Word: runaways
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...mecca by day, by night a neon-signed playground of drinking holes and sex clubs for adult men looking for a good time. Mai and Rika hang here round the clock, part of a new fad sweeping up very young Japanese girls. It's called puchi iede, or "petite runaway." Home is what they're running from. Shibuya, with its 24-7 excitements and black-lit havens, is freedom central. "Petite" refers not to the size of the runaway, though many are mere wisps on the cusp of puberty, but to the short time the girls stay away from home...
...They're not real runaways, the girls insist, because they intend to go home sooner or later?and they have cell phones. "Our parents can reach us anytime," Yuko argues. "They know where we are, sort of." Amazingly, the police use the same measure to define a runaway?if your parents can contact you, you're not really missing. Which explains why the official numbers of Tokyo runaways?though up 15% over the past five years?remain relatively low. Of the 1.4 million minors in the metropolis, about 2,000 were taken into custody as runaways last year...
...Following a spate of sensational news reports on Tokyo runaways earlier this fall, the police belatedly took to the streets. In a highly publicized runaway sweep, 450 officers fanned out over 10 days in mid-September. They found, in all of Tokyo, just 64. By contrast, a reporter in the course of a few hours can find at least half a dozen...
...been seduced by the mean streets of Osaka. Journalists found ads for a bar, where patrons paid to fondle girls, featuring Tokuda in a slinky beige teddy. Earlier this month, a 17-year-old drifter was charged with murdering her during a botched burglary. He, too, was a runaway...
Person of the Week ICHIBAN! American League mvp winner Ichiro Suzuki is more than just the first Asian position player to excel in U.S. baseball. He has also reminded us, in this era of runaway home run inflation, that smart hitting, slick fielding and clever baserunning are what the game is really about...