Schoolgirls are taken from a cafe in Ikebukuro on Wednesday.

Police raid 'blind-date cafe' in Tokyo, taking 31 high school, college girls into custody

Friday 30th May, 01:02 AM JST

TOKYO —

Police on Wednesday raided a so-called “blind-date cafe” in Ikebukuro for violation of a law related to the operation of “date clubs.” Thirty-one high school and college girls were taken into custody, police said, adding this was the first investigation into the activities of such cafes.

The cafes, where men and women meet each other at random and hang out afterward, are a new type of date club. However, police said that blind-date cafes have become venues for prostitution by minors.

According to police, there are more than 100 blind-date cafes operating nationwide where men pay women to meet them, usually arranged on the Internet. A loophole in the Child Welfare Law prevents police from arresting the owners of the cafes because they argue they are just providing a place for people to meet up.

Latest 15 of 79 Total Comments Show All

Blue_Tiger at 08:46 AM JST - 30th May

medievaltimes - it has to be the cute-looking skirts for their uniforms and the hiked up hems. This theme is stressed more often than anything else in J-Manga....
Alphaape at 09:50 AM JST - 30th May

medievaltimes when I used to walk the alley ways of Hinodecho in Yokohama a few years ago, I would see many Chinese/Thai women dressed in the high-school girl uniform, they all ways seemed to have customers. I guess it is just something in the psyche of Japanese males that go for this look, maybe thinking that they can show their manlyness and worldliness to someone who doesn't know much about those things, and they can probably feel a bit better about themselves and feel like they are bigger than they really are before they go back to the life as a salryman or small time cog in the big game.

Me, I prefer the older ones, that have been around a bit, but know what the game is and how to carry themself.
GW at 10:10 AM JST - 30th May

williamsmith

you must either be a new arrival or not in Jpn, the poster who refered to

birth machines

is taking the term that a twit J-politician used in the last year or so, anyone here in Jpn wud instantly know that, it was HUGE NEWS, so now you know too, yr welcome.

now for some old reminicing, back in the early 90s when I 1st washed up on these shores & started dating I remember asking the ladies what time they needed to be home so daddy wudnt hit the roof, I asked this twice & never again because both ladies laughed in fact howled with laughter wud be more like it. They said their fathers didnt give a damn when or if they came home at night, bottom line is this MOST parents just want their daughter raised & married quick as possible, get`em out the door, its the sons they put any parenting efforts into(although that often aint much either) & it boils down to one word most of the time STUDY.
DenshaDeGO at 10:24 AM JST - 30th May

Why do so many Japanese men like high school girls???

Because most college girls have already been around the block with everyone about a million times and most OLs are either completely unappealing dorks or total party-by-night harlots.
bushlover at 11:04 AM JST - 30th May

I didn't read that any were actually charged for prostitution. the middle paragraph says have become venues for prostitution by minors. But not that any were actually charged with offering their services. They have just met. I bet it happens a lot less than what people think. Not all the girls there could be guilty of trying to make a fast buck but maybe some do. that will be hard to prove. I'd suggest they tell the owner to restrict HS girls from going into them. ID should be required. The cafe is doing nothing wrong. What people do on their own time is when a potential crime happens. This reeks of scare tactic but hope it works with the HS girls.
thebottomline at 12:35 PM JST - 30th May

Where exactly is this place?
smithinjapan at 03:26 PM JST - 30th May

GW: while I applaud your putting williamsmith in place (as have others here), I think the rest of your post...

"...bottom line is this MOST parents just want their daughter raised & married quick as possible, get`em out the door, its the sons they put any parenting efforts into(although that often aint much either) & it boils down to one word most of the time STUDY."

...is a completely bogus and subjective comment on the society (shame, for someone having washed up so long ago). It's not correct at all. I too washed up here in the 90s and have met and dated plenty of females whose parents cared for them dearly. True, I have met those whose parents DIDN'T (seem to) care as well, but I don't think that was restricted to the child's being of the 'fairer sex' so much as it was simply bad parenting.
KaptainKichigai at 10:20 PM JST - 30th May

Well, the issue is bad parenting. Obviously the ones from functional and caring families wouldnt end up in a date cafe prostituting themselves. There seems to be no accountability for parents in Japan. People have kids as if they were a pet or a fashion. I am sure that is true to some degree the world over, but in more self policing cultures, the parents are held accountable, if not by the law, at least by the neighborhood or their peers.
vultor at 05:07 AM JST - 31st May

Got parents?
keshii at 05:44 PM JST - 31st May

No one seems to have mentioned this yet, but I think it's possible that the parents don't expect the girls home for completely justifiable reasons - club activities and school meetings very often go on late into the night. Countless times I have seen the lights on and students working in the floors of our local high school as late as 10 at night. Then, after class, a lot of students go out and get dinner - since it is rather late - and catch the late trains home, and home can be as far as 2 1/2 hours away (I have one particular friend in my college who commutes for 4 1/2 hours every day).

Ultimately, it depends on the parents and the distance of the school from the home, of course, but I wouldn't be so quick to condemn the Japanese mothers. A lot of them are just trying their best (and may honestly be led to believe that their daughters are studying manically, as the case may be).
KaptainKichigai at 12:36 AM JST - 1st June

Well, Keshii, there is always the exception. But parents can never be held unaccountable if their kids are minors.
OhioDonna at 05:33 AM JST - 1st June

The girl in front seems to be in her school uniform?! That out fit is just like the ones I see the local parochial school girls wearing. The skirts may be a little longer on the ones I have observed, unless they decid to roll the waistband to make it shorter.
SiouxGirl at 06:52 AM JST - 3rd June

Sex means nothing. Even a handshake means more. What is self-respect? Most will give you a blank look if you ask them. Anyone ever heard of STDs? The thing is, none of this is going to get better any time soon. Meaning has been erased from the most intimate moment you can have with another person. I don't know if it'll come back in our lifetimes, so hang onto your socks, people.
prince36 at 10:52 AM JST - 3rd June

BRAVO OMARI-SAN, LOCK THEM UP AND CLEAN THE STREETS OF THE REST.
kagunlapell at 03:49 PM JST - 3rd June

mmmm...in most countries the 'age of consent' is 13 to 16, that means that above that age, anybody can have sex with whoever one likes, and below that age is consider 'sexual abuse' by default. In my country, it's 13 and the only thing to be taken into consideration is there has been any kind of 'trick' to deceive below 16. Above this age, unless there has be violence, nothing can be said, unless parents complain. Another thing is if there is money in between, then the legal age for prostitution is 18. Pimps are illegal. Btw, my country is in the EU. The consent age in the Vatican is 12.