Shinjuku Ward, the Tokyo metropolitan government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department have jointly established a Kabukicho measures council to strengthen efforts to prevent young people known as "Toyoko Kids" from being drawn into crime in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district.
The council was set up to coordinate measures involving the three bodies for young people who gather around Kabukicho, including the area near the so-called Toyoko district. The aim is to prevent them from becoming victims of crime or taking part in criminal activity.
At the first meeting on June 25, officials from each organization shared the current status of their efforts and the challenges they face.
Shinjuku Mayor Kenichi Yoshizumi said in opening remarks that the three organizations would use their respective strengths and characteristics through the council’s activities to create a clean and safe town where everyone can spend time with peace of mind.
The council will discuss issues that need to be addressed and plans to draw up a joint action plan during the current fiscal year to advance coordinated measures.
Toyoko Kids refers to young people, often teenagers and young adults, who gather around the Shinjuku Toho Building and Cine City Square in Kabukicho, Tokyo. The name comes from "Toho-yoko," meaning the area beside the Toho building, later shortened to "Toyoko." It is not related to the Tokyu Toyoko Line or Toyoko Inn.
The phenomenon appears to have become visible around the late 2010s, with one medical case-series paper noting that runaway adolescents known as Toyoko Kids had emerged in Kabukicho "since around 2018." Photographers and reporters documented the group more closely from about 2019 to 2021, describing many of the youths as school-age runaways or young people driven from home who found a form of community in the entertainment district.
The group grew out of a mix of family breakdown, abuse, domestic violence, bullying, truancy, poverty, loneliness and lack of a safe place to stay. Many youths were not necessarily hardened delinquents at the start; they were looking for somewhere they could belong. Kabukicho offered anonymity, late-night activity, access to peers and adults willing to give them food, money or lodging, but those same conditions also exposed them to exploitation.
By the early 2020s, Toyoko Kids had shifted from a little-known street subculture into a major social issue. Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly discussions in 2022 described them as mostly in their early teens to early 20s, with some as young as 12, and said many had lost a place at home because of conflict with parents, domestic violence or bullying. The same discussion noted that the gathering place had moved from the east side of the Shinjuku Toho Building to Cine City Square on the west side.
The public image of Toyoko Kids hardened as reports linked the area to underage drinking and smoking, overuse of over-the-counter drugs, violence, sexual exploitation, prostitution-related harm and other crimes. Authorities also grew concerned that some young people were not only victims but could be drawn into criminal activity. Police patrols and large-scale guidance operations increased, but officials acknowledged that many youths returned to Kabukicho after being taken into custody or warned.
The issue is also tied to social media. Young people use online platforms to find friends, information, shelter and a sense of identity, and the Toyoko label itself spread through online culture. That visibility helped attract vulnerable youths from outside Tokyo, but it also made it easier for predatory adults to locate them. Japan Times described the group in 2024 as a social-media-linked youth subculture formed by neglect and marginalization.
Government responses have gradually shifted from simple policing toward a wider welfare and prevention approach. Tokyo, Shinjuku Ward, police, welfare officials, education authorities and child consultation bodies have held information-sharing meetings on preventing harm to youths in Toyoko and similar areas. Meeting records show recurring themes such as consultation services, awareness campaigns, risky physical spaces, targeted online advertising and cooperation with other cities facing similar youth-gathering problems.
The new Kabukicho measures council set up by Shinjuku Ward, the Tokyo metropolitan government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department should be seen as the latest stage in that history: an attempt to coordinate policing, welfare, urban management and youth support rather than treating Toyoko Kids only as a street nuisance. The central challenge remains that Kabukicho is both a refuge and a risk zone for young people who feel they have nowhere else to go.
Source: TOKYO MX NEWS
