- 26 Sep 2015
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I was recently wandering around Kabukicho my brother and his girlfriend, early evening, and was surprised to see a lot of young men and women, who were quite grungily dressed and usually had brightly coloured hair, sitting in a group on the street. They looked very settled, as if they had been there for a while, and were not trying to interact with passers-by. It seems like they were 'Tokoyo kids' – teens who hang around city centres in groups because they feel they have nowhere else to go, often because of a problematic home life. Unfortunately, this makes them prey to drug pushers and pimps. There's a good podcast about this phenomenon, which isn't just in Tokyo, in the latest Japan Today podcast.
japantoday.com
Edit: Thomas – I'm not sure that I like these auto-links that are now appearing. In this case, readers got sent to an article about kabuki ! Now that I've edited the post again, it's disappeared though.
Japan Today Spotlight #67 | Japan’s ‘Toyoko Kids’: What’s really happening in Kabukicho?
Japan’s “Toyoko Kids” have become a visible presence in Tokyo’s Kabukicho district — but who are they, and why are they there? Often described as runaways, dropouts or marginalized youth, these teens gather near the Toho building in an area known as “Toyoko.” While some come looking for...
Edit: Thomas – I'm not sure that I like these auto-links that are now appearing. In this case, readers got sent to an article about kabuki ! Now that I've edited the post again, it's disappeared though.