This & That, Ceci et Cela

I mean, far be it from me to say our Jap peeps are freaks:

“enjo kosai”, “enko” for short–sex or quasi-sex with generally middle-aged men in return for cash handouts. “Enko is everywhere,” she says. “You just stand there in your school uniform and men’ll come up to you, asking for enko.” If she accompanies a man to a restaurant or a karaoke box, she gets 5,000 yen to 10,000 yen an hour. If the man wants to take pictures, she’ll spend 10 minutes posing in a parking lot for 3,000 yen.

She has a friend, she says, who works at an unsavory establishment where men pay to feel girls through their clothes. Four hours’ work nets her 20,000 yen. The girls consider it easy money–and since it’s not really sex, they say, it’s not prostitution either.

Yuka (not her real name) is 17, a second-year senior high school student. She carries a flashy bag and, during the summer vacation at least, lives more or less homeless. She sleeps at friends’ houses. Yuka has a part-time job which she describes as “selling.” Selling what? Underwear and socks, which she removes in front of the customer. Her junior high school uniform. Her saliva”.

Via Asahi