Crime & Courts

35 Women Arrested on Prostitution Charges in Tokyo’s Kabukicho District

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
The Metropolitan Police Department in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:04 JST, October 6, 2023

35 Japanese women aged 21 to 46 were arrested recently on suspicion of violating the Anti-Prostitution Law, soliciting possible customers last month around Shinjuku Municipal Okubo Park in the Kabukicho district of Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, according to police.

Th Metropolitan Police Department said that about 70% of the women were in their 20s. About 40% of them solicited because they wanted to earn money to spend at host clubs, where men serve women, or on other entertainment.

According to police, many of the women were poor. Four of them requested welfare assistance after their arrests.

In recent years, women have often been seen soliciting for prostitution around the park in evenings. Police have been cracking down on the area, concerned it could become unsafe or problems could occur. 80 women were arrested on suspicion of soliciting for prostitution in the area from January to September this year.