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A couple things going on in the fuzoku world this week:
In a move to put a stop to illegal deai-kei cafes, the National Police Agency announced they will tighten regulations regarding love hotels from January of next year. Although the businesses appear to be love hotels, they do not meet standards set by law and some are used as a location for enjo-kosai. Says the Mainichi Daily:
There are about 3,590 facilities that closely resemble love hotels but are not recognized as such because they do not meet the standards set by the current law, according to the NPA. About 80 percent of them are situated in areas where adult entertainment businesses are prohibited by law.
According to the Asahi, the new regulations will specify that love hotels are businesses that have “rest” and “stay” prices displayed in front of the building, have an entrance that is shrouded by curtains or some other obstruction, and may be used without seeing employees face-to-face. Those under 18 years of age must be prohibited from entering, and the business cannot be within 200 meters of a school.
Also from the Mainichi Daily (and a great AP article here), Japan has finally begun to respond to international pressure regarding child pornography, with the National Police Agency and other government ministries pressuring the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to agree to ban access to websites dealing in child porn instead of simply demanding site owners delete them. Despite some concerns that the move may be an infringement of freedom of expression, most seem to welcome the plan. And it couldn’t come sooner, as the day after the announcement was made police reported that seven child pornography sites–five “ranking” sites and one run privately–had been discovered and the owners ordered to shut them down. Still waiting for them to get their act together on the junior idol stuff..
Back on the fuzoku topic, it was reported today that a Dentsu employee was arrested for running a nightclub in Kanagawa Prefecture that illegally employed Filipino waiters and hostesses. The man started the club in August 2006, reportedly trying to pay off debts he accumulated through “entertainment” and the purchase of a 43 million yen condo. To staff the pub, he started a fake web design company to get work visas for the Philippine nationals. As we learned earlier, Dentsu is known as being quite the harsh taiikukai-kei company, so you have to wonder where the entrepreneur found the time to run his other operation.
Thanks! Always enjoy FF!
Jake-san, would you consider adding a glossary? I have no idea what a deai-kei cafe is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deai-kei
Google. 🙂
Dear Mr. Jake.
You need to start a 身の上相談欄. I will provide you with a first topic.
Mr. Jake, I wish to subscribe to a “shinbun,” but I am perplexed in my endeavors to choose among the options.
Should I subscribe to the “Asahi Shinbun” or to the “Yomiuri Shinbun”? Or should I subscribe to the “Mainichi Shinbun.”? Or perhaps to the “Sankei Shinbun” or “Tokyo Shinbun”?
I fear that the “Nikkei” is not for me.
My criteria are plenty of juicy and interesting articles on a variety of topics, and also a nice and fruitful selection of “orikomi” advertisements to inform me of local sales and bargain opportunities in my “shotengai.”
Thank you.
Alice Cunha Lima
That’s a tough one! I like 産経新聞 and 東京新聞 because they tend to cover crime in depth and better than the other papers. However, they may lack variety.
毎日新聞 is pretty good and has a wide variety of topics. Of course for learning Japanese, 朝日小学生新聞 is great.
I’d go for Tokyo Shinbun or Sankei Shinbun. I would recommend the Yomiuri but it’s not quite as interesting as it used to be.