In Just 2 Years, this “Plaza” is Now Hotbed of Prostitution and Criminal Activities of “Toyoko Osan” Who Hang Out with Minors?

The “Toyoko neighborhood” is known as a hangout for boys and girls, but many of the people who frequent the area are actually older men over the age of 30.

Last June, Masatomo Ogawa, then 32, aka Howl, the president of the volunteer group “Kabukicho Manjikai,” was arrested on suspicion of lewd acts with an underage girl. Later, in February of this year, Hasebe Fernandez Marcos, 36, another former vice president of Manjikai, was arrested on suspicion of obstructing business by riding his bicycle into a convenience store.

What kind of situation is it that a string of 30-somethings have been arrested in “Toyoko,” which is supposed to be a hangout for minors who have no place to stay?

I think it all started when the “Toyoko Kids” moved to the “Plaza.

Makoto (pseudonym, 23) has been going in and out of Kabukicho since he was a minor. The plaza is “Kabukicho Cine City Plaza,” which used to be called “Koma Gekijo Mae.

The “To-Yoko Kids” used to hang out in the alley next to the “TOHO Cinemas,” but they moved to the plaza in the summer of ’21. There have always been all kinds of people in the plaza. So it’s not so much that the old guys got involved with the TOHO kids, but more like the TOHO neighborhood got involved with the plaza.

The plaza has always been a gathering place for a wide variety of people, including drunken men and women, homeless people, and gangsters. The Toyoko kids also began to mingle with them.

The kids sometimes drink with the old men who hold drinking parties in the square during the daytime. Sometimes they buy us drinks or dinner. It’s not that we are in the same group, but we are all from the same neighborhood,” said Makoto.

When we actually visited the plaza, we found that there were certainly groups of young men and women, but we also saw groups of men who were clearly adults. Sometimes these groups are drinking together or getting involved with each other. I was surprised to see some young women pushing strollers.

However, when adults get involved with children who have no place to stay, incidents are bound to occur. The recent spate of prostitution cases is probably not unrelated to the move to the Toyoko Kids’ Plaza. On November 27, 2021, a 43-year-old homeless man was lynched and murdered. The Tohyoko Kids participated in the lynching, but it was a 26-year-old man who was arrested as the main culprit.

Ren (pseudonym, 24), a native of the Toyoko neighborhood who now works at a bar in Kabukicho, said, “The so-called ‘Toyoko kids’ are the ones who are the most likely to be involved in the lynching.

Most of them have found a job or something. Most of them find a job or something and graduate from Toyoko. But the adults there stay there forever, don’t they?　From our point of view, the adults who are there all the time are much scarier. Some people, like the Manjikai people, say they are helping kids who don’t have a place to stay, but I think it is they who are dependent on Kabukicho and the plaza.

Maybe it is not just kids that have no place in society.

Sasaki Chihuahua
Born in Tokyo in 2000. After attending an integrated school in Tokyo from elementary school to high school, he went on to Keio University. 15 years old, he has been going to Kabukicho and has a wide range of personal connections. At university, he is studying the sociology of the downtown area, including Kabukicho. His book, ” Pien” to shakai” (“The Disease of ‘Pien’: Consumption and Approval of the SNS Generation”), is now on sale.