<figure id="attachment_365563" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-365563" style="width: 1920px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="31f53852"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/03/1a230f191e78596d21f55a23adbc7f16.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-365563" class="wp-caption-text">A woman, believed to be a &#8220;stand-up girl,&#8221; waiting for customers while avoiding eye contact with unsuspecting customers.</figcaption></figure>
<p> The &#8220;stand-up girls&#8221; standing around Okubo Park in Shinjuku&#8217;s Kabukicho district have become a frequent problem and have not disappeared despite repeated attempts by the police and the government to deal with them.</p>
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<p> Until now, the police have only been able to catch &#8220;stand-up girls&#8221; red-handed when they find them telling customers about their conditions, etc. To avoid this, the &#8220;stand-up girls&#8221; have been forcing customers to tell them about their conditions or waiting for them with their friends. The &#8220;stand-up girls&#8221; also took measures to avoid this by making the customers state their conditions, or by making it look like they were meeting up with a friend.</p>
<p> On April 24, the police arrested a 28-year-old woman for the first time on suspicion of violating the Anti-Prostitution Law because of her past behavior of waiting for customers.</p>
<p> When the &#8220;stand-up girls&#8221; learned that she had been arrested for her past behavior, their numbers declined for a few days, but soon resumed. They are now taking measures against the police by expanding their area.</p>
<p> They have expanded the area where they wait for customers to include not only the street in front of the hospital and the streets around Okubo Park where they used to stand, but also a pharmacy, a batting center in the area, and a love hotel area.</p>
<p> When we spoke with a writer about their behavior, she told us that the girls are not afraid of the police.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The &#8220;standing girls&#8221; who are still standing are regulars. They are women who are waiting for customers as their main job. The number of &#8220;stand-up girls&#8221; decreased in the days following the arrest of the 28-year-old woman, but they returned when they learned about the police sting operation. After all, as long as there are people to buy, they can make money.</span></p>
<p> The &#8220;stand-up girls&#8221; waiting for customers in this area are always the same group of people.</p>
<p> The &#8220;stand-up girls&#8221; also share information on social networking sites and act quickly to get information from the police on sting operations. The police and government officials also increase their patrols, but they focus on the Okubo Park area, so there is no problem as long as they are not in that area.</p>
<p> Enjoying this situation is a group that has been increasing recently and sees the standing girls as entertainment.</p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Trouble with chilled-out customers...worsening public safety in Kabukicho"></div>
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<p>With a can of beer or a can of shochu in one hand, which they had bought at a convenience store, they seemed to be enjoying drinking and chatting, saying things like, &#8220;That girl is cute,&#8221; or &#8220;Oh, negotiations have broken down.</p>
<p> When I approached one of the men in the group, he gave me a surprising answer.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> It&#8217;s like a freak show, isn&#8217;t it? It&#8217;s interesting that they are standing there even though they are in such a big trouble and have even been arrested. I wonder if she&#8217;s there today. I can get excited with other people, saying, &#8216;I haven&#8217;t seen that girl recently. It&#8217;s a good source of banter.</span></p>
<p> These groups are a nuisance not only to the &#8220;stand-up girls&#8221; but also to unrelated residents, and there are often problems between the stand-up girls and the groups of coldcockers. The other day, a fight between a group of &#8220;stand-up girls&#8221; and a group of &#8220;chillaxers&#8221; who were upset that they had been photographed, almost resulted in a police incident.</p>
<p> In Okubo Park, where only regulars wait for customers, there is no end to the number of such spectators. Many of these groups include foreigners, who can also be seen examining the women, drinks in hand.</p>
<p> When I approached another man, he replied, &#8220;This seems to be a type of brothel that is not possible these days.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I think of it as the old-fashioned kind of sex shop where you could nominate a woman while looking directly at her face. Such a system is hard to find, so I end up coming to see them even if I have no intention of buying. It&#8217;s like Tobita Shinchi.</span></p>
<p> The number of &#8220;standing girls&#8221; has been reduced after being busted many times, but soon revived. The game with the police is likely to continue for some time to come.</p>
<figure id="attachment_376472" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-376472" style="width: 1108px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="5bf252ca"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/06/084925ea956f7b6748b4fb8f561308f0-1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-376472" class="wp-caption-text"> A woman believed to be &#8220;waiting for customers&#8221; in Shinjuku</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_376473" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-376473" style="width: 1108px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="019d2b24"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/06/aca1caa7777a8582a904d3318f84675d-1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-376473" class="wp-caption-text"> The struggle with the police continues.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_376474" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-376474" style="width: 1108px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="01a40c13"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/06/62c8ce5f76c1ad2092f4c62eb5cd206a-1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-376474" class="wp-caption-text"> In Kabukicho, women standing alone on a street corner are conspicuous.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_376475" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-376475" style="width: 1108px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="f91b55db"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/06/06dc5542256506b78de916210b452828-1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-376475" class="wp-caption-text"> The struggle over the &#8220;standing girls&#8221; is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.</figcaption></figure>
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 The "standing girls" in Okubo Park in Kabukicho, Shinjuku-ku, have become famous through news reports and YouTubers. Now, these girls are waiting for customers in places where they have never stood before in order to evade police detection.

Why the number of &#8220;groups&#8221; that &#8220;scold&#8221; the &#8220;standing girls&#8221; who expanded the waiting area for customers due to police countermeasures is increasing.

Why the number of “groups” that “scold” the “standing girls” who expanded the waiting area for customers due to police countermeasures is increasing.

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