Another recent fad, this one a bit more sordid than the Print Club, is the Telephone Club. Men wait by the phone in rooms at the club while the number is heavily advertised over the city. Women and (usually) high school girls call the number to chat, and if it goes well, a meeting is arranged. These meetings are called "enjo kosai," meaning compensated date, a euphemism for teenage prostitution. Some statistics show that as many as one in four high school girls have called a Telephone Club, their main motivation being boredom. A smaller percentage will actually arrange a meeting, and an even smaller percentage of these meetings culminate in cash for sex. For college? I doubt it. Valentino accessories, mobile phone bills, print club stickers and other costs associated with being a Japanese teenager are no doubt the reason behind the compensated date.
So here we have a phone booth plastered with advertisements for telephone clubs and other no-less-lurid services. Random placement on behalf of the parties involved? Not quite. The same people involved with the pachinko parlors also "own" phone booths in a certain territory, and rent out "real estate" in them for the ads. The most expensive part of the phone booth is obviously inside at eye level.

Next: That dirty, secret place called C'est Bien

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