Kabukicho’s Famous Street Solicitation Row Disappears Amid Crackdown

Cafe recruitment girls disappear

In Shinjuku’s entertainment district, in front of GiGO (an arcade) in the To-yoko area of Kabukicho, there is a zone known as the recruitment road. At night, staff from concept cafés and girls’ bars line up on both sides of the street. At its peak, they would form a line stretching up to around 20 meters, which is how it got this name. However, since April, something unusual has been happening in this area. The girls doing recruitment have almost completely disappeared.

It appears that complaints were filed with Shinjuku Ward, and recruitment in this area has become prohibited. We looked into what is happening in To-yoko now.

The café recruitment girls who used to appear after sunset have now mostly disappeared. With an air of indifference to complaints, only about two or three people remain, holding price lists and calling out, “Would you like to come in and have fun?”

Where did the recruiters go? Searching for them, we found some holding price boards in front of their shops, others in the hotel district of Kabukicho, and some walking around carrying shop signs, continuing recruitment in different forms than before.

When speaking to several of them, they said things like: “We were told we can’t stand there because of complaints to the ward,” and “Security guards have started patrolling and warning us.” It seems this situation is indeed due to administrative regulation.

While opinions are divided on street recruitment, the recruitment road had also become something of a landmark among foreign tourists, and many people would stop to look at the sight of young women lined up calling out to passersby. If recruitment in that spot becomes impossible, it will likely have some impact on business operations.

When asked how they feel about the current situation, one café girl, A, said: “I think sales will drop.”

“GiGO (arcade) in Kabukicho is in a very busy area, with a lot of foot traffic and many walk-in customers, including tourists. The café I work at is in an area with many host clubs, so most people walking around already have some purpose. Even if we do recruitment in front of the shop, it doesn’t bring in many customers.”

Kabukicho, Japan’s largest entertainment district, is visited by many tourists, but few come specifically to see the areas lined with love hotels and host clubs. Naturally, new customers decrease, and sales also drop.

“If we can’t get new customers, our shifts get reduced, so our pay also goes down. At work, there’s an atmosphere of let’s try harder with livestream promotions, but it’s much harder to attract customers online than in person. If this continues, I feel it will become difficult to keep the business running,” she said.

Since recruitment is essential for concept cafés, many workers believe that the current situation is harming business operations. However, it also seems questionable whether a business model that struggles simply because it cannot attract walk-in customers is truly sustainable or sound.

Patrol operations with a 160-person force

On the other hand, there are also café recruitment girls who think that not being able to do street recruitment is not a problem. B has been working in Kabukicho for four years. In an industry with high turnover like concept cafés, she is considered a veteran. She takes an optimistic view of the situation, saying, “It will probably just go back to how it was and we’ll start doing recruitment again.”

“Those areas are right next to To-yoko. There are To-yoko kids around there too, and security guards have been monitoring the area constantly, but they never said anything about us café girls doing recruitment. So even if regulations tighten temporarily, I think things will go back to normal in about half a year. Also, around 10–11 p.m., when patrols stop, some shops start recruitment again,” (B).

It’s not only recruitment regulations. On April 24, Shinjuku Ward and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department jointly implemented measures mainly in the To-yoko area, including public awareness campaigns targeting nearby hotels and pharmacies, with a 160-person task force. This joint public-private patrol is aimed at addressing issues such as sexual crimes against minors and drug overdoses.

Regarding these tightened regulations, the Shinjuku Ward Office’s General Affairs Department, Crisis Management Division, stated: “Security patrols have been conducted daily for some time, and they have not been increased.”

“Patrols are carried out by both the administration and personnel hired by local shopping streets. We have long received opinions that the lined-up formation in that area is undesirable, and when it obstructs pedestrian traffic, we ask them to move,” (Crisis Management Division).

When asked whether recruitment activity constitutes a violation under solicitation ordinances, they said: “It depends on the case. If it is clearly an act of customer solicitation, it may be considered a violation.”

In Kabukicho, since April, police enforcement against street solicitation and scouting has intensified to the point that it is being called a “second cleanup operation.” With these regulatory actions by the administration and police, including restrictions on the recruitment road and patrols in the To-yoko area, what impact will all of this have on Kabukicho?

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