TOKYO - Tokyo police detained 39 minors during a two-day nighttime operation around the "Toyoko" area of Kabukicho in Shinjuku, with 17 of them, or roughly 40%, found to have previously overdosed on medication.
The Metropolitan Police Department conducted the operation around the start of the new school term, targeting young people gathering late at night in the Toyoko area.
The 39 boys and girls, including a 14-year-old junior high school student, were taken into protective custody for reasons including being out late at night without parental consent.
Police said 17 of the minors had experience with "overdosing," or taking excessive quantities of medication.
A 14-year-old second-year junior high school student who had traveled from Saitama Prefecture was carrying 20 tablets, including sleeping pills. Asked why she had them, she told police, "I want to forget unpleasant things."
The Metropolitan Police Department is urging caution over risks facing minors in the area, saying one-quarter of cases in which suspects have been arrested on suspicion of sexually exploiting minors have occurred in Kabukicho, including around Toyoko.
The term "Toyoko Kids" emerged in the late 2010s to describe teenagers and young adults who began gathering around the plaza beside the Shinjuku Toho Building and Toho Cinemas in Kabukicho. The name is a shortened reference to the area beside the Toho complex and is unrelated to the Tokyu Toyoko railway line.
The group has never been a formal organization. Rather, the label came to describe a loose community of young people who spent long periods in the area, often late at night, using the streets around Kabukicho as a meeting place.
Some were reported to have difficult relationships at home or school, while others were drawn to the area through friendships formed on social media. Over time, the gathering place developed its own subculture, with young people meeting in person after first connecting online.
The issue drew growing public attention as reports emerged of minors becoming involved in prostitution, sexual exploitation, drug misuse, theft and other crimes. Sleeping pills and other medications have also been associated with deliberate overdosing among some young people in the area.
Police and local authorities have repeatedly stepped up patrols and outreach in Kabukicho, particularly during school holidays and around the beginning of new school terms, when more minors may be out late at night.
Support organizations and outreach workers have also sought to build relationships with young people gathering in the district, offering food, counseling and access to shelters and other forms of assistance.
Authorities have stressed that young people gathering around Toyoko should not automatically be treated as offenders, as many are themselves considered vulnerable to exploitation by adults.
Kabukicho's concentration of nightlife businesses, hotels and entertainment venues, combined with easy access from Shinjuku Station, has made the area particularly difficult to police. The rapid spread of social media has also allowed young people from outside Tokyo to arrange meetings and travel to the district.
The Toyoko Kids phenomenon has consequently become a broader social issue encompassing youth isolation, family problems, online recruitment, sexual exploitation and misuse of over-the-counter and prescription drugs.
Source: TBS
