Scouts Find a New Territory After Police Sweep Shinjuku and Shibuya

Among the rows of concafe girls in Akihabara

Crackdowns on scout groups have been intensifying. It’s still fresh in memory that Hiroaki Obata (41), the top of Japan’s largest scout group “Natural” and wanted by authorities, was arrested in January on Amami Oshima. The Metropolitan Police’s measures against scouts have been steadily effective, visibly reducing their presence in the entertainment districts where they used to be most active, especially Shinjuku and Shibuya.

However, scouts are not giving up easily. Recently, they have expanded into areas where they were previously absent. Akihabara has been reported as a new hotspot. The district is crowded with concafes, and some of the establishments are hardly distinguishable from girls’ bars. It appears that scouts are now targeting women who work at concafes.

Akihabara has a completely different atmosphere during the day and night. In the daytime, it’s bustling with inbound tourists and businesspeople, but by night, concafe girls handing out flyers start lining up near the Electric Town Exit. The areas around Chuo Dori and Sotokanda 1-chome are especially well known, with the girls standing in evenly spaced rows—a sight that has become a local attraction. On the day of reporting, the women were diligently handing out flyers in the cold.

When asked about scouts, a woman working at a concafe in a pair said, “I get approached sometimes.”

“I work four days a week, and once or twice a month someone approaches me. On my way to the station after work, they try to lure me away. They ask, ‘Where do you work?’ or say, ‘I can introduce you to another place.’ I ignored it because I had to catch the last train, but it was scary to have someone follow me.

At first, I thought it was just flirting, but an internal staff member from a shop that moved from Kabukicho to Akihabara told me, ‘That’s a scout, be careful.’ I was surprised, thinking, ‘They’re even here in Akihabara.’”

Another concafe girl said that sometimes scouts even come into the shops. They enter as regular customers and jokingly start negotiating for the girls to move to another location.

“It’s not unusual for someone to try to poach girls from one concafe to another. It happens often, so I just politely said, ‘Sure, if that happens, okay.’ But recently, some also try to introduce people to establishments other than concafes.

Mostly they suggest cabaret clubs or girls’ bars, saying things like, ‘The hourly wage is high,’ or, ‘You could earn a million yen a month.’ I work at a concafe because I want to wear cute outfits, so I refuse all those offers,” another concafe girl explained.

Several other women reported being approached by men resembling scouts in Akihabara. Most of these encounters happen after 11 p.m. Some believe that the scouts are specifically targeting concafe girls leaving work.

When approached by someone who seemed like a scout

Near the west exit of Akihabara Station, just before the last train, the flow of people is sparse. Could there really be a scout among them? Scouts in Shinjuku and Shibuya are often lightly dressed and carry a small shoulder bag, like a sacoche.

After observing for a while, a man was seen approaching a young woman heading toward the station. As I got closer, he was saying things like, “Are you interested in XX?” or “If you’re not satisfied with your salary.” When I spoke to him, he surprisingly admitted that he was indeed a scout.

“I’ve been targeting women working at concafes and maid cafes around here for the past month or two. I tell them, ‘If you serve male customers, why not work at a cabaret or girls’ bar?’ and hint at higher hourly wages. Akihabara is close to Ueno and Shimbashi, so I tell them, ‘If you’re working to make money, working at a nearby nightspot shouldn’t be a problem.’”

He shared quite a lot of information. Compared to scouts in other entertainment districts, he seemed less wary.

“I could go to Kabukicho, but there are veteran scouts there, and women are much more cautious now. Plainclothes officers also patrol a lot, so I’d be scared of getting arrested. That’s why I shifted my area to Akihabara. It hasn’t been very successful though.” the man said.

While talking to him, he offered, “My boss is here—do you want to speak with him?” But a strangely intimidating older man appeared, so I ended the interview.

Scouts operating in Akihabara are fewer in number than in Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, or Shibuya. On that day, only two or three were seen. Still, it appears that scouts are relocating to avoid police crackdowns. They move to other districts to work under the radar, but they likely don’t earn as much as they would in larger entertainment districts like Shinjuku.

Even so, if enforcement tightens further, scouts may continue spreading out to various neighborhoods.

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