Okubo Park’s Resurrected Prostitutes Target Foreigners, Crackdown on Smokers
Under the glow of streetlights, women leaned against guardrails, tinkering with their smartphones. In April, about twenty girls were lined up in one corner of the park.
In Shinjuku’s Kabukicho, Okubo Park, prostitutes known as streetwalkers are increasing again. The Metropolitan Police Department strengthened crackdowns last year, resulting in over 140 arrests compared to 51 in 2022. Consequently, there were noticeably fewer girls standing on the streets by the end of last year. However, necessity drives innovation. These girls on the streets devise their own measures to continue earning money.
“What if we get caught? Well, can’t help it, right? I think the police have nothing better to do,” says a 26-year-old dressed in gothic Lolita-style black and white clothes. She was caught in a sting operation last November and spent about ten days in police custody. She came out crying, promising not to do it again, but started again in the new year.
“We have to earn to survive, you know. Even if they catch us or host club guys, nothing changes. We can’t afford to get caught again right away, so we’re careful in choosing clients.”
Despite saying it’s for survival, most of the nearly million yen she earns monthly disappears into host clubs. Her police strategy? Targeting foreign clients.
“They’re definitely not cops. I’ve never seen foreign detectives. I don’t understand their language well, and there are many troubles, so honestly, I hated it. But, we can’t afford to be picky, you know? There are more foreign tourists coming in groups, and the pay isn’t as bad as before.”
She recounts taking a Chinese man to a hotel for an additional fee of ¥20,000. With the end of the pandemic, tourists are returning from overseas, flooding Kabukicho, a popular tourist spot, with visitors from China and Western countries. There are also websites targeting foreigners introducing it as a red-light district, and many foreigners visit with the intention of being with Japanese girls.
“Asians are often quiet and not scary, and since we can’t communicate well, there’s less unnecessary chatter. They’ll give you ¥20,000, and it’s a hundred times better than bargaining with Japanese old men,” she says, adding that she even installed a translation app on her smartphone.
