Surreptitiously groping women on the subway is a common pastime, and female commuters sometimes find fresh semen stains on the backs of their coats after arriving at work or home. Popular how-to books are available on the topic, and most subway stations are plastered with anti-groping posters showing a schoolgirl holding a sign reading "NO," with silhouettes of male riders behind her. Though it's rare to see vandalism of any kind in Tokyo, these signs are frequently and literally defaced, the girl's head torn from the poster with a most un-Japanese lack of precision. Thousands of people in the train stations see these headless girls every day.

SUPPORT DATING

Once out of the subway at Shibuya or Shinjuku, great herds of fabric and flesh jostle one another into snaking, sidewalk-less avenues that are just as packed as the trains. Towers of neon advertising in English and kanji stretch up and crowd in, creating a buzzing electric patchwork of sex, technology and consumerist overload. This is Blade Runner's L.A. come to life, where little shops in-between the giant department stores are just as likely to offer uncooked blowfish as they are an underage blow job. Maybe both. High school girls wearing the generic uniform of short plaid skirt and leggings are often asked if they anko, a contraction of two words that translates into a request for a "support date." If the girl says yes, she'll hold up a number of fingers or suggest a clothing store to indicate how much her companionship will cost. Support dates are a thinly disguised prostitution in which young women give anything from a flash of tit to anal sex in exchange for shopping, dinner or gifts of cash.

"Sometimes I'll just ask random high school girls how much they're offering themselves for," said one Tokyo player. "They almost always give me a price. They need to buy clothes, to look fashionable: Prada, Gucci, Chanel. A high school girl can't afford that shit without getting extra money."

next

01 á 02 á 03 á 04 á 05 á 06 á 07 á 08 á 09