Why Obscene DVD Sellers Remain in Kabukicho Despite Online Availability

When I insisted on being taken to the store, it turned out to be an ordinary apartment building. When guiding customers to make a purchase, an ID check is conducted in front of the room. If it’s confirmed that the person is not a police officer, they are then allowed inside.

Despite illegal DVDs being against the law, such as for obscenity distribution, and the risk of arrest, they have not disappeared. According to the street recruiter, the reason is that it’s cost-effective and requires almost no preparation, and he spoke about it without any remorse.

“Illegal DVD distribution can be started with just a reasonably good computer. Ignoring the legality, it’s quite easy to begin. You just need to download videos from illegal sites and burn them to DVDs. Also, once a video is downloaded, it can be reused. Aside from the labor involved in making the DVDs, it’s a very cost-effective illegal business.

Because of this, even if one distributor is shut down, another group quickly takes their place. For example, after a recent crackdown last month, a new distributor appeared within a few days of the news coverage.”

However, the number of men buying these DVDs has been decreasing year by year. As a result, most people involved in selling them are doing it as a side job while working in adult entertainment or hostess clubs.

 

In the past, during the Showa era, illegal videos, ‘underground videos,’ and ‘illegal materials’ were extremely popular and became a huge business. Over time, the number of such items gradually decreased. Even with the ‘Kabukicho Purification Campaign’ initiated by then-Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara in 2004, it was never completely eradicated.

 

The cat-and-mouse game between vendors and authorities may continue for a long time.