For years, Japan has dealt with a serious problem of an underground economy consisting of underage girls. People refer to this economy with the umbrella term “JK Business” (JKビジネス). The “JK” stands for joshi kousei (女子高生), or high school girls.
I talked a little bit about some of Japan’s legitimate adult businesses in our biography on porn star and TV talent Iijima Ai. Ai was herself a teen runaway who survived by working as an underaged hostess at cabaret clubs.
Obviously, while the clubs Ai worked at were legal, her hiring as a minor wasn’t. By contrast, JK Businesses are barely legal businesses. Most of them offer “secret” services in violation of Japan’s Sex Industry Law.
The underworld of JK businesses
This type of business first reared its head around 2013 with the rise of “JKリフレ” (JK rifure), or reflexology shops. These shops hired minors to give massages to businessmen who were generally 30 to 50 years of age. However, most stores also offered a so-called 裏オプション (ura opushon), or “secret options”, that offered various sexual services. When authorities got wind of these businesses, they swiftly shut them down.
However, that didn’t stop JK businesses – they simply changed form. JK Observation Clubs sprung up, giving men sneak peeks at young girls. With JK Walks (JKお散歩; JK O-Sampo), girls would meet men on the street. This was popular, as it didn’t require a fixed, visible storefront.
Businesses proliferate
All of these offerings also came with “secret options” that wound up with both participants in a love hotel or an Internet cafe. There, male clients would engage in clearly illegal sexual activity with their underage companions.
Other forms of the business include JK Commu, JK Shared Table Rooms, and even “JK Fortune Telling”. All, of course, sponsored “secret options.” Police have moved against some of these businesses – the Shared Table Rooms were supposedly all shuttered in 2016 . However, new variations pop up as fast as police can shut them down.
The Japanese government estimates that 9% of high school girls in metro Tokyo – around 14,000 girls – participate in JK Businesses. Authorities loosely estimate that these shady enterprises do 300 million yen (appr. USD $3M) in JK Business every year.
It was hard for police to crack down on such illegal sexual activity in the past. The Internet has made it even harder. A new hashtag phenomenon, specifically involving runaway girls or girls in troubled families, is exposing more girls to danger. And that also threatens to drag them into the JK Business lifestyle.
Dangerous hashtags
Back in October, Asahi Shimbun reported how young girls who encountered family troubles took to the Internet advertising that they needed a place to crash for the night. The girls use well-known hash tags such as #神待ち (kami-machi; “waiting on God”), #家出少女 (iede josei; “runaway girl”) to attract the attention of strangers. Men are also using the hashtags to announce “room shares” to girls looking for refuge.
The offer of “refuge” comes with a “tacit understanding,” as one man put it. That is, the parties will swap a room for sex. The Twitter hashtags mentioned above also contain brags from men who admit to fondling girls while they sleep.
Needless to say, this is morally wrong and illegal. Ppolice are doing everything in their power to crack down on it. One man recently busted in Kanagawa Prefecture had two different girls staying with him. One stayed for for up to two months before police took one of them into protective custody.
According to Asahi, this phenomenon isn’t totally new. Back before the advent of social media, “runaway” message boards were host to such traffic. Twitter and apps like LINE has made it easier for troubled girls to find a sympathetic ear. Unfortunately, those sympathetic ears are attached to the heads of perverts looking for something in return.
Colabo: Offering help to displaced girls
As Business Insider JP reports, various non-profit and government agencies are attempting to reach out directly to runaways and girls involved in JK Businesses. The NPO Colabo recently opened a microbus called Tsubomi Cafe in Shibuya. Tsubomi offers food, counseling, toothbrushes, clothing, and even condoms to girls caught in the kami-machi life.
本人の意思を尊重しながら状況に応じて緊急時の一時保護も行い、弁護士や児童相談所などとも連携。一時的な支援や問題解決だけを目的とせず、その時々の悩みや気持ちの揺れに寄り添える関係性を築くことが目標だ。
While respecting the girls’ wishes, the organization does intervene in emergency cases, taking girls under protective care, and has established relationships with lawyers and child case workers to help. They aren’t looking to provide one-off problem solving or assistance, but to build relationships, getting close when the girls experience issues or are upset.
Colabo is doing great work on the supply side of the equation. However, nothing will change until authorities and Japanese society find a way to address the demand. Or, at least, bring enough social shaming to the practice that the risk involved far outweighs whatever reward these creeps think they’re getting.
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Sources
リフレ、お散歩、裏オプ…進化する「JKビジネス」の巨大な市場規模. Gendai Media
｢#神待ち｣｢#家出少女｣たちにご飯や安全な場所を──JKビジネスに巻き込まれる前に. Business Insider JP
Page removed. Asahi Shimbun
