On the Run From Police and YouTubers: The New Tachinbo Scene Taking Shape Around Kabukicho’s Love Hotels

A mass exodus from Okubo Park to avoid crackdowns and YouTubers

It was a midsummer night in Shinjuku’s Kabukicho. Even just walking around in the heat was enough to make sweat bead on one’s forehead, yet women were waiting for customers in the red-light district’s love hotel area. About four years ago, the tachinbo—women struggling financially who solicited customers for sex around Okubo Park—became a social issue. Their difficult circumstances have not changed, but the environment surrounding the tachinbo has changed dramatically.

These days, there are hardly any tachinbo around Okubo Park. With police enforcement intensified, gathering around the park appears to have become too risky. The number of men looking to buy sex has also declined for similar reasons. They risk having their faces filmed by YouTubers or being stopped and questioned by police for walking around with tachinbo.

So where did the men and women who used to gather around Okubo Park go? When this reporter went looking, they were found in the love hotel district. One of the women explained why they had moved.

“It’s to avoid trouble, like having our faces exposed on social media. There are fewer people in the love hotel district who come just to gawk for fun. Another major factor was that in July last year, four women who were soliciting customers around Okubo Park were arrested on suspicion of violating the Anti-Prostitution Law, and all of them had their faces and real names reported in the media.”

Fearing trouble, newcomers to the tachinbo scene, curious onlookers, and first-time customers have all declined. Those who moved to the love hotel district are the regulars—both the tachinbo and the men who buy sex. Perhaps because of the familiarity among regulars, they can be seen chatting on the street with drinks in hand. It has effectively become a street girls’ bar.

Regular male customers wander around the hotel district with drinks in hand, looking for the few newcomers among the tachinbo. If there are no new faces, they make small talk with familiar women.

“There are fewer opportunities to get customers, and sometimes regular women who are short on money will ask me, ‘Will you buy me?’” (Regular male customer)

One reason so many people drink on the streets is that alcohol also serves as a way of confirming someone’s age. Under current law, buying sex itself is not subject to criminal penalties, but if the other person is a minor, it is immediately a serious problem. So they have devised a method: have the woman buy alcohol.

“The man gives the girl ¥1,000 and says, ‘Go buy some alcohol with this,’ and sends her to a convenience store. When she buys it, she has to show identification to the clerk, so you can confirm her age. It’s a safe method because you don’t have to ask to see her ID yourself.” (Another regular male customer)

As a result, the customer is left with the alcohol. After the transaction takes place at a hotel, he walks around the Kabukicho area drinking.

Unless the hardships faced by the women standing on the streets of the nighttime entertainment district are addressed, the tachinbo problem will not be solved. The practice has survived by changing its form and location.

From the September 25, 2026 issue of “FRIDAY”