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Japanese cops in draconian crackdown on Kabukicho
November 14, 2004
Touts simply being on the streets, gangsters walking in groups and those
handing out pamphlets advertising sex services will be banned and offenders
possibly jailed under draconian new restrictions police want to impose to clean
up Tokyo's entertainment districts, the Mainichi learned Saturday.
Metropolitan Police Department proposals for revisions to the Tokyo
Metropolitan Government's public nuisance ordinance will target sidewalk touts
for adult services commonly found in entertainment districts such as
Shinjuku-ku's Kabukicho.
Outraged experts have slammed the proposals, accusing the police of trying to
overextend their powers and of "acting beyond the scope of a law-based
society."
"New York successfully reduced crime by increasing the number of police
officers on the beat. It's very difficult to increase the number of officers in
Tokyo, so there's nothing strange about trying to fight crime through stricter
regulations. However, there is a danger that this may lead to a closely
monitored society, so the validity of any regulations should be given a time
limit," said journalist Yoshiko Sakurai.
Under the Law Regulating Adult Entertainment Businesses, it is illegal for
touts to try and draw in customers for businesses offering sexual services.
However, the law applies only to the services and touts have been able to
exploit this loophole by claiming that they are not employees of the sex
business, but merely drumming up customers on its behalf.
Proposed MPD revisions would close off this gap in the law by making it illegal
for anybody to try and attract customers. In addition, adult businesses would
be banned from handing out pamphlets advertising their business. Police also
want to outlaw touts from simply waiting on sidewalks to catch passers-by and
entice them into using an adult business.
Tokyo's existing ordinance forbids the distribution of pamphlets advertising
sex services, but it is difficult to actually prosecute those who do hand them
out. Police want to change the ordinance so that it forbids anybody from
carrying paraphernalia advertising sexual services for the purpose of
displaying or distributing them. Businesses listed on the materials would also
be subject to police raids.
To combat the yakuza, police also want to make it illegal for groups of people
openly displaying membership of an underworld syndicate to gather together in
public, saying that they cause society anxiety.
Police are expected to seek to create heavy penalties for offenders, including
prison terms with hard labor and fines.
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