 18-29 women for all of them, no doubt.”

“What about all the older hags who like younger guys? In fact, don’t younger guys become appealing if you get older?”

“They used to get married at 12, and still do in places. Aside from the social taboos we have now it is really not all that abnormal that men like young girls, it’s only natural.”

“The problem is with the queston – they should have included an explicit age range or it is meaningless.”

“Women are like balls!
14 = rugby balls, with 30 guys chasing them.
18 = footballs, with 22 guys after them.
24 = hockey pucks, with 8 guys looking to hit on them.
35 = ping pong balls, with 2 guys batting them towards each other.
48 = golf balls, with 1 guy slowly strolling after them.
60 = dodge balls, with everyone trying to get out of their way.
88 = bowling balls, everyone is quietly trying to roll them down the alley.”

“Any age is fine – as long as they’re 2D!”