Tabloid Tidbits: Schoolgirl sex sellers use codes for carnality

"IkebLURV1700Yukichi2JC1"

At first glance, the above looks like nothing more than gobbledygook, but Nikkan Gendai (1/23) says it's actually an elaborate code used by a schoolgirl prostitute ring cops broke up this week.

Saitama Prefectural Police have already taken into custody five schoolgirls ranging from junior high school to high school pupils, accusing them of breaking the Matchmaking Site Regulation Law by running a bulletin board offering sexual services performed by junior high and elementary school girls.

More arrests are expected.

"Prefectural police are poised to arrest a 6th grade schoolgirl who was using this site," an investigation insider tells Nikkan Gendai. "I think it's probably the first time that an elementary school pupil has been arrested for breaking this law."

About 80 percent of those who accessed the site are believed to have been pedophiles or those fixated with young girls. But the posts on the bulletin board were nearly all written in code.

Standard procedure was for the first two characters used to resemble the name of a well-known and easily identifiable place, so the above message would have been referring to Tokyo's Ikebukuro entertainment district.

A heart mark -- or, as in the above case, the letters "LURV" -- signifies the girl's willingness to have sex, the lowbrow tabloid says, adding the next four numbers were the time, according to the 24-hour clock, that she would be able to meet.

Yukichi refers to Yukichi Fukuzawa, the man whose face appears on the 10,000 yen note. The number immediately following his name designates how many 10,000 yen notes the girl is seeking to supply carnal services.

JC, meanwhile, is code for Joshi Chugakusei, the Japanese word for junior high schoolgirl. Elementary schoolgirls, incidentally, are "JS" for Joshi Shogakusei, while "JK" stands for Joshi Kosei, or high school girl. The number after the code letters indicates the grade the girl is in.

"'IkebLURV1700Yukichi2JC1,' then, stands for a message meaning: 'First year junior high schoolgirl, can meet for love in Ikebukuro from 5 p.m. with sex costing 20,000 yen," sex business writer Atsushi Tashiro tells Nikkan Gendai. "If there is a heart mark in a girl's mail, it's code for saying that she's willing to have sex for money. If there's a heart mark and a number nearby it in any mails a girl sends, parents should suspect that she's selling her body." (By Ryann Connell)

（Mainichi Japan） January 27, 2008