Teens' Descent Into Prostitution Is A Growing Concern In Japan

TOKYO - Sana looked down in coy embarrassment and spoke in a shy whisper about her new way of making pocket cash: going out with middle-aged men for money.

"Brand-name designer things - girls want to buy nice dresses," the 17-year-old explained as neon lights and music blared around her in Tokyo's lively - and seedy - Shinjuku district.

Sana says she hasn't had sex with any "dates," but she is perilously close to joining a growing number of girls in Japan who have fallen into prostitution to satisfy a craving for ritzy handbags and clothes.

The growing practice of older men meeting teenage girls for "enjo kosai" - "compensated dates" - has triggered a public outcry here. Alarmed parents and authorities say the rendezvous are leading to more teenage prostitution.

In 1995, 5,481 girls aged 14 to 19 were temporarily detained by authorities for involvement in the sex industry, a 39 percent increase over the 3,946 picked up in 1993, the National Police Agency said. And experts say the problem is much greater than such statistics suggest.

The dramatic increase has prompted a crackdown on so-called "telephone clubs," where the girls chat with potential customers and sometimes arrange meetings that lead to sex. Police say increasing numbers of schoolgirls are involved in the clubs - a growing percentage of them under 15.

The trend has prompted a string of lurid television specials and news segments about the girls, who speak matter of factly about liaisons with free-spending men known as "papas."

It also has triggered some soul-searching about whether Japan's rapid rise to affluence has replaced the traditional values of home and family.

"Some people think money can solve any problem, and the tendency is becoming more obvious these days," said Hiroshi Nakamura, a counselor at Tokyo Sogo Kyoiku Center, a hotline service for troubled teens.

While the girls often are depicted as materialistic, Noriko Yamaguchi, a counselor with the Sakai Women's League, puts much of the blame on the men and society.

"These girls are being victimized," she said. "It is too easy for them to fall into prostitution. The sex industry is everywhere they look. . . . There are too many men willing to use them."

Magazines, comic books and late-night TV are full of images of teenagers, often being coaxed - or ripped - out of their short-skirted school uniforms.

Sana, for example, said she meets her dates by simply walking around Shinjuku, usually with a fellow student, in her pleated skirt and blue school sweater - a sure-fire draw for men on the prowl.

Customers approach and offer money, usually only about $18, for a date at a club or restaurant. Sana said that so far she has rejected offers of cash for something more.

Sex, of course, brings in much more money.

Junko Kobayashi, 18, said a friend met a lawyer who paid her $720 for spending the night with him - more than enough for a bottom-of-the-line, $450 Louis Vuitton bag or high-priced sunglasses favored by status-conscious high-schoolers.

Kobayashi said she hasn't done that yet because she is comfortable with the $450 a month she receives between an allowance and a part-time job. But she's not ruling out a date or two.

"If I really ran out of money, then I might consider having dinner with someone," she said.

The business has been helped by a loophole in the local criminal code - Tokyo and nearby Nagano are the only areas in Japan that have no laws specifically banning sex with a minor.

At Ombra Mai Fu, one of the telephone clubs among Shinjuku's many peep-show houses and video porn shops, the manager was upfront about the possibilities of customers arranging outside meetings.

On weekday nights, customers pay $11 for an hour in a booth at Ombra Mai Fu, where they wait for girls to call, often from cellular phones well away from watchful parents. Pornographic videos and comic books are provided to kill time.

While the growth in the teen sex industry has parents and officials upset, some girls shrug at the practice, naively believing - experts say - that they could control a "date" with an older man.