In the center of Kabukicho, Tokyo, junior high school students and high school students who say "I don't have a place to stay" gather, and some minors live in cheap hotels in the surrounding area.


In some cases, the Metropolitan Police Department is trying to clarify the actual situation, but some say that fundamental measures are needed.

About three years ago, junior high school students and high school students began to hang out in a place called "Toyoko" around a large commercial building in the center of Kabukicho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo. Is called.



According to the investigators, it is estimated that there are more than 100 people in total, and there are minors who come from all over the country as well as the Kanto area through SNS and live while sleeping at cheap hotels and internet cafes in the vicinity. That is.



Smoking, drinking, and dating have been confirmed, and the Metropolitan Police Department conducted a patrol by about 100 police officers at midnight at the beginning of this month, and guided 17 people including junior high school students and high school students.



There were a series of incidents and troubles in the area, and last month a man in his 40s was beaten to death by a group of two 18-year-old boys on the roof of a multi-tenant building.



In addition, there were many crimes aimed at children gathering, and in October, a 21-year-old suspect was arrested for taking an obscene act on a 16-year-old high school girl.



There are many cases of being involved in drug cases and sex crimes.



According to the people concerned, there are many junior high school and high school students who say that they have no place to stay at school or at home.

"To Yoko Kids" The real face is

At midnight in the middle of this month, we talked to a group of minors gathered in Kabukicho, Tokyo.



A junior high school boy who came from Tokyo said, "I don't want to go home," partly because of the violence from my parents, and showed me a wound on my arm that it was when I was beaten.



He came to Kabukicho in search of a place to stay, but he was also injured in trouble.



A junior high school boy said, "This place is like a'children's house', and people with similar circumstances are gathering. I think it's unsafe, but I think it's better than returning to my hometown." I was talking.



In addition, a 15-year-old girl who left home at the invitation of a friend and came to Kabukicho in July confessed that she was staying in a cheap hotel room in large numbers and living in a hurry.



The girl meets a man she met on SNS to earn a living, and has a sexual relationship and receives 5,000 to 7,000 yen.



About 20 messages from strangers were sent to my smartphone.



The girl said, "I'm wondering what to do because the price of the hotel is rising and there is no place to stay. I feel that it is being used by adults, but I don't think I can return to my original life."

Successive troubles and incidents The Metropolitan Police Department strengthens countermeasures

In Kabukicho, there are a series of troubles and incidents related to junior high school and high school students called "Toyoko Kids".



Last month, a man in his 40s was assaulted by a group of two boys and died, and in May, a teenage man and woman who allegedly took the drug jumped from the building and died.



In addition, it has been confirmed that minors are invited by fraudulent groups or involved in sex crimes, and the Metropolitan Police Department is proceeding with understanding the actual situation.



Earlier this month, the Metropolitan Police Department mobilized about 100 police officers in plain clothes to conduct a large-scale patrol and guided 17 people, including junior high school and high school students.

NPO representative "need to think about countermeasures for society as a whole"

Since May, the NPO "Pappus", which is working on issues such as sexual damage to young people, has been conducting activities such as looking around Kabukicho at night and calling out using SNS.



However, it is difficult to talk with the children carefully, and it is often difficult to get in touch with them even if they try to continue communicating with them using mobile phones.



Kazuna Kanajiri, the representative of the NPO, said, "Children who feel that they have no place to stay are gathering in Kabukicho through SNS. There are various restrictions on the new corona, and there are fewer places for friends to gather. It is necessary to consider measures for the entire society, including the government and the private sector, on how to support children who feel that they have no place to live because it is only a temporary symptomatic treatment even if guided by the police. There is. "