(shortened form
) means "compensated dating" and is a practice which originated in
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
where older men give money and/or luxury gifts to attractive women for their companionship, and possibly sexual favors. The female participants range from
school-age girlsA schoolgirl is a girl attending either primary or secondary school. They are generally aged between four and eighteen years old.-Academic performance:...
to housewives. A common misconception is that enjo-kōsai always involves some form of sexual activity. The term enjo-kōsai first appeared in the
Asahi ShimbunThe is the second most circulated out of the five national newspapers in Japan. Its circulation, which was 8.27 million for its morning edition and 3.85 million for its evening edition as of April 2004, was second behind that of Yomiuri Shimbun....
on September 20, 1994. In the opposite case of women paying men, it is called , or "wakari."
Definition
What constitutes enjo-kōsai is heavily contested within Japan. The most common connotation is that it is a form of child prostitution whereby participating girls sell their bodies in exchange for designer goods or money. However, to label enjo-kōsai by the most basic definition of
prostitutionProstitution is the act or practice of engaging in sex acts for hire. In most cultures, prostitution is viewed by many as a deviant profession, either illegal or socially discouraged...
whereby one attains money through the exchange of sexual acts, excludes an array of other activities.
Many groups, including women's centers and associations within Japan include “the exchange of a girl's company or time” as part of this equation and insist that these other activities define enjo-kōsai. Anthropologist Laura Miller argues in her research that the majority of enjo-kōsai dates consists of groups of girls going with a group of older men to a karaoke bar for several hours and being paid for their time.
Furthermore, in a 1998 survey by the Asian Women's Fund, researchers found that fewer than 10 percent of all high school girls engage in enjo-kōsai and over 90 percent of the girls interviewed attested to feeling uncomfortable with the exchange or purchase of sexual services for money. Statistics show that the majority of girls are not delving into the realm of sexual exchange.
Perceptions in Japanese society
Generally in Japan, enjo-kōsai is looked down upon as a large-scale social problem. A 1997 poll in the Japanese
TV Asahi, also known as EX and , is a Japanese television network headquartered in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The company writes its name in lower-case letters, tv asahi, in its logo and public-image materials. The company also owns All-Nippon News Network.-Headquarters:In 2003, the company...
program
Asa Made Nama Terebi showed that 70 percent of respondents opposed enjo-kōsai, while 30 percent approved of it. Typically, it is perceived as an extension of Japan's growing focus on
materialismConsumerism is the equation of personal happiness with consumption and the purchase of material possessions. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen or, more recently by a movement called Enoughism...
, much of which is what critics claim is the cause of enjo-kōsai. Critics worry that girls involved in enjo-kōsai will grow up to be unfit wives and mothers. This perception arises from suspicions that when these girls are adults, they will quickly abandon their loyalties and commitments to their family for offers of money and material benefits. However, certain feminist groups and critics find enjo-kōsai to be empowering and as an act to “undermine patriarchal models propriety used to evaluate and control women”. Control over their bodies and means to support themselves is a new kind of independence for these girls. Good women in Japan are supposed to be sensible, modest, nurturing and respectful, yet girls participating in enjo-kōsai clearly reject such virtues of female restraint and modesty in Japan. Feminists such as Chizuko Ueno point out that the accidental access of girls to this dating market was not a matter of ethics, but of probability. Sooner or later, these girls and young women would, in a desire for financial independence, tap into this market for their own empowerment.
Media depiction
Within Japan, the media tends to show enjo-kōsai in a rather negative light. The typical scenario involves a girl desperate for money, so she decides to partake in enjo-kōsai. Only later does she stop when a friend or individual intervenes and informs her of the potential risks and consequences of her behavior. Several examples from films and television series are listed below.
In
Hideaki Anno, born 22 May 1960 in Ube, Yamaguchi, Japan, is a Japanese animation and film director. Anno is best known for his work on the popular anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion...
’s 1998 movie
Love & PopLove & Pop is director Hideaki Anno's first live action film, an adaptation of Ryu Murakami's novel, Topaz II. Released in 1998, it somewhat follows the film Tokyo Decadence, an adaptation of Topaz I filmed by Murakami himself...
, the main character, a 16-year-old high school girl named Hiromi, goes on subsidized dates in order to purchase a ring she adores. Her parents do not pay much attention to her and Hiromi often hangs out with her three closest friends who have been going on subsidized dates. Feeling like a train that travels on a predetermined track, Hiromi follows her friends and begins doing the same. Throughout the movie, they meet with different kinds of men and accompany them in various activities. These activities include having dinner at a restaurant, tasting a man’s cooking, singing at a karaoke bar, shopping in a video rental store, etc. Although Hiromi nearly gives in and has sex for the remainder of money needed for the ring, her date gives her a lesson on why she shouldn’t give up her body.
Meanwhile, the Japanese live action drama series
GTO, officially abbreviated to GTO, is a Japanese shōnen manga written and illustrated by Tohru Fujisawa. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from May 1997 to April 2002. The story focuses on 22 year-old ex-bōsōzoku member Eikichi Onizuka, who becomes a teacher at private high...
(
Great Teacher Onizuka), a girl student named Miyabi, out of boredom and lack of adult supervision at home, pressures her friends, Chikako and Erika, to go on subsidized dates with older men, and to steal their money when the men are in the showers. When Chikako accidentally meets their teacher Onizuka on one of these dates, enjo-kōsai rookie Onizuka proceeds with it to see these subsidized dates first hand. In the hotel room, Chikako insists that Onizuka take a shower. Onizuka realizes the trap, stops Chikako's attempt to escape, and teaches her a lesson why her first sexual experience should come out of love and not have anything to do with money. Incidentally, Onizuka (himself a virgin) learns the same lesson from that very occasion.
Conversation over the controversy of enjo-kōsai even finds its way into shows geared toward girls (
shōjoThe term refers to manga marketed to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10 and 18. The name romanizes the Japanese 少女 , literally: "young girl". Shōjo manga covers many subjects in a variety of narrative and graphic styles, from historical drama to science fiction often with a strong...
) between the ages of 11 and 14 in the form of the highly popular
Super Gals!Gals! is a shōjo manga written by mangaka Mihona Fujii.The manga was serialized in Ribon and published in the U.S. by CMX.An anime adaptation, , aired in Japan on TV Tokyo between 2001 and 2003, running a length of 52 episodes...
anime series. During the first episode of the series, straight A student Aya goes on subsidized dates because she wants to have money and fun like the other girls, but also because her strict parents and schedule would not allow her to have a job. Main character Ran, even although she believes the
gyaruis a Japanese transliteration of the English word gal. The name originated from a 1970s brand of jeans called "gals", with the advertising slogan: "I can't live without men", and was applied to fashion- and peer-conscious girls in their teens and early twenties. Its usage peaked in the 1980s and...
(gal) philosophy “If you want it, go and get it,” strongly disapproves of Aya’s action because she believes a
gyaru should have self-respect and not treat herself like merchandise. Ran tells Aya that they can have fun even without money. Aya becomes persuaded by Ran, and not only do they begin a new friendship, but Aya quits going on subsidized dates as a result.
In Shunji Iwai's film "
All About Lily Chou-Chouis a 2001 Japanese film written and directed by Shunji Iwai. The film portrays the rough lives of high school children in Japan.-Plot:All About Lily Chou-Chou follows two childhood friends, Shusuke Hoshino and Yuichi Hasumi, from the end of their junior high school run until the beginning of high...
", Shiori Tsuda, a female classmate, is blackmailed by Shusuke Hoshino into enjo-kōsai. The film isn't explicit about whether or not Shiori Tsuda performs sexual favours for her "customers", but the connotation is present. The depiction within the film of the practice could be considered negative, as the process of being blackmailed into it seems to push the character into some form of mental instability (although it's not clear whether that instability was present prior to the blackmail), culminating in her tragic demise. It is also used as a weapon of control by Hoshino, rather than empowering Tsuda in any way.
Societal backdrop
Although the greater part of Japanese society discourages this type of behavior, that has not stopped teachers, monks, government officials, company executives, and others of high social status from being arrested for their involvement with enjo kōsai.
A study done by the Socioeconomic Research Department at the Nomura Institute of Research showed that in 97 percent of book stores and convenience stores surveyed in 1996 sold “pornographic portrayals of children in either photographic or cartoon form”. Moreover, as of 1998, Japan was the source of 80 percent of the commercial
child pornographyChild pornography refers to images or films depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child; as such, child pornography is a visual record of child sexual abuse...
available on the
InternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. Actually, it was not until 1999 that Japan joined the international community in banning child pornography, not out of moral concern, but more so because of the bad publicity the country was receiving.
Government regulation
Prostitution has been illegal in Japan since 1958, but only prostitutes and pimps were punished, with customers escaping any penalty from the law. During
SCAPSupreme Commander of the Allied Powers was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the Occupation of Japan following World War II...
’s occupation of Japan, the Child Welfare Law was introduced into legislation as a means to protect children from “lewd behavior”. Many have criticized the law as being too vague to protect Japanese children from sexual abuse and say it does not do enough to keep girls away from sex markets.
During the 1990s enjo kōsai, as well as other forms of child exploitation, gained national attention in Japan leading to international awareness. Due to pressure from outside NGOs and other industrialized nations, the Japanese government updated its laws relating to child exploitation. The Law for Punishing Acts Related to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography and for Protecting Children, which prohibited an adult from paying a person under the age of 18 for obscene acts, was passed in 1999. The law made the
legal age limitWhile the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent of consenting to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
18 for consenting sexual activities and punishes the adult offender as the criminal party instead of the child.
To combat enjo kōsai and other forms of juvenile misbehavior, many prefectures have instituted a program of .
Hodōin are plain-clothed police officers and volunteers who approach youths who appear to be participating in
juvenile delinquencyJuvenile delinquency refers to criminal acts performed by juveniles. Most legal systems prescribe specific procedures for dealing with juveniles, such as juvenile detention centers. There are a multitude of different theories on the causes of crime, most if not all of which can be applied to the...
(out past 11 p.m., under-age smoking, wearing expensive accessories, etc.) and offer guidance against such behavior. When police consider it necessary, teens are taken to a juvenile center or police station for “formal guidance” and entered into a confidential police directory. Since enjo kōsai is seen as a moral problem relating to Japanese youth, care is taken not to ostracize the girls but instead give them assistance and advice to steer them away from enjo-kōsai.
Taiwan
While having its foundations in Japan, enjo-kōsai began to spread to other East Asian nations in the late 1990s via media. Enjo-kōsai became popular in Taiwan after the airing of the Japanese
dorama God, Please Give Me More Time, in which a young woman engages in the activity and suffers social and physical costs. In the end, however, the heroine is able to turn her life around and seems to project a positive image for youth. According to scholar Oi-Wan Lam, Taiwanese teens identified with the love story in plot and the
subcultureIn sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong...
of the characters. Lam also points to the similarities between Taiwanese and Japanese subcultures, and the notion that enjo-kōsai is not actually an occupation, writing, “Sex work is not recognized by the society as a form of work.” Due to this recognition, teens in both cultures feel they will not suffer consequences for participating in the activity.
A key difference between enjo-kōsai in Japan and Taiwan is the way in which girls set up dates with customers. While telephone clubs were the main venues that facilitated enjo-kōsai in Japan, the Internet facilitates meetings between young girls and clients in Taiwan. Due to this, there have been attempts by several NGOs and the Taiwanese Government to regulate Internet sites. Efforts at regulation are compounded by the fact that NGOs and the Taiwanese government sometimes apply the term enjo-kōsai to mean more than just teenage compensated dating, but also prostitution and Internet pornography sites.
South Korea
Enjo-kōsai has also found its way to
South KoreaSouth Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often simply referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul, the second largest...
, where the South Korean government considers enjo-kōsai a form of prostitution. An annual report by
ECPAT InternationalECPAT is a network of organizations and individuals working together to eliminate the commercial sexual exploitation of children. Established in 1990. The acronym stands for End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes...
, published in 2004, asserts that 222 girls 18 and younger were arrested for participating in enjo-kōsai in the year 2000. South Korea, similar to Japan, recently passed a law in 2000 protecting children from exploitation and prostitution. Yet due to the nature of enjo-kōsai, specifically the decision of the girl to participate in the act, the girls who do enjo-kōsai are not protected under the law and are subject to punishment under the law.
Hong Kong
According to social workers, girls as young as 15 advertise themselves as available for "compensated dating". The practice is becoming more acceptable among Hong Kong teenage girls, who do not think compensated dating is a kind of prostitution. Some believe it is different because it does not involve sexual intercourse and they can choose their clients, who range from teenage boys to married men. Some even think they are helping others. The internet allows girls more opportunities to offer to shop, eat out or go to a movie with men in return for payment in order to fulfill their material needs. In April 2008, the brutal murder of a 16-year-old girl, Wong Ka-mui, who was taking part in compensated dating drew attention to the issue.
See also
- Salaryman
refers to someone whose income is salary based; particularly those working for corporations. Its frequent use by Japanese corporations, and its prevalence in Japanese manga and anime has gradually led to its acceptance in English-speaking countries as a noun for a Japanese white-collar...
- Kogal
Kogal is a fashion that involves wearing an outfit based on a Japanese school uniform, but with a shortened skirt, loose socks, and often dyed hair and a scarf as well. The phenomenon was prominent in the 1990s, but has since declined. The word "kogal" is anglicized from kogyaru, a contraction of...
- Lolicon
, also romanized as rorikon, is a Japanese portmanteau of the phrase "Lolita complex". In Japan, the term describes an attraction to young girls, or an individual with such an attraction. Outside Japan, the term is less common and most often refers to a genre of manga and anime wherein childlike...
- Burusera
Burusera is a Japanese coined word from means bloomers as bottoms of gym suits and means sailor suit as Japanese school uniforms for schoolgirls, the term burusera-shop is listed in the Japanese dictionaries like as .-Burusera shops:...
- Geisha
, or are traditional, female Japanese entertainers whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music and dance.-Terms:...
- Age disparity in sexual relationships
Significant age disparity in sexual relationships has been and remains a feature of couples in many cultures and societies. Historically the most common pattern in heterosexual couples is an older man with a younger woman, however the converse has increased significantly in many countries...
External links