Shintaro Ishihara, better known for his nationalist views than any puritanical bent, has declared war on Kabukicho, promising to rid it of crime and sleaze. Without that, there would not be much of the area left.

To further his aim he has appointed a deputy, Yutaka Takehana, a former police chief who won fame for ridding Hiroshima of bothersome motorcycle gangs. Perched high above Kabukicho in the Gotham City-like tower that serves as the Tokyo government's headquarters, Mr Takehana says: "This is symbolic. Winning in Kabukicho is important for regaining law and order in the whole of Tokyo."

...Mr Takehana denies that foreigners are being targeted, although he does say he is worried about the flourishing business being done by Chinese housebreakers. "For Chinese organised crime, Kabukicho is like hitting the jackpot," he says.

Adopting a moralistic tone that is unusual in Japan, he says the primary motivation for the Kabukicho crackdown is to snuff out crime in general and sleaze in particular. "I can't support ugly things, especially things related to sex," he says. "I can't accept that kind of perverted culture."

"I can't support ugly things, especially things related to sex," he says. "I can't accept that kind of perverted culture."

dingosatemybaby wrote:And speaking of cleaning up Shinjuku, what's the status of the investigation of that fire that happened there almost exactly three years ago?

From my analysis of the reasons for the recent deterioration of public safety, I decided on three pillars for tackling the situation: measures to counter organized crime by foreigners, measures to counter juvenile crime, and the building of secure and safe communities...My basic concept was to build a large united front to deter crime consisting of the police, the immigration authorities, ward offices, schools, and as many citizens as possible.
...Our anticrime measures are an attempt to strengthen existing crime deterrence systems and at the same time building many new ones...Japan's safety has been protected through this deterrence of crime by means of the police force and the threat of punishment...Recently, however, this system has not been functioning properly. There are two reasons for this. First, there is the appearance of organized crime by foreigners. These people are not afraid of the Japanese police. The existing setup does not possess sufficient power to deter them from crime. Second, there has been an expansion of lawlessness in Japan. The loosening of standards since the collapse of the bubble economy has led to a marked increase of not only heinous crimes but also petty crimes, such as bicycle theft and property damage.
...I would like you to emphasize, however, that...Japan is one of the few countries in the world that has managed to control narcotics and guns. This is the reason why...Japan can still be described as having the best public safety compared with other countries.
Measures to "build a deterrence force among the citizens"].
...[1] There are voluntary efforts like crime-prevention patrols by neighborhood associations and volunteer groups;
...[2] The mayors of special wards, cities, towns, and villages in Tokyo have begun tackling anticrime measures almost in competition with one another.
...[3] Previously schools hardly ever touched on the problem of crime. This is one reason why children did not cultivate the strength to become neither the perpetrators nor the victims of crime. Now all elementary, junior high, and senior high schools, in cooperation with the police and parents, are endeavoring to improve education to foster the strength to deal with crime.
...[4] In the case of shoplifting, the criminal judicature cannot be relied on. In cooperation with the police and schools, especially when it is children who have committed the crime, victims have begun efforts to make the culprits reflect deeply on their deeds. And in the case of molesting on trains, efforts are being made to make the railway companies more aware of their responsibilities, and studies are being conducted to establish a new setup that makes it easier for victims to fight back.
...[5] Efforts by adults to deter juvenile crime are being strengthened. In Tokyo, we have been making efforts since this July to tighten controls on pornography...Also, we are making efforts to build a network of the Oyaji no Kai (Associations of Dads) to encourage fathers to participate more in child raising.
...[6] Even more thorough measures than before are being adopted to counter illegal sex businesses and the organized groups of gangsters behind these businesses with the aim of bringing renewal to such districts as Kabuki-cho in Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Shibuya and Roppongi.
...[7] The problem of illegal residents cannot be solved through the strength of the Immigration Bureau alone. Since January of last year a mechanism has been established by which Tokyo and the Metropolitan Police Department cooperate so that would-be illegal residents do not enter the country or are quickly deported, as well as a cooperative system by which they share information and assist each other. This setup is becoming the driving force for solving the problem of illegal residents.

Five people, including a senior member of a group affiliated with the Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate, have been arrested on suspicion of aiding illegal gambling in Kabukicho, Shinjuku, police sources said Wednesday. One of the five arrested was Norio Aotsuka, 56, the five served as bouncers at Alpine, a foreigners-only casino in the Kabukicho entertainment district between March 2003 to June this year, removing drunk customers from the casino and solving other problems.
Police searched the casino in June on suspicion of illegal gambling and arrested 80 staffers and customers. Guarding the illegal casino was considered aiding illegal gambling, the sources said.

Mulboyne wrote:Foreigners-only casino? Japanese punters are not allowed in? Somehow, I doubt that. Since it is in Kabukicho, it could easily be primarily for Chinese or Koreans but Japanese nationals go in those casinos regularly

The government will map out a strategy to crack down on organized crime syndicates and international criminal organizations in entertainment quarters across the country, including the Kabukicho district in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, government sources said Monday.

The Justice Ministry, Construction and Transport Ministry and the National Police Agency will incorporate district redevelopment projects and patrols by store owners in measures by police and immigration authorities to maintain law and order, the sources said.

A cross-ministry anticrime task force will be formed at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the sources said.

The team will establish counseling windows for foreign women forced to work in the sex industry and devise services and an action plan to prevent entertainment quarters from turning into slums, the sources said.

In May, police and immigration officers began an intensive crackdown in the Kabukicho district, regarded as a breeding ground for organized crime, and released a Kabukicho cleanup plan that included a redevelopment project.

In addition to the Kabukicho area, the new plan will likely target Susukino in Sapporo, Sakae in Nagoya, Minami in Osaka and Nakasu in Fukuoka, the sources said.

After the bubble economy burst, illegal sex parlors moved into tenant buildings in the entertainment districts. In some quarters, pimps were reported to have used heavy-handed tactics to force people into sex parlors.

Because many illegal overstayers work in the entertainment districts, their networks act as a magnet for foreign nationals smuggled into the country by crime syndicates.

Many of the overstayers are suspected of illegally selling stimulants and narcotic drugs.

Police and immigration authorities have jointly cracked down on overstayers and sex parlors over the last two or three years, but criminal organizations transformed sex parlors into restaurants or left town for a while to escape the crackdown, resulting in little long-term change in the entertainment districts.

The reluctance of ordinary people to live near the areas has left multitenant buildings open to organized crime syndicates as offices and hideouts.

In addition to measures to maintain law and order, the new plan will also develop a framework to support anticrime activities by store owners, the sources said.

Police and immigration authorities plan to make the districts safer by creating a commercial environment capable of attracting a broader range of people, the sources said.

In concrete terms, authorities will step up their efforts to crack down on organized crime and illegal sex parlors, the sources said.

Operators of theaters and cinemas will be encouraged to maintain facilities where families can safely enjoy watching plays and movies, the sources said.

A security guard at a condominium complex in Kabukicho, Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, reported hearing shots fired at about 9:05 p.m. Sunday, police said.

Police found three bullet marks in the wall inside the first floor entrance of the building and three shell cases nearby.

No one was injured.

An organized crime group is believed to have an office in the complex. Police are investigating the incident.

The complex is about 500 meters north of JR Shinjuku Station, in a block of condominiums and multiple-tenant buildings close to the Kabukicho entertainment district.

TOKYO : Tokyo's red light district needs an image overhaul.

So say the authorities in the Japanese capital who are now attempting a major clean up.

Just a few minutes walk to the eastern side of Tokyo's main train station is the Japanese capital's entertainment hub and one of the world's busiest.

Around 400,000 people work or pass through the area everyday.

The 600 square metre space in Shinjuku is called Kabukicho.

There are movie theatres, game centres, restaurants, pubs - all kinds of businesses which makes it a perfect amusement centre.

Well, it just seems like it; many businesses in the area are illegal....the rest...

Streetside touts will be banned from lurking in public trying to lure customers in 135 districts throughout Tokyo, according to Public Safety Commission officials. The ban targets entertainment areas such as Shinjuku's Kabukicho, Ikebukuro and Roppongi. Banning touts is just one of many stringent measures that will come into effect in April with revisions to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's public nuisance ordinance.

Humiliated by international criticism of its commerce in girls and women, Japan last year began to clamp down on human trafficking. Yet the tougher laws that are expected to pass next month face huge obstacles. Japan must reorient a slow-moving bureaucracy, overcome widespread social acceptance of sex for hire and take on the powerful sex industry and the criminal groups that control it.

[...]

Thousands of [women], desperate to earn money for their families, slip into Japan on short-term visas or with falsified passports. Told that they have to pay off debts of sometimes 5 million yen ($47,600), they're held captive, beaten and controlled by threats to their families at home, anti-trafficking groups say.

[...]

Until now, police dealt with the problem by arresting the victims as illegal aliens, jailing and deporting them as soon as they presented enough money for airfare home.

[...]

"The Japanese are the coldest people, without any heart, that can possibly exist in the world," wrote one girl, who arrived at age 16, in a statement after she fled to the Colombian Consulate. "Besides the mafia who own us, on the streets they treat us as criminals and beat me when I don't earn enough money. They force us to do horrible, repulsive things, and often the police come in, showing their badge and force us to service them for free."

[...]

To have an impact, authorities will have to tackle the most difficult problem of all: challenging the Japanese yakuza and their foreign partners who profit from the trafficking.

"If the Japanese want to do something," one victim wrote in a statement at the Colombian Consulate, "they have to first get rid of the mobsters." Arresting the victims will do nothing because "Colombians will just continue coming in, like flowers, in huge numbers at all the airports."

(Full Story)

The Ministerial Meeting Concerning Measures Against Crime, in which all Cabinet ministers participate

The government has released a plan Tuesday to convert buildings occupied by sex trade shops and crime syndicates into budget hotel

The government has released a plan Tuesday to convert buildings occupied by sex trade shops and crime syndicates into budget hotels and offices in an effort to improve the condition of urban entertainment districts.

Mulboyne wrote:[url=http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=kuchikomi&id=358]Shukan Bunshun via JapanToday: The great Kabukicho cleanup having many repercussions (all varieties of the so-called 'ejaculation business')

Junichiro wrote:On Tuesday, June 28, there was a meeting at my office that brought together the people concerned with crime prevention measures and those responsible for urban renaissance to discuss the promotion of building a safe and reassuring community.

Ms. Hiroko Nakayama, the Mayor of Shinjuku Ward, is spearheading the efforts for revitalizing the Kabukicho district in Shinjuku into a safe and enjoyable area. From what she told me, I can clearly see how the residents and storeowners in the shopping district have risen to the challenge of transforming their neighborhood into a place with charm by cooperating with the administrative bodies and the police force, as well as the immigration authorities, who deal with foreigners illegally staying in Japan.

I think the experience of Kabukicho can be harnessed for other districts as well. I hope we will see similar movements take hold nationwide, in places like Susukino in Sapporo City, Sakae in Nagoya City, Minami in Osaka City, Nagarekawa and Yagenbori in Hiroshima City and Nakasu in Fukuoka City.

Some people might point out that even if we make Kabukicho safe, crime will simply move to neighboring districts or towns. It is like in the arcade game Whack-A-Mole: even if you whack one mole that pops out, another will immediately appear out of a neighboring hole. I, however, would disagree. If we work together and continue to whack the moles all over Japan, we can make strides in building communities in which the elderly and the young alike can live safely and happily.

Mulboyne wrote:
Koizumi Email Magazine

Junichiro wrote:On Tuesday, June 28, there was a meeting at my office that brought together the people concerned with crime prevention measures and those responsible for urban renaissance to discuss the promotion of building a safe and reassuring community.

Ms. Hiroko Nakayama, the Mayor of Shinjuku Ward, is spearheading the efforts for revitalizing the Kabukicho district in Shinjuku into a safe and enjoyable area. From what she told me, I can clearly see how the residents and storeowners in the shopping district have risen to the challenge of transforming their neighborhood into a place with charm by cooperating with the administrative bodies and the police force, as well as the immigration authorities, who deal with foreigners illegally staying in Japan.

I think the experience of Kabukicho can be harnessed for other districts as well. I hope we will see similar movements take hold nationwide, in places like Susukino in Sapporo City, Sakae in Nagoya City, Minami in Osaka City, Nagarekawa and Yagenbori in Hiroshima City and Nakasu in Fukuoka City.

Some people might point out that even if we make Kabukicho safe, crime will simply move to neighboring districts or towns. It is like in the arcade game Whack-A-Mole: even if you whack one mole that pops out, another will immediately appear out of a neighboring hole. I, however, would disagree. If we work together and continue to whack the moles all over Japan, we can make strides in building communities in which the elderly and the young alike can live safely and happily.

Mulboyne wrote:Asahi: Landlords pressed to evict sex businesses
Tokyo police plan to clear Kabukicho and other sleazy entertainment areas of illegal massage parlors by punishing landlords who continue to rent rooms to operators of such businesses