For the past several years, many young people with nowhere else to go have hung out in the Toyoko area of the Kabukicho nightlife district in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward, where they are sometimes entangled in violence and sexual assault.
A group called Nihon Kakekomidera, which has long provided a refuge for people with problems in Kabukicho, started providing meals to displaced youths this summer. Some have been in such desperate straits they have tried to take their own lives, and the group is trying to provide a safe place for them to eat.
The Toyoko area is located around the Shinjuku Toho Building, a complex built on the site of the old Shinjuku Koma Theater. Young people who became interested in the area through video sharing apps have flocked to Toyoko, and a series of problems have been reported, such as forced prostitution and illegal lodging in which a number of people share a room but only pay the fee for one person.
