Masuo Kamiyama
Stroll down the street in Shinjuku's sprawling adult entertainment zone, Kabukicho, and you're likely to be propositioned by a horde of aggressive black touts, who entice passers-by with offers of the area's many corporeal delights.
A more recent development appears to be the rapid emergence of black hostesses, who are making inroads on the Chinese and other Asians who had previously serviced customers.
"They're from Kenya, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia and other places," a source at one of the local clubs tells Asahi Geino. "There seem to be around 50 or 60 such girls working in Kabukicho."
Most of the hostesses work at a type of establishment referred to as an "international club," ostensibly inexpensive watering holes that operate similarly to Japan's native cabaret clubs. The posted signs indicate a price of 4,000 yen for 90 minutes of fun.
To ensure you get what you want, advises Asahi Geino, be sure and request "Afurika no ko" (an African gal) to the maitre d' upon entering.
In the reporter's case, this request resulted in an introduction to Kerrie, a stunning 26-year-old from Ethiopia who, he insisted, bore a striking resemblance to supermodel Naomi Campbell.
Kerrie's revealing costume with its plunging neckline displayed plenty of dusky skin and an impressively deep cleavage.
"Will you buy me a drink?" she urged our reporter, batting her long eyelashes furiously. Swallowing hard, the reporter nodded dumbly in agreement.
Kerrie polished off her glass of wine in minutes, and promptly cajoled the dumbstruck reporter for a refill. After she imbibed five in about an hour, at 3,000 yen a pop, his bill, with tax and service charges added, came to over 20,000 yen -- quite a bit more than the 4,000 yen promised on the sign posted outside. Not an outrageous rip-off by Shinjuku standards, true, but typically deceptive.
"They'll usually try to get a customer drunk while getting the hostesses to keep ordering drinks to inflate the tab," explains Taro Chikuzen, a writer familiar with the latest trends in crimes by foreigners in Japan, who adds that the previous July in Shinjuku a Nigerian club owner was arrested after padding a customer's bill to the tune of 230,000 yen.
"After the police and Immigration Bureau teamed up in a major sweep, the Chinese, who were getting too powerful, disappeared from the area," says Akira Hinago, a reporter who covers the Kabukicho scene. "But now the Africans have been moving in to fill the vacuum. And because their visa status is legal, it's harder for the cops to clamp down on them."
Get rid of one foreign hood, sighs Asahi Geino, and another one will just pop up in his place. As this game of leapfrog is likely to continue, all the usual caveats against Shinjuku swindlers continue to apply.
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