<h2>Even a 13-year-old girl is waiting for customers&#8230;Unbelievable reality of Kabukicho</h2>
<figure id="attachment_404452" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-404452" style="width: 1108px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="7e4c9cda"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/12/8b6ffbe87541f33401cadbaaf29fe96a.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-404452" class="wp-caption-text"> A young woman believed to be waiting for customers in Kabukicho</figcaption></figure>
<p> On October 18, a 53-year-old company employee from Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, was arrested by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department&#8217;s Security Division for allegedly accosting a 16-year-old Tokyo high school student waiting for customers in the Okubo Park area of Kabukicho, Shinjuku-ku, and committing lewd acts with her.</p>
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<p> The &#8220;stand-up girls&#8221; in the Okubo Park area, which has become a social problem in recent years, seem to be getting younger, with some claiming to be 13 years old. Why is this situation left unattended? When this reporter went to the area to investigate the situation, she discovered a &#8220;shocking fact.</p>
<p> Many of the &#8220;stand-up girls&#8221; waiting for customers in the area around Okubo Park look very young. Looking at their appearance alone, it is easy to understand why they might be called &#8220;underage. Considering that a few years ago many of them were in their 20s and 30s, they have become much younger.</p>
<p> Even though the police and government have stepped up patrols, there is no end to the prostitution activities in the Okubo Park area. In addition, the range of activities of these women has expanded, and they are now waiting for customers outside of the park area.</p>
<p> When asked their age, most of the women who appear to be waiting for customers say they are 19 or 18 years old. When I ask the same age to younger women who are clearly not adults, many of them answer &#8220;I am 18 or 19 years old.</p>
<p> When we asked Masanori Sendo, a Kabukicho writer who has been observing Kabukicho in Shinjuku for many years, about current standing girls in the Kabukicho area, he said <span class="strongInContent">, &#8220;There have always been minors, but now the age is even lower, with some girls as young as 13,&#8221;</span> he continued.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> There are even 13-year-old girls who are standing around.&#8221; &#8220;Since high school students who ran away from home have started waiting for customers, the age of these girls is getting younger and younger. Among them, a &#8220;self-proclaimed 13-year-old stand-up girl&#8221; has become a hot topic, and although her authenticity is unknown, she uploaded her insurance card and official documents on her SNS as proof. She certainly looks quite young and does not appear to be an adult. It is said that she was going back and forth between Tokyo and Osaka to visit girls&#8217; spots, and was &#8220;bought&#8221; by a lot of men in Kabukicho.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Her parents live in Nagoya, and she has been arrested several times for hanging around Kabukicho because her mother is dead and her father is a violent abuser and she doesn&#8217;t want to stay at home. She seemed to have a strong need for approval, posting on social networking sites that &#8220;I get a lot of DMs (on my X) and I get sick if I don&#8217;t receive them,&#8221; and interacting with her customers on social networking sites to get a lot of impressions to keep her mind at ease.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I heard that such a life cannot continue and that the authorities have recently taken action and that he is now in a classification home in Nagoya. Since he is going to a classification home, he is definitely a minor. Even after going to the classification home, it seems that he has been asking for food from the uncle who bought him in the past on SNS,&#8221; said Mr. Sento.</span></p>
<p> The self-proclaimed &#8220;13-year-old stand-up girl&#8221; was wearing clothes with a specific character printed on them every time she stood in Okubo Park, so they knew it was her at a glance.</p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Why a circle of men forms when a new stand-up girl comes to the park"></div>
<h2>Unbelievable&#8230;too bad community of men who prostitute</h2>
<figure id="attachment_404453" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-404453" style="width: 1647px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="0b894a31"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/12/e2069bd339188d0f0b6e5c13f31bfb1f-2.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-404453" class="wp-caption-text"> Some men send messages to 13-year-old girls</figcaption></figure>
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<p> The risk for &#8220;buyers&#8221; has been increasing as the population has become younger and younger. Paying money to engage in prostitution with girls who are under the age of 18 is prohibited by the Anti-Prostitution Law, and if the girl is under the age of 18, she may be subject to severe criminal penalties under the Act on Control and Punishment of Activities Related to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and Protection of Children (commonly known as the &#8220;Child Pornography Prohibition Law&#8221;). Kabukicho is a town with many sex shops.</p>
<p> Why take the risk of becoming a &#8220;stand-up girl&#8221; when Kabukicho is also home to adult entertainment establishments? According to Mr. Sendo, a surprising fact emerged.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> For the past few years, Okubo Park has been very crowded with men looking for prostitution and women looking to make some extra money. However, due to police intervention and other factors, the number of so-called &#8220;amateurs,&#8221; such as ordinary college girls, has decreased, leaving only &#8220;professionals&#8221; who are waiting for customers as a job.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The men are all men who enjoy prostitution and have formed their own communities, and the women waiting for customers are friends waiting for customers next to each other. In this way, the buyers are professionals and the sellers are professionals, so the people in Okubo Park are like a social gathering place where everyone knows each other to some extent.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> People who want to buy women tend to target amateurs, so it is thought that they target girls who are underage and do not look like work. For the same reason, it seems that when they see a newcomer, a standing girl, they are the first to go and talk to her,&#8221; he said.</span></p>
<p> Japan today should not be a country where you have to sell your body to survive, even if you are an underage girl. We can only hope that this situation will disappear as soon as possible.</p>
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<figure id="attachment_404608" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-404608" style="width: 574px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="8fdc7576"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/12/f89a43c63eed3fef13be438b9d11a46f.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-404608" class="wp-caption-text"> Standing girls waiting for customers</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_404609" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-404609" style="width: 501px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="a8aa7958"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/12/412bd0ec6c85237e9b782491c28472e0.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-404609" class="wp-caption-text"> Standing girls waiting for customers</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_404610" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-404610" style="width: 569px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="91c6f847"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/12/4ad787507a2f9e6e244b10f5c4362769.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-404610" class="wp-caption-text"> Girls standing around waiting for customers</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_404611" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-404611" style="width: 514px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="4689d807"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/12/a53b28a68f7bf6fa370cdf2999ff8841.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-404611" class="wp-caption-text"> Girls standing around waiting for customers</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_404612" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-404612" style="width: 1108px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="2c5e0cae"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/12/9ba4d0df69f2f5b5ddce640bf6165ec1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-404612" class="wp-caption-text"> Standing girls waiting for customers</figcaption></figure>


 Masanori Sento

 Over the past few years, the standing girls around Okubo Park in Kabukicho have been getting younger and younger. Finally, a 13-year-old girl has started waiting for customers, and as a result, many men are flocking to her. We bring you the reason why!

Since when did &#8220;Japan become such a country&#8221;&#8230;A hellscape of men flocking to &#8220;13-year-old standing girls&#8221; spreading in Kabukicho

Since when did “Japan become such a country”…A hellscape of men flocking to “13-year-old standing girls” spreading in Kabukicho

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