The “Con Cafe Call Road” in front of Tohyoko and GiGO has disappeared… What is happening in Kabukicho now?

Disappeared con-cafe girls

In front of GiGO (game center) next to To in downtown Shinjuku’s Kabukicho, there is an area known as “Calling Road. It is called this because at night, con-café and girls’ bar staff line up on both sides of the road, sometimes as long as 20 meters in many cases. Since April, however, there has been an anomaly at this location. The girls who call out for the girls have almost disappeared.

Apparently, a complaint has been filed with the Shinjuku City Office, and the area is no longer allowed to call out for girls. We investigated what is happening in Toyoko.

---

The girls who call out for con cafes after dark have almost disappeared. There are only two or three who hold up a price list and ask , “Would you like to have some fun?

Where have all the callers gone? When we looked for them, we found some of them holding up price lists in front of stores, some in the hotel area of Kabukicho, and some walking around holding store signs, calling out in a different way than before.

When we approached some of them, they told us that they could no longer stand up after receiving complaints from the district and that security guards now make rounds to warn them. It seems that the situation is still being regulated by the government.

Although there are pros and cons to calling out on the street, the “calling road” has become a famous sight among foreign tourists, and the sight of young women lined up in a row, calling out for customers, was enough to make many people stop in their tracks. If they are no longer able to tout in that area, their business will be hampered to some extent. What do the women think about the current situation?

Ms. A, a con-cafe worker, told us, “I think sales will go down. I think sales will drop,” she said.

There is a lot of pedestrian traffic in front of the Kabukicho GiGO (game center), and there are a lot of first-time customers, including tourists. The con cafe where I work is in an area where there are many host clubs, so all the people are walking around with some other purpose. Even if I call out in front of the store, I can’t attract many customers.”

Although many tourists visit Kabukicho, the largest entertainment district in Japan, few people visit the area lined with love hotels and host clubs. Naturally, the number of new customers is also decreasing, resulting in a drop in sales at the stores, he says.

If we can’t get new customers, they cut our work shifts, so our paychecks go down, too,” he said. In the store, the atmosphere is like, ‘Let’s work harder on delivery sales,’ but it is more difficult to catch customers through delivery than in person. If the situation continues as it is, I feel that business itself will become more difficult.”

Since calling out to customers is essential to a con cafe, many of the women working there believe that the current state of the business will hinder their operations. However, a business that is hindered simply because new customers who stop by on a whim pay less money does not seem to be sound management.

And a 160-person patrol.

On the other hand, there are also con café girls who think it’s okay if they can’t call in. In the highly fluid conferencing industry, she is a veteran. She is optimistic about the situation , saying, “I’ll go back to my old job anyway.

The area is just a stone’s throw from Toyoko,” he said. There were also Tohyoko kids in that area, and security guards were watching them all the time, but they never said anything about us con café girls calling out. So even if the restrictions are temporarily tightened, I think it will be back to normal in about 6 months. Besides, some stores will start calling in when the guards are gone around 10pm to 11pm” (Mr. B).

The restrictions on calling in are not the only ones in place: on April 24, Shinjuku City and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department jointly implemented a 160-person task force to publicize and educate hotels, pharmacies, and other establishments in the area, focusing on the Tohyoko area. The joint public-private patrols are an effort to address issues such as sex crimes against minors and overdose.

When we asked the Crisis Management Division of the General Affairs Department of the Shinjuku City Office about these stricter regulations, they replied, “Security patrols have been conducted daily for some time, and there has been no increase in the number of security guards.

The patrols are made by the administration and by people hired by the local shopping district. We have long received feedback that it is not a good idea to have them standing side by side in that area, and we ask them to move out of the way if they are obstructing pedestrians” (Crisis Management Section, General Affairs Department).

When asked if calling out to people is not a violation of the ordinance by touting, he clarified, “It is a case-by-case basis, and if it is an obvious act of touting, it may be considered a violation.

In Kabukicho, after all, the police have been actively cracking down on touts and scouts since April in what has been called the “second cleansing operation. Then there are the “call road” regulations and toe-side patrols by the administration and police. What will these developments bring to Kabukicho?

FRIDAY Digital welcomes your information and tip-offs. Please send your information to the following information form or to the official X.

Information form: https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/tips
Official X: https://x.com/FRIDAY_twit