JK business
{{Short description|Pseudo-dating of high school girls in Japan}}
The JK business is a commercial activity in Japan that allows customers to engage in pseudo-dating with high school girls. It significantly increased in scale around 2006, after the maid café boom in Akihabara, Tokyo, had died down.{{cite web|url=https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/99154?page=4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315220829/https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/99154?page=4|script-title=ja:秋葉原"少女売春が放置されている街"の真実|language=ja|publisher=Toyo Keizai Inc.|date=6 January 2016|archive-date=15 March 2023|access-date=15 March 2023}} The abbreviation JK stands for {{lang|ja|女子高生}} ({{Transliteration|en|Hepburn|joshi kōsei}}, :ja:女子高生), a female high school student. Typical scenario of a JK encounter: a girl gives out leaflets inviting for a {{lang|ja|JKお散歩}} ({{Transliteration|en|Hepburn|jēkē o-sanpo}}, “a JK walk” or “a walking date”).{{cite web|url=http://www.newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/104743.php|title=Osaka JK parlors passing prostitution to professionals|publisher=newsonjapan.com|access-date=2015-07-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054238/http://www.newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/104743.php|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/in-japan-teenage-girls-folding-paper-cranes-has-taken-on-a-very-different-meaning/|title=In Japan, Teenage Girls Folding Paper Cranes Has Taken on a Whole New Meaning|work=VICE News|access-date=2015-07-21|archive-date=2018-08-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180801034452/https://news.vice.com/article/in-japan-teenage-girls-folding-paper-cranes-has-taken-on-a-very-different-meaning|url-status=live}} Earlier the offered service was known as a "refresh business". When police began investigations into the practice of "JK"; the "sanpo business" arose. This is when a girl is paid for social activities such as walking and talking, and is also sometimes referred to as "fortune telling".[http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/10/11/national/media-national/debt-idols-send-wrong-message-girls "In-debt idols send wrong message to girls"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813213755/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/10/11/national/media-national/debt-idols-send-wrong-message-girls |date=2020-08-13 }}, Japan Times{{cite web |title=１７歳「怖いけど、給料いい」 ＪＫお散歩、記者がルポ：朝日新聞デジタル | trans-title= "17 years old 'I am afraid, but my salary is good' JK walk" |url=https://www.asahi.com/articles/TKY201310020130.html |website=www.asahi.com |accessdate=24 September 2018 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150311074856/https://www.asahi.com/articles/TKY201310020130.html |archivedate=11 March 2015 |date=2 October 2013}} Another activity is reflexology ({{langx|ja|リフレ}}, {{Transliteration|en|Hepburn|rifure}}, :ja:リフレ).{{cite news|last1=Osaki|first1=Tomohiro|title=Notorious 'JK' business exploits troubled high school girls for sex|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/11/04/national/social-issues/notorious-jk-business-exploits-troubled-high-school-girls-sex/|accessdate=28 October 2016|work=The Japan Times|date=4 November 2014|archive-date=9 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109170918/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/11/04/national/social-issues/notorious-jk-business-exploits-troubled-high-school-girls-sex|url-status=live}} Many of the girls work in Akihabara in Tokyo.{{cite web|url=http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/tokyo-police-take-13-underage-girls-into-custody-for-jk-walking|title=Tokyo police take 13 underage girls into custody for 'JK walking' ' Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion|work=japantoday.com|access-date=2015-07-21|archive-date=2015-06-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150602200358/http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/tokyo-police-take-13-underage-girls-into-custody-for-jk-walking|url-status=live}}{{cite web |title=Young women in danger / High school girls tricked into 'JK business' |url=http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003230139 |website=The Japan News |accessdate=24 September 2018 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007182155/http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003230139 |archivedate=7 October 2016 |date=3 October 2016}}
The U.S. State Department reported in 2017 that the Government of Japan "does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking", and "continues to facilitate the prostitution of Japanese children".{{cite web|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/06/21/national/crime-legal/japans-high-school-walking-listed-as-new-human-trafficking-trend/|title=Japan's 'high school walking' listed as new human trafficking trend|work=The Japan Times|access-date=2015-07-21|archive-date=2017-06-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602214246/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/06/21/national/crime-legal/japans-high-school-walking-listed-as-new-human-trafficking-trend|url-status=live}} Japan was briefly upgraded to 'Tier 1' status in the 2018{{cite web |title=Japan 2018 Trafficking in Persons Report |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2018-trafficking-in-persons-report/japan/ |publisher=U.S. Department of State |accessdate=16 December 2021 |archive-date=25 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925184746/https://www.state.gov/reports/2018-trafficking-in-persons-report/japan/ |url-status=live }} and 2019{{cite web |title=Japan 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-trafficking-in-persons-report/japan/ |publisher=U.S. Department of State |accessdate=16 December 2021 |archive-date=4 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230104113339/https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-trafficking-in-persons-report/japan/ |url-status=live }} reports, but was downgraded again to 'Tier 2' status in the 2020{{cite web |title=Japan 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-trafficking-in-persons-report/japan/ |publisher=U.S. Department of State |accessdate=16 December 2021 |archive-date=27 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127013219/https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-trafficking-in-persons-report/japan/ |url-status=live }} and 2021{{cite web |title=Japan 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-trafficking-in-persons-report/japan/ |publisher=U.S. Department of State |accessdate=16 December 2021 |archive-date=31 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031222642/https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-trafficking-in-persons-report/japan/ |url-status=live }} reports.
Yumeno Nito, a strong critic of government inaction on the problem, has formed a charity to assist girls in Tokyo.{{cite web|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/05/22/national/activist-sexual-exploitation-girls-slams-nations-indifference/|title=Activist slams indifference to sexual exploitation of girls in 'JK' industry|work=The Japan Times|date=22 May 2015|access-date=21 July 2015|archive-date=25 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025001411/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/05/22/national/activist-sexual-exploitation-girls-slams-nations-indifference/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/people/AJ201304260002|title=Former high school 'refugee' supports troubled teens in Shibuya|work=AJW by The Asahi Shimbun|url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150725125420/http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/people/AJ201304260002|archivedate=2015-07-25}}{{cite web|url=http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/opinion/AJ201412220001|title=INTERVIEW/ Yumeno Nito: Havens needed for schoolgirls in sleazy 'JK' business|work=AJW by The Asahi Shimbun|url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150723221540/http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/opinion/AJ201412220001|archivedate=2015-07-23}} Cultural anthropologists have described Japan as having a shame culture, creating a barrier for teenage runaways to be reunited with their families, making them vulnerable to recruiting into the underage sex industry.{{Cite news|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/02/16/national/crime-legal/tokyo-plans-ordinance-clamp-dating-businesses-using-teenage-girls/|title=First bill targeting JK industry headed for Tokyo assembly|date=2017-02-16|work=The Japan Times|access-date=2017-09-30|language=en-US|issn=0447-5763|archive-date=2020-11-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111202956/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/02/16/national/crime-legal/tokyo-plans-ordinance-clamp-dating-businesses-using-teenage-girls/|url-status=live}}{{Cite magazine|title=Sexual Exploitation of Young Girls in Japan 'On the Rise'|url=https://time.com/5712746/japan-sex-trafficking-prostitution/|access-date=2021-07-29|magazine=Time|language=en}}
Laws and law enforcement
Various prefectures and police departments in Japan have implemented policies and regulations to crack down on JK business. The police are cracking down on JK business because they can lead to under 18 prostitution. Several prefectures have amended their Prefectural Ordinance of Juvenile Protection to prohibit JK business. Kanagawa Prefecture was the first prefecture to take action, amending its ordinance to regulate JK business in 2011.{{cite web|url=https://www.bengo4.com/c_23/n_5940/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220926182851/https://www.bengo4.com/c_23/n_5940/|script-title=ja:JKビジネス撲滅の流れにつながるか？ 従来より強力、東京都の規制条例を検証|language=ja|publisher=Bengo4.com, Inc.|date=9 April 2017|archive-date=26 September 2022|access-date=10 June 2023}}
In 2014, police stepped up their crackdown on girls under the age of 18, leading to a decline in the number of establishments where girls serve customers in confined spaces.
In 2017, the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly enacted a landmark ordinance specifically targeting JK business, the first in the country to do so. Previously, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, which covers Tokyo, had cracked down on JK business and arrested under 18 girls using national Labor Standards Act, Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Act, and Child Welfare Act. The new ordinance expands the scope of regulated industries beyond the amendments made to the previous Prefectural Ordinance of Juvenile Protection. The ordinance prohibits those who are under 18 from engaging in activities that arouse the sexual curiosity of opposite-sex customers, such as providing massages, allowing customers to take or view photographs of themselves, engaging in conversations with customers, serving food and beverages to customers, and going for walks with customers. However, if these acts do not arouse the customer's sexual curiosity, they are not illegal. It also prohibits advertisements that give customers the impression that under 18 girls work in the establishments, even if there are no actual under 18 employees. Violators of this ordinance face a maximum penalty of up to one year in prison or a fine of up to one million yen.
In 2018, Osaka Prefecture amended its Prefectural Ordinance of Juvenile Protection to establish regulations similar to Tokyo's regarding the protection of under 18. Offenders face a maximum penalty of up to six months' imprisonment or a fine of up to 500,000 yen. Even if the business no longer employs under 18 workers after the conviction, the authorities may issue a six-month suspension order on the operation of the business. Violation of this order may result in imprisonment for up to one year or a fine of up to 500,000 yen, and the name of the establishment will be made public.{{cite web|url=https://www.pref.osaka.lg.jp/attach/6478/00000000/2020_10.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220175902/https://www.pref.osaka.lg.jp/attach/6478/00000000/2020_10.pdf|script-title=ja:大人の責任 大阪府青少年健全育成条例|language=ja|publisher=Osaka Prefecture|archive-date=20 December 2022|access-date=10 June 2023}}
According to a survey conducted by the National Police Agency at the end of December 2022, there were 119 establishments nationwide engaged in JK business. Of these, 78 provided massage services to customers, 32 provided food and drinks, 6 allowed customers to take pictures or watch the girls, and 3 engaged in activities such as conversing, playing games, or telling fortunes with customers. 70% of the establishments conducting JK business were located in Tokyo, while 21% were located in Osaka. In Tokyo, 30% were located in Ikebukuro, 20% in Akihabara, and 10% in Shinjuku. According to the National Police Agency, however, the number of businesses announced is not the number of businesses where girls are actually serving customers, but the number of businesses that advertise that high school students and others are serving customers.{{cite web|url=https://www.npa.go.jp/bureau/safetylife/syonen/R4all-JK-chosa.pdf|script-title=ja:「ＪＫビジネス」の営業実態等の調査結果（令和4年12月末）|language=ja|publisher=National Police Agency|access-date=7 February 2024}}
In 2023, the National Police Agency issued instructions to police departments in each prefecture to intensify efforts to eradicate JK business. These instructions included thoroughly understanding the actual situation, strengthening enforcement measures, stepping up education and awareness campaigns targeting young people, and improving counseling systems for young people.{{cite web|url=https://www.npa.go.jp/laws/notification/seian/shounen/syoune_jk_20230209.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609190346/https://www.npa.go.jp/laws/notification/seian/shounen/syoune_jk_20230209.pdf|script-title=ja:「ＪＫビジネス」問題に係る対策の推進について（通達）|language=ja|publisher=National Police Agency|date=9 February 2023|archive-date=9 June 2023|access-date=10 June 2023}}{{Portal|Society|Japan|Human sexuality}}