Teenagers have banded together to escape abuse and neglect but find themselves drawn toward drugs and sex work — with pitifully little support available for the most vulnerable.
Suzuka and Nipa have adopted the all-black attire that is the unofficial uniform of the Toyoko Kids, the Japanese capital’s tribe of young runaways.
Nipa arrived in the Kabukicho red-light district of Tokyo in January and was quickly taken in by the group. Suzuka arrived in April.
Like most of the girls in this loose-knit clan of a couple of hundred teens and 20-somethings, they have turned to sex work to get by.
Otherwise, they sleep on the streets or at friends’ apartments.
When the weather is too bad, they club together to share a cheap hotel for the night.
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It’s stories like this that break my heart. I mean good on the kids for banding together, but it sucks they need to in the first place.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Suzuka and Nipa have adopted the all-black attire that is the unofficial uniform of the Toyoko Kids, the Japanese capital’s tribe of young runaways.
In a raid on the Toyoko Kids hangouts in December last year, police rounded up 29 minors, with several found possessing multiple types of non-prescription medicines, authorities told local media.
The police have attempted a couple of halfhearted interventions, he said, and in 2021 arrested the unofficial leader of the group, who went by the name Haoru, after six people tortured and killed a homeless man.
Gen blames the problems of Kabukicho — which are beginning to emerge on the streets of other nightlife districts around the country, such as Susukino in Sapporo and Minami in Osaka — on the dramatic changes that have taken place in Japanese society in the past decade.
More people have financial problems, there are lots of single mothers struggling to get by, young kids are immersed in their mobile phones and the online world."
Uni — the name he has adopted means “sea urchin” — arrived in Kabukicho 18 months ago after seeing videos of the Toyoko Kids on TikTok.
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