Here’s a case that ticks all the boxes about the current moral panic.
A concafe (“concept cafe”) staffed by men in Kabukicho, Tokyo, is accused of exploiting vulnerable female customers.
Concafes can be innocuous themed cafes but are often staffed only by men, making them essentially a kind of host club (similar to how girls’ bars are like a cheap hostess club). The customers come for the fantasy created by theme (butlers, doctors, private boys’ boarding school students, etc.) and the men who work there.
At this one, 32-year-old Takuma Ono is alleged to have tried to force a 20-year-old female customer to appear in porn.
Ono and two other people from the concafe have been arrested by Tokyo police. (The concafes in the images are not related to the particular establishment targeted by police in this case.)
According to media reports on October 30, Ono wanted the woman to pay off her account at the concafe by taking an AV gig. He also allegedly tried to get her to do papakatsu compensated dating.
The woman had debts of ¥700,000, probably because the concafe had a “pay later” scheme similar to many host clubs.
One of the big reasons cited for the uptick in visible prostitution in places like Okubo Park, near Kabukicho, is the host club system of leaving vulnerable women in debt, which allows clubs to pimp out women.
Papakatsu is the latest buzzword for compensated dating and is also often done by women who have debts. It has also attracted its fair share of scammers.
After the coercion scandals in the adult video industry sparked a crackdown and controversial new law that has had a big impact on the porn business in Japan, attention has focused on AV performers’ rights and well-being. It’s certainly true that there are lots of small production companies that do not do due diligence when it comes to workers’ rights and many of the minor releases with “amateur” or uncredited performers may involve vulnerable women struggling to pay off debts.
A related moral panic currently surrounds the “delinquents” known as Toyoko kids who hang around in the main plaza in Kabukicho at night. Their ranks also include female runaways engaged in prostitution or compensated dating.
