[The Dark Side of Con Cafes] Too dangerous!? The "underground" history of Akihabara's con cafe industry

The "dark side of con cafes" is a hot topic. We've compiled a list of past troubles.

Akihabara Con Cafe List is here ↓

https://akihabara-bc.jp/akihabara-conceptcafe-2020/

What is a Con Cafe?

I'm sure there are many people out there wondering what a con cafe is in the first place.
Concafe is an abbreviation for concept cafe, and refers to a cafe that creates a world view based on a specific concept.
Originally, it referred to a cafe that emerged as a spin-off of maid cafes, but now the scale has reversed and maid cafes have become a genre within the con cafe genre.
Although the concept is "cafe," in reality, many of these establishments are essentially cosplay cabaret clubs, and unscrupulous businesses have entered the market, with many reports of people being ripped off.
This page introduces the incidents that have occurred at such con cafes!!

https://akihabara-bc.jp/concafeisnani/

Akihabara Con Cafe Power Map

I researched the concept cafes' affiliation as much as possible.This article.
About two-thirds of Akihabara's con cafes belong to some kind of affiliation, but only a few of them disclose their affiliation. Most stores don't disclose it because there's no benefit to doing so, but there are some that seem to have a clear intention to conceal their affiliation.
Although the individual reasons are unknown, the hiding of affiliated stores is a common theme in the mysterious cheap izakaya syndicate that is rampant throughout Tokyo.A huge adult entertainment group that runs everything from robot restaurants and a certain Taro to a pufferfish-eyed thing, and a ramen shop that offers two free refillsThere are only a few shady precedents that come to mind, and in fact, when you search for the name of a con cafe, you often find a ton of shady rumors. A shady store often has shady affiliated stores, and of course the headquarters is also shady, so there must be various reasons for this. At the very least, the reputation on the Kotanuki message board and 5chan is the worst.

However, you can't trust those shady posts on anonymous message boards! From here on, I'll only be summarizing past troubles that have come to light!!

2014: JK Walk "Girl's Guide Honey Pop" customer arrested

This is a nostalgic incident from the days when the JK business was legal, in which the man was arrested for providing secret services at a "JK (high school girl) walk" store.
Although these were legal walking and reflexology services, in reality they were hotbeds of crime, so regulations were introduced in 2017 and stores that advertised themselves as JKs disappeared.
After that, some JK business stores flowed into the maid cafe industry.
This is a company with such a high level of compliance consciousness that it is even getting involved in the JK business, so naturally, you can imagine what is going on.

In 2015, the owner of "MoeCon@Cafe" was arrested for violating the Entertainment and Amusement Act.

In December of last year, the agency took a high school girl, a second-year student who was an employee of the bar at the time, into custody for loitering late at night on a nearby street. When questioned, she said, "I had about 15 to 20 cocktails with customers at the bar," which revealed that she was providing entertainment. The agency had warned the bar in January, but it continued to operate without a license.

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When a female high school sophomore who was an employee at the bar was taken into custody for reciting haiku late at night, she said she had drunk 15 to 20 cocktails at the bar, which revealed that the bar was providing unauthorized entertainment.
Despite warnings to the store, they continued to employ high school girls and operate without a license, leading to their arrest.
An incident in which the manager was arrested for underage drinking and operating without a license under the Entertainment and Amusement Act.
If the store had responded honestly after receiving the warning, this incident would not have become a crime or been reported in the media(?), which makes me think that there may be other stores like this out there.

In 2015, Akihabara Arena owner was arrested for assaulting a cast member.

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The owner of Akihabara's concept cafe "Akiba Arena" was arrested for assaulting a staff member at the cafe.
This man also worked for "@Neo," a social media site whose ties to anti-social groups were later revealed.

In 2017, the manager of the Ikebukuro JK fortune-telling shop "Fortune Egg" was arrested for committing indecent acts on an underage staff member.

The store manager was arrested on suspicion of violating the Child Welfare Act by engaging in indecent acts with a 16-year-old girl who was a first-year high school student at the time.
The victim said the store manager told her, "You'll never be able to work again," and she was unable to refuse.
This is the worst triple combo of power harassment, sexual harassment, and underage harassment.
Incidentally, this guy also worked at "@neo" for a while. Hell yeah.

In 2017, the Osaka-based arrogantly run con cafe "Naska Group" was arrested for violating the Entertainment and Amusement Act and all stores were sold.

A popular cosplay bar in Osaka's Minami entertainment district was raided by the Osaka Prefectural Police in late July for having female employees entertain customers without a license. (Omitted) The police had instructed the bar owner that prolonged conversations with specific customers constituted "entertainment," which requires a license under the Entertainment and Amusement Act, but they decided to arrest the bar owner (39) for refusing to comply.

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If they hadn't acted so boldly, they wouldn't have been caught and would have continued to operate, so it's easy to see why such a dodgy establishment is able to thrive.

2018: Former Akihabara Arena owner arrested for kidnapping

The suspect is accused of picking up a junior high school girl who was trying to run away from home on the 1st, telling her, "If you don't like your home, I'll come and pick you up," and "There are other girls who feel the same way as you," and taking her to a house in Tokamachi City, Niigata Prefecture, where he let her stay the night. The junior high school girl was released in the parking lot of a convenience store in Tokyo on the night of the 3rd.

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The owners of "Akihabara Arena" and "@Neo" are finally in the news.
As he calls himself an idol producer, he seems to have caused a lot of trouble in the underground idol industry as well.

2018 Concafe scout tattoos cast members

A scout was arrested on suspicion of giving a 19-year-old girl tequila and other drinks in a room in a building in Akihabara, Taito Ward, putting her into a coma, and then tattooing the initial "N" on her body and other parts of her body.
There are rumors online about several stores that the suspect was involved in, but no reliable sources have been found.
If you're interested, Google it ☆

In 2019, the owner of Mia Cafe published SKE48 member Kaori Matsumura's resume without permission.

In early February, a maid cafe where SKE48 member Matsumura Kaori had previously worked part-time posted on Twitter some of the information that Matsumura had written on her resume at the time. In response to this issue, Matsumura updated her Twitter account on February 28th, revealing that she was considering legal action, saying, "I have decided to leave the matter to my lawyer."

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Even before this incident, the company had been involved in numerous problems, including the unusual use of the store's Twitter account to harass former employees. After that, the president of Mia Group ran for mayor and then village council elections in Kijimadaira Village, Nagano Prefecture, but lost.

Maid cafe owner arrested in 2020

Six men with ties to organized crime have been arrested in connection with the operation of a maid cafe in Akihabara, Tokyo.
In August 2019, he is suspected of confining a 28-year-old former store manager in his car and causing serious injuries.
The man was reportedly angry that the woman had left the store without permission after dating a female employee.

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Apparently there was an incident where an arrest was made.

In 2020, the manager of "Pichipowa" was arrested for violating the Entertainment and Amusement Act.

The manager of Shinjuku's Pichipowa (a sister store of Akihabara's Chu HI!CHU Doku!) was arrested on suspicion of violating the Entertainment and Amusement Act by employing girls under the age of 18 late at night.
Even after the incident, the store continued to operate in an open manner,Withdrawal from the market early due to the impact of the coronavirus.
Incidentally The arrested Pichipowa CEO tweeted that he was also involved in the founding of "Love♡U♡daisy"However, Love♡U♡daisy claims that they are not involved.

2021: Five affiliated con cafes, including Cafe La Cher, were raided

Five stores, including Cafe La Cher, a certain chain of maid cafes that had been the subject of constant bad rumors, were raided on May 18, 2021.
As a result, five people, including the store manager, were arrested on the spot on suspicion of violating the Entertainment and Amusement Business Act, and the manager was arrested the following day, May 19th.
On May 24th, the actual managers of these stores were arrested.
This crackdown temporarily led to a sharp decline in street touts in Akihabara.

Even though it was a weekday afternoon and it was raining, there were certainly no touts around. pic.twitter.com/RMjMna8ovj

— Akihabara Base Camp (@akihabara_bc) May 19, 2021

To avoid getting involved in an incident

The above incidents are just the tip of the iceberg.
It should be assumed that there are many incidents that have not been made public, so customers as well as those who are thinking of working at a maid cafe should be extremely careful.
Managers who work in a gray area are often good at treading the fine line without causing a scandal.
Working in any workplace, not just a con cafe, is tough! Do your research and protect yourself!

*Added on May 28, 2021, regarding the crackdown on five con cafes
*This has been corrected after we received a message from the parties involved regarding the crackdown on affiliated stores such as Cafe La Cher, and other broken links have also been corrected.
*2022/03/11 Added "What is a Con Cafe?"