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Pay to play dating service "coffee" shops known as deai-kei kissa are facing a crack down by the police due to cases involving young girls who used the service to earn extra cash, and became assault victims in the process.
Gomen for the cut and paste job but this article needs to be preserved in its entirety (Asahi expires articles after a short while).
Establishments where men pay to meet and "date" young women are under heavy police scrutiny, following a number of cases involving abuse of underage girls.
Known as deai-kei kissa, or dating-service coffee shops, they resemble places that serve lattes and cappuccinos in name only.
Male customers pay a fee upon entry and look at women through a one-way mirror. If they see one they like, they can try to negotiate a date. On the surface, everything takes place under the guise of "free love."
In reality, some of the women engage in prostitution. Others have been sexually assaulted by customers. With most deai-kei kissa ostensibly operating within the law, police are reviewing a variety of ordinances as they seek legal avenues to shut down these businesses.
At one deai-kei kissa tucked inside a building near Tokyo's JR Ikebukuro Station, women enter free of charge, while men pay 10,000 yen as a membership fee. On certain days, the shop allows men free entry.
Resembling a karaoke booth, the deai-kei kissa has two separate rooms behind the registration desk: one for men, the other for women.
From inside the dimly lit men's room, patrons can look through a one-way mirror to where women sit on the opposite side, painting their nails, sipping soft drinks and surfing the Internet.
While the women are young, the majority of male patrons are middle-aged. Once a patron makes his "selection," he and the woman can move to a designated "talk room" where they can negotiate the terms of a date.
One woman, a college student, regularly goes on dates, receiving 5,000 yen each time for "transportation expenses."
"I have meals with a few men and make money by collecting transportation money. It is like a part-time job for me, but sometimes there are guys who want to pay for sex. That can be difficult," she said. "There are some girls who openly turn tricks."
The forerunners of the deai-kei kissa were the "date clubs" that came to prominence in the mid-1990s. Police say that deai-kei kissa started cropping up around 2006, and there are currently more than 70 such establishments operating mostly in Tokyo, as well as Osaka and Aichi prefectures.
Alarmed by a spate of cases involving young girls who, trying to earn extra cash, ended up victims of assault, local police forces have begun employing a variety of legal tactics to clamp down on deai-kei kissa operators.
A 40-year-old whose shop in Sapporo used a TV show title as its name was arrested in April on suspicion of violating the trademark law.
The following month, deai-kei kissa owners were arrested on suspicion of violating a Tokyo ordinance regulating date clubs. Finally, on Oct. 5, Saitama prefectural police arrested the manager of the momocafe Omiya. It was the first case nationwide involving a deai-kei kissa in which the anti-prostitution law was applied. The manager was later fined 100,000 yen.
Saitama police initially raided the premises citing suspected violations of the employment security law. On its website, the shop touted to women that they could "earn more than 5,000 yen a day." Despite a warning on the website against using the facility for "prostitution purposes," police managed to identify a couple who exchanged money for sex. It was enough to charge the store owner with running a prostitution service.
After initially claiming he "wasn't aware of prostitution going on," the owner eventually changed his tune. A Saitama prefectural police official said, "If we let this go on, (these places) will become breeding grounds for prostitution and child prostitution."
The prefectures of Kyoto and Kanagawa have passed reform bills banning anyone under 18 from entering these establishments.
Despite the concerted efforts of the police and local governments, there has been little panic within the industry.
A sex-industry operator who runs a deai-kei kissa in the Tokyo area said, "If we go by what the Saitama prefectural police claim, deai-kei websites are also out."
The entrepreneur boasted that he had not seen any decrease in customers after the bust.
Another sex-industry operator planning to open up shop in Kanagawa Prefecture noted that "there are fewer places where men can pick up girls these days.
"Websites are too scary, as there have been all sorts of crimes. That's why shops where you can actually see the other person are popular."
An added boon is the fact there is no shortage of willing women. For many, earning 3,000 yen to 5,000 yen just by sharing a meal with a guy seems like a sweet deal.
The operator said, "If you abide by the ordinances, that makes you legit. It is almost as if things are getting easier." |
Source: Asahi Shimbun
A de-ai cafe chain was raided last month in Tokyo for violating the anti-prostitution law.
So I wonder what the cops are going to do about all the soaplands and delivery health services which skirt the law by utilizing various technicalities? And it would bite if some of the inexpensive esutes around town which nonchalantly offer FS as part of the deal start getting scared off. I just hope my favorite places are left unscathed by this crackdown. 
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