Tokyo police urge Kabukicho love hotels help solve prostitution crisis

The media-driven moral panic over visible prostitution in Okubo Park has sparked a crackdown on host clubs, since at least some of the young woman engaged in selling their body in the area near Kabukicho, Tokyo, are doing it to pay their debts at host clubs.

There is a similar moral panic over the youngsters who gather at Toyoko, though young people up to no good in Kabukicho is totally in keeping with the history of the area — it just jars with the attempts by the Shinjuku government and land developers to gentrify the district. The so-called Toyoko kids at Toyoko are rumored to be involved in papakatsu compensated dating.

Now, after arresting a few token hosts and host club owners, and a lot more young street walkers, the police have decided that love hotels are the problem.

On April 17, 30 police officers “raided” 23 love hotels and other rental rooms in Kabukicho as part in its investigation of their use by street walkers. This was, of course, all carefully orchestrated for the media so news outlets could take photos and film officers.

It was the first such on-site investigation by Tokyo police at love hotels, which has ultimately involved 62 establishments — which goes to show just how many there are in the district.

The area stretching from Kabukicho to Okubo is filled with love hotels. Regular couples use them, of course, but they do have a seedy image associated with the sex industry (more so than, say, Love Hotel Hill in Dogenzaka, Shibuya, but on par with the hotels in Uguisudani/Nippori). It’s true that you can often see cars with tinted windows, when drivers are waiting for call girls to finish their stint in a hotel.

But why are police paying visits to love hotels? The hotels are not doing anything wrong. Anyone, whether a prostitute and their customer or otherwise, is allowed to use their service.

The rationale of the strategy seems misguided to us and designed mostly just to show the media and public that the police are doing “something.”

Nominally, the police were following up on the use of love hotels by underage prostitutes.

Moreover, the police “raid” was mostly just to ask the hotels to be on the lookout for women who are using the same hotel several times a day. Officers distributed flyers to that effect and also posters promoting a consultation service for women. If staff spot a customer who is clearly under high school age, they were encouraged to call the police.