Tag - kabukicho

 
 

KABUKICHO

According to the Tokyo police, 22-year-old student host Yuya Inaba lured an underage girl into spending money by seducing her and making false promises such as, “Let’s get married when you turn 18.”
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 11, 2024
Tokyo host club worker arrested after underage girl racks up ¥6 million in charges
The 15-year-old girl visited the club around 10 times between March and July 2023, and had racked up charges that totaled ¥6 million.
Many young people who feel neglected at home flock to the Toyoko area to find a community where they can fit in.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Feb 5, 2024
Toyoko Kids: The lonely street children of Tokyo
Bound together by shared neglect and marginalization, the group have formed a distinct, social media-linked youth subculture on the streets of Shinjuku.
A group of 19 host club owners in Kabukicho who own most of the host clubs in the area have pledged to ban the pay-later system by April and prohibit entry to those under 20 years old from January.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 26, 2023
How Japan's host clubs trap young women under mountains of debt
False promises of love — and even marriage — lead to huge bills for some as young as 18, who are often then coaxed into sex work to make repayments.
Tokyo police officers head to host clubs in the Kabukicho district in Shinjuku Ward for inspections on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 20, 2023
Women arrested for prostitution in Shinjuku tripled in 2023
The issue of women going into prostitution as a result of loans used to finance host club visits has become a huge problem.
An area known as Toyoko in the Kabukicho entertainment district in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 6, 2023
High school girl arrested for selling cough medicine illegally
The arrest coincides with a surge of young people in Japan abusing over-the-counter drugs, such as cold medicine.
National Police Agency Commissioner-General Yasuhiro Tsuyuki and other officials inspect Tokyo's Kabukicho district on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 29, 2023
Japan moves to strengthen crackdown on malicious host clubs
Some women end up with massive debts and are forced into prostitution to repay the sums.
Cough medicine seized by police in connection with the case of unauthorized sales of the drug in the Toyoko area of Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 22, 2023
4 youths nabbed for unauthorized cough medicine sales
Reports indicate that more young people in Japan are overdosing on over-the-counter drugs such as cold pills and cough medicine.
By the finale, I had completely bought into Samurai Restaurant Time's spectacle — a neon-lit festival with chants and cheers.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 12, 2023
Samurai Restaurant Time gives kitschy thrills fit for Kabukicho
To replace the defunct Robot Restaurant, the neon-soaked streets of Kabukicho are serving up a kitschy second course.
The Kabukicho area in Tokyo's Shinjuku district
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 3, 2023
80 women arrested in Tokyo's Kabukicho over alleged prostitution
Police have been cracking down on prostitution in the nightlife district amid a surge of activity following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 7, 2023
New 225-meter-tall skyscraper unveiled in Tokyo's Kabukicho nightlife district
With 48 floors above ground and five below, Tokyu Kabukicho Tower houses two hotels as well as entertainment facilities like a theater, a concert hall and a movie house.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 30, 2021
Woman arrested over son's fatal fall from Tokyo hotel
The police believe the 47-year-old woman attempted to commit murder-suicide involving herself, her son and her 7-year-old daughter.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 29, 2021
Mother questioned by police after boy, 9, dies in apparent fall from Tokyo hotel
Police said an officer found the child lying on the ground on the hotel's premises in Kabukicho, Shinjuku Ward, after hearing a loud noise at around 7 a.m.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 2, 2021
‘Tokyo Junkie’: Robert Whiting recounts a lifelong addiction to his adopted city
The author and longtime Japan resident tackles his hardest writing project ever — “interviewing himself” for a memoir on his life, the changing urban landscape and, of course, baseball.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Aug 21, 2020
Kabukicho host club workers channel their feelings in verse
While workers have been lambasted over the spread of COVID-19, some have found solace in the art of tanka.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 1, 2020
Kabukicho host clubs under fire for spreading coronavirus
Some media outlets are weighing the pros and cons of mounting an actual 'blockade' of Tokyo's well-known entertainment district.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2020
Tokyo enlists nightclub workers for Q&A-style videos to fight coronavirus
Alarmed by a spike in infections in Tokyo's nightlife districts, the metropolitan government has released educational videos in the form of a Q&A between nightclub hosts, a hostess and a doctor, hoping to stem the spread of the outbreak.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2020
Host and hostess bars in Japan scramble to adjust to COVID-19 reality
The industry faces an intensifying public backlash after reports emerged that a recent spike in cases stemmed largely from nighttime entertainment districts.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2020
Nightlife districts demonized over infection fears while grappling with coronavirus impacts
Heated media coverage has zeroed in on Kabukicho, catapulting the area to a new level of notoriety.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Apr 16, 2020
Stay-home request over virus hits girls in Japan with no place to go
The spread of the novel coronavirus and a government request that the public refrain from going outside has added to the predicament of many teenage girls in Japan who have left home due to abuse, poverty or other reasons.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 13, 2020
Japan's rockin' pastor: Counseling those living on a prayer
No ordinary pastor, Kazuhiro Sekino wields a bass guitar like a rock star to bring his congregation together.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on