On May 25, a 17-year-old Japanese boy, who we’ll call “Taro,” was on the streets of Fukuoka’s Hakata Ward. Not unusually for a guy his age, he was scanning the crowds for attractive young women, but he wasn’t looking for a date.
Instead Taro was looking for women to recruit into the fuzoku, or adult entertainment, industry. The fuzoku trade covers a wide range of jobs, ranging from hostess bar work to sensual massage and non-penetrative sexual services.
Though of murky legality, this kind of on-the-street recruiting isn’t unheard of in Japan’s bar districts, and Taro felt the current economic climate would make it an especially effective strategy. “There are women who are short on cash because of the coronavirus,” he was later quoted as saying “so I figured I’d do her a favor and offer her work in a fuzoku business or adult videos.” And that was pretty much his whole pitch when he walked up to a woman who was passing by and, unsolicited, said to her “My company handles everything from hostess bars to adult videos. How about working for us?”
Unfortunately for Taro, he’d made a terrible choice of who to try to recruit. Not because there’s any evidence that the woman was unattractive, but because she turned out to be a plainclothes police officer who was patrolling the neighborhood. And with that, the teenager was immediately placed under arrest on charges of violating Fukuoka’s prefectural nuisance prevention regulations.
It’s unclear if the exact nature of the offense is the job offer itself, the fact that it was being delivered by a minor, or some combination of the two. In any case, it seems like the teen, who is listed in reports as “unemployed,” implying he’s not enrolled in school (compulsory education in Japan stops after junior high), is going to have to look for a new source of income himself (possibly while cursing his luck that he couldn’t have accidentally approached this policewoman instead).
Following the lifting of the government-declared state of emergency in Fukuoka, police have been receiving an increasing number of complaints about fuzoku scouts operating in the city’s downtown area, and it’s likely charges will also be coming for Taro’s employers, if their identity can be determined.
*Sources: Livedoor News/Kyodo via Jin, *Nishi Nippon Shimbun
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- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2020/05/31/japanese-teen-boy-picks-worst-woman-to-randomly-ask-if-she-wants-to-make-an-adult-video/
42 Comments
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Zaphod
Marie:
I know a girl who financed her university education with working as an escort part-time. You want to give her a morality lecture?
commanteer
Some women do it for fun and extra money. There is a whole range of reasons and situations. Using human trafficking as a reason to condemn all prostitution is like using rape to condemn all sex. Depending on the definition, several First Ladies in the USA, countless movie stars, and several princesses have been prostitutes.
lostrune2
Some women think it's just a body
Ah_so
Or you just want to see a picture of a pretty girl
commanteer
That's kind of defeating the purpose.
shogun36
Arrest the punk. Get him out of here. Or don’t. It doesn’t matter.
What does matter is,
that we need here some pictures of said undercover officer. So that if we see her in the streets, we can shake her hand and thank her for her wonderful service to the community.
WilliB
Maria:
Where somebody is "forced" into anything I am of course very much against that. My comment was of course about normal prostitution, which is not forced. And, as I pointed out, as old as humanity, and even found among animals.
What? I am scratching my head what that word soup is supposed to mean.
Maria
@commanteer -
Yes, dear. Yes I am.
commanteer
Women choose to sell sex. And yet you are blaming the men?
Maria
jijiXx and WilliB:
It is interesting to me that you have nothing to say about kuripisu's comment.
And by interesting I mean, reeking of misogyny.
Women and girls are forced - often literally, by men - into sex work. A range of other factors never include the thought of diamonds. Really, what an ignorant comment that was...
Men choose to pay for sex. And yet you are blaming the women.
Nice bit of whataboutery by the way, and irrelevant.
Ah_so
This sounds a bit "incel" to me and rather creepy. Women do not intentionally make sex a rare commodity - they just are not as free with it as some men want.
commanteer
I was at a family restaurant with a friend who had young guys like this working for him one night. Two gorgeous women walked by to pay and leave. As they walked out, I remarked that I should have said something to them. He agreed. Then he told his two guys to go get them. About 5 -1 0 minutes later, sure enough they came back with the girls in tow. I was impressed - the guy had outsourced his nampa!
WilliB
Maria:
Are you complaining about something as old as humanity (and even existing in other species)? By the way, there are also male gigolos and host bars, so it is not strictly one direction.
moonbloom
It's the bread and butter money-maker for a certain group of people (in this country and elsewhere).
jiji Xx
it's by far, not solely a hetero thing, so it's not really just about men's attitudes to women....
Maria
The number of men who see women and girls as a commodity, and are willing to pay for sex, is mind boggling.
Brian Wheway
The upside to this is the police did receive complaints, and the police are doing something about it. in the uk hardly, if anyone would complain as we know the police are not bothered and are understaffed, so criminal have a free rein.
Andrew Crisp
Wasn't there a bunch of females police caught working the Adult Entertainment Industry in the last 12 months - from memory one of these women was dobbed into her boss by her boyfriend who discovered she was working a day and night job.
kurisupisu
The number of young women willing to sell themselves is mind boggling!
Artemis Rogers
I was pretty offended the first times I saw this happened. One time I almost intervened, and believe me, I have intervened in many incidents in my life. But after I time I realized this is a symptom of a larger problem. And I also realized there is no spirit to fight that larger problem but only to obfuscate that problem for personal gain on all sides or a nearly religious belief that society has everything right and only the scouters are wrong. Its like fighting the wind. I would like to fix society but you can't do it alone.
YeahRight
As a male, I feel I am being discriminated against. No one seems to want to scout me out.
Boy Next Door
Poor Taro could have said it was FAKE casting.
Zaphod
Do the hustle
What scam? Lots of businesses, from legit to shady, need young females for work. Most are not interested, some are. Keep in mind that many successful TV talentos and girl group members where first scouted somewhere. "Scalping" is the resale of tickets, which is a completely different activity.
Do the hustle
These scalpers get paid handsomely for recruiting girls. I knew young guys that were making ¥150-200,000 a week from this scam.
Zaphod
Tokyo-m
Absolutely. Places like Shibuya and Shinjuku are crawling with scouts.
Well, what should they do? Talking to strangers on the street is not illegal. Should it be?
sensei258
Non penetrative?
sensei258
The fuzoku trade covers a wide range of jobs, ranging from hostess bar work to sensual massage and non-penetrative sexual services
Artemis Rogers
Actually this sort of recruitment is common and I have seen it many times in Tokyo just from the handful of times I have visited the place.
Prostitution and pornography are a direct result of women intentionally making sex a rare commodity. Both will continue to exist until women stop treating sex like De Beers treats diamonds.
Mocheake
Your average everyday thing there, really, but actually, he could have picked worse. Imagine him talking to Haruna Ai or someone like that and then finding out later, the horrible mistake he had made. That might have been a better story! Crying Game 2020.
Zaphod
kohakuebisu
Why not? At 17 he can do part time work.
Zaphod
Toshihiro
What? Sex does not happen in real life?
Maria
Was the boy hired by someone? Arrest them.
kohakuebisu
Shady elements do recruit women for the sex trade, but I doubt they use 17 year olds. I bet their pitch is a bit more sophisticated and less direct than this. I'd imagine it often softens the women up with offers to do modelling or "glamour" photography.
moonbloom
He is easily replaceable (and as indicated in the article has probably already been).
These criminal-syndicate industries will continue to flourish, and sexual crimes triggered by images in certain types of videos will also continue to take place.
Mirai Hayashi
This is the same ugly rhetoric that Takeshi Okamura (of comedy duo 99) made a month ago. No doubt that this child got this stupid idea for his "business" from watching too much TV.
Speed
Sounds like he's employed to me!
Toshihiro
I guess the boy thought the stuff that goes on in AV videos are not scripted and actually happen in real life.
Hokkaidoboy
Ouch!, that is bad luck. Although, now seriously, police should look into those who are using this boy for these issues.