Young women wait for customers in the cold weather in front of JK cafes.
The girls are all wearing high school uniforms. They earn about 8 USD per hour for chatting and serving food and drinks to men twice their age at `Joshi-kosei` or `JK
`The majority of guests are between the ages of 30 and 50,` said 18-year-old Honoka.
Eli, 16 years old, said these guests always ask to go on dates with them.
Dark side
While cafes like where Eli and Honoka work strictly prohibit dating or meeting customers outside of work hours, other `JKs` are not quite like that.
According to CNN, there are clandestine establishments that offer massage services to female students, sell their uniforms or even supposedly used underwear.
`Once you’re even one step out of the store, you can do whatever you want,` said one activist.
In its latest report on human trafficking, the US State Department warns that `sophisticated and organized prostitution networks target vulnerable Japanese women and girls`.
Young girls wearing school uniforms with short skirts welcome guests in JK.
Shihoko Fujiwara, director of Lighthouse, a support center for victims of human trafficking, said feelings of shame and frequent blame in Japanese culture keep many girls from speaking out about their plight.
Child pornography
The issue of child sexuality is often avoided in Japan.
Activists have criticized the bill for excluding anime and manga – Japanese cartoons and comics, which contain child sexual abuse that industry representatives justify
`Rich and rich cultures are often created from things that are not accepted by everyone. We need to allow this industry to exist as a bad but necessary thing,` Hiroshi Chiba,
In a manga store in Tokyo, in an area with a `no children allowed` sign, the books are filled with images of female characters wearing uniforms, hairpins, and innocent expressions while engaging in sexual acts
While authorities have not come to any conclusions showing a link between anime and manga and child sexual abuse, according to the 2014 White Paper published by the National Police Agency (NPA), the number of victims
According to NPA, in 2013, more than 6,400 children were victims of sexual crimes, of which more than 1,640 cases were pornography and more than 700 cases were prostitution.
85% of child pornography cases are related to the Internet.
Pictures of female flight attendants are hung all over the inside of JK.
In October, anti-child pornography organizations and activists called on the government to do more to protect young victims and pursue those who produce and consume child pornography.
In a complaint signed by many leading NGOs, including the Lighthouse Center, they said: `It cannot be denied that Japan remains very tolerant towards sexually explicit films.
The petition calls for a review of the law and a ban on JK’s business practices, which include massage services and dating with minors.
Meanwhile, male customers at JK shops in Tokyo said they did not see any problems with this form of business.
He’s not sure he would feel comfortable if his 12-year-old daughter worked at a JK cafe, though he insists there’s nothing inappropriate about it.
Another man, about 30 years old, said he used to manage a similar JK and often went to these cafes every week because `it was quite fun`.
