It is hard to get inside the mind of any person but even more so inside that of a Japanese person.  A great many non-Japanese people try to do that without speaking the language and that makes it even harder.  No wonder there is so much misunderstanding about the lives of Japanese school girls.  Japan has close to 100% literacy, Japanese high school graduates consistently score among the highest in Math compared to other developed countries, and Japanese girls do even better than boys academically and the fact is that some of them do engage in enjo kosai or, in other words, be intimate with mostly older men for money.  (Related:  Child safety)

This fact of Japanese life, if not understood without complete context, sounds repulsive.  Most non-Japanese people analyze this situation by saying, “Oh! These teenage girls have no idea about the risks that they are putting themselves to – both physical and emotional.  There should be a law banning all this”.  We believe that enjo kosai is definitely not a healthy practice but here are some facts about Japanese society that better explain the background of this trend in Japan.  Haruka writes on our message board, "First of all, I do admit that prostitution can be more respected than those who don't even try to work (not being willing to work differs from not being able to work, of course). As the Japanese phrase "karada wo hatte" refers to, you are working by using what all you've got.  However, I wonder if you can proudly tell your children in the future "I was earning  money by being intimate with a number of random strangers." I think not. If you can't be proud of or honest about what you've done to everybody, then you must be doing something "wrong."  If you ever have a chance, please read a couple of books written by Ryu Murakami."

• Japanese teenagers lead lives that cannot be supported by pocket money and after-school jobs that they typically have.  Many of them will use designer clothes and accessories and the usual teenage entertainment like trips to karaoke and malls (with train/taxi fares and meals) gradually add up.

• Japanese parents have practically no influence on the schedules and activities of their children.  The country is so safe that children can be out at any time of the day without causing any worry to their parents.  That freedom can be easily misused by children when they grow up into teenagers.

• Japanese people are unique in terms of engaging in physical intimacy without necessarily thinking of it as an emotional and physical activity.  In the Japanese mind, intimacy is primarily a physical activity for satisfaction of physical desire.  Most people will, of course, do it with someone they love but they will not see anything wrong to do it with a person they do not or cannot love as long as the act itself is pleasurable.

• There are certain things that Japanese people consider too impolite to discuss. Thus, your private life is, well, private and you can keep it that way without any pressure from your parents or your spouse/partner even if you live with these people.

Continued on next page:  Should enjo-kosai be banned?