enjo-kosai 2

Since 31/1/97
 

Rev.98/01/10
96/11/18

(*) This copy of Newsweek was published in December 1996.  I don't have any copy with me. So please contact Newsweek Japan if you need one. (Newsweek International: 3-1-30 Minami Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107 )

1. The passion for Western Brand names such as Gianni Versace clothes, Gucci shoes, Louise Vuitton luggage etc to the extent that schoolgirls are willing to sell themselves to obtain such goods.
2. Why Japanese men love the schoolgirl image, the cute teenage look etc. Is it some sort of Lolita complex? Or latent paedophilia? I too like to see all those Glico Pokki advertisements with barely pubescent models. The newspapers said there are two Japanese language terms which express this: "enjo kosai" and "rori-kon".

First, I think that the phenomena "lolita complex" or "paedophilia" is rather universal. These words themselves come from European languages and there are no proper Japanese words for it ... therefore we say "rori-kon" which is Japanese pronunciation of "lolita complex". Love for young girls was not traditionally so popular. As I explain later, I believe that recent "rori-kon" affairs of the Japanese men occurred under special circumstances.

On the other hand, it is true that young, immature and childish behaviour and looks are preferred in the informal circumstances. Japanese exactly play the role they are expected to play while they are in the business or other formal activities. However, they try to balance the lack of human relations by becoming childish in the informal occasions, such as drink sessions after business hour, comical shows in TV and so on. There is also a tendency that women with cute looking and immature behaviour are preferred. 
 

Utamaro "Rendezvous"

There is another factor, I believe. Traditionally Japanese are tolerant about sex. There was and is no religious taboo for sexual relations. The Confucian morals once dominated public life. But, ordinary people were liberal and generous concerning sexual relations. We had many refined pornographic masterpieces in Edo period like Utamaro and other masters' wood-block pictures. As for sexual relations there was and is no feeling of sin as is the case for Catholicism. 

Further, as the Japanese economy develops the possibility has expanded for women to get jobs and live a life without the bond to unwished husband. They become more and more independent and assertive vis-a-vis men and concerning sex life. The value of virginity has largely lost its importance.
 

Here, hang-poster of a weekly magazine in a subway train. Everybody can read sensational headings and buy the journal at a kiosk of any station.

Against these background, Japanese mass media tend to cover topics of pornographic nature. There is no clear demarcation in Japan between ordinary journals and pornographic journals. The weeklies sold in convenience stores around the corner have many colourful nude photos with pubic hairs and include many sensational articles. I think Japanese were once able to distinguish formal and public area where morality is rigid from informal and private area where sexual relations are tolerated. However, after the second world war, social control on public moral has been constantly relaxing. At the beginning of '90s pubic hair became out of censorship by the police and this symbolizes the overall relaxation of control on sex related topics by media. And now, there is everything on papers and displays!

Now, after background briefings, I have to address the question why there is "rori-kon" and "enjo kosai". 

I believe that the men who are "rori-kon" or ready to pay some hundreds of dollars to teenage girls are those who feel lonely. They are week men, not able to have normal relations with adult female. 
They might feel lonely in their offices. They might not feel comfortable at home as they are not treated respectfully by their wives and children. They therefore want to have partners young enough for them to control without being insulted or scolded. 
I presume that the present "enjo-kosai" phenomena are supported by such poor men on the one hand.

The counterparts of such poor guys - young chicks - are much more problematic. General background is the overall relaxation of moral discipline of the society. Nowadays, it is reported, 70% of high school girls have already sexual experiences. Substantially higher figure compared to their parents' generation! However, I don't think that this figure itself is a problem. The more women become independent and enjoy their life, the later they tend to get married and the more they have chance for pre-marriage sex experience. The real problem, if any, would be that they don't choose partners out of love or affection, but just for the sake of relatively small money. 

I think those girls are also in a sense week people. They are usually in groups with other girls. It seems to me that young girls are really afraid of being ousted from the groups they belong to. They wish to be in. Therefore, as for fashion, food and other aspects of their life, they imitate each other so that they can feel they are members of the same group. 

Under such circumstances, once a girl earns easy money by having sexual relations with an adult male, she would buy European brand bags, invite her friends to a hamburger party, be respected by friends and fasten her position in the group. European brands such as Gucci are popular among adult females but expensive for schoolgirls if they would buy them by part-time job at McDonald or so... part-time job is anyhow forbidden by their schools...but purchasable if they accept "assistance" from old and poor but rich men. Once European brand goods become symbol of the group it is easy to expect that every girl of the group wants them and there is only one way to get them. 
 

Weekly magazines and evening newspapers: champions of Japanese yellow journalism. Here, at a subway kiosk selling magazines and newspapers with nude photos.

Once a case of give and take relations between an older man and a young schoolgirl is discovered by mass media, it rushes to pick up the case and exaggerate the case as sensational as possible. Then other people, young girls and older poor men, find there a good idea to follow. The phenomena is sensationally and repeatedly reported by the media but it is not so much seriously taken by the general public. Most Japanese think this is one of the new fashion trends which will vanish sooner or later. 

I hope that those girls, if any, will discover the importance of love in their relations with male partners. Fortunately enough, as far as I know the situation, these phenomena have not resulted in violation. I haven't heard that the girls involved in such affairs were killed or heavily violated. Maybe there are not many cases of "enjo-kosai".
One tragic lolita-complex related violation was "Miyazaki case" some years ago. Miyazaki was a lonely video-maniac and collected many pornographic videos. He also took videos by himself and killed little girls after taking their obscene videos. He was a very timid man, not able to talk a word with women of his own age. But his victims were all much younger than the girls now I am talking about. 

The best recept to contain such phenomena is that the mass media do not pick up the cases and label them "enjo-kosai". Really, the media exploit those poor girls in order to sell their ridiculous programmes or weekly magazines. If they don't report, nobody is bothered by such phenomena and many latecomer girls might not have come up with the idea to imitate the case.