The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department announced on the 7th that it carried out mass guidance around a corner called “Toyoko” in Kabukicho, Tokyo from the end of March to the beginning of April during the spring break period, and 31 boys and girls were supervised. More than 80% of them lived outside Tokyo, and the youngest was an 11-year-old girl in the sixth grade of elementary school. The agency warns, “There is also a high risk of becoming a victim of crime from malicious adults. Don’t come here lightly.”
Investigators assisting the girl in Kabukicho, Tokyo on the 3rd.
According to the agency’s Juvenile Development Division, the simultaneous guidance was carried out from midnight until dawn the next day on March 30, April 3, and 6, with a total of 130 people. They provided assistance to 28 girls and 3 boys between the ages of 11 and 18 who were wandering around late at night or running away from home. 12 high school students. Six were junior high school students, one was an elementary school student and one was a university student. There were 11 unemployed people.
There were 26 people who lived outside Tokyo, and they came from the Kanto region, Osaka, Okayama, and Hokkaido, as well as tourists from Asia.
Among the students who were given guidance, a female student in her first year of high school in Fukuoka Prefecture (age 15) and a female student in her third year of high school in Saitama Prefecture (age 18) spent a large amount of money on a “men’s concept cafe” where male employees entertained female customers. It is believed that he was pushing himself too hard.
A Metropolitan Police Department investigator enters a men’s concept cafe to check whether girls are using it inappropriately (some image processing)
Toyoko is the common name for the plaza adjacent to the Shinjuku Toho Building, a commercial complex in Kabukicho. Boys and girls who have no place to belong have come together through social media posts and other means, and are known as “Toyoko Kids,” and drug use, sexual assault, drinking and smoking, etc. are rampant. There are also a number of cases where people are involved in incidents.
A person in charge of the department said, “We are seeing an increasing number of cases where people admire Toyoko and come to know them through social media and come together.” (Sadatoshi Ogura)
(*Added at 2:44 p.m. on April 8, 2024. When the article was first published, “Juvenile Incident Division of the same agency” was incorrectly written as “Juvenile Development Division of the same agency.” We apologize and have corrected it.)