EthioBlog

Sexy soul sisters shine in Shinjuku

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Stroll down the street in Shinjuku's sprawling adult entertainment zone, Kabukicho, and you're likely to be propositioned by a horde of aggressive black touts, who entice passers-by with offers of the area's many corporeal delights.

A more recent development appears to be the rapid emergence of black hostesses, who are making inroads on the Chinese and other Asians who had previously serviced customers.

"They're from Kenya, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia and other places," a source at one of the local clubs tells Asahi Geino (11/16). "There seem to be around 50 or 60 such girls working in Kabukicho."

Kerrie, a stunning 26-year-old from Ethiopia

Most of the hostesses work at a type of establishment referred to as an "international club," ostensibly inexpensive watering holes that operate similarly to Japan's native cabaret clubs. The posted signs indicate a price of 4,000 yen for 90 minutes of fun.

To ensure you get what you want, advises Asahi Geino, be sure and request "Afurika no ko" (an African gal) to the maitre d' upon entering.

In the reporter's case, this request resulted in an introduction to Kerrie, a stunning 26-year-old from Ethiopia who, he insisted, bore a striking resemblance to supermodel Naomi Campbell.

Kerrie's revealing costume with its plunging neckline displayed plenty of dusky skin and an impressively deep cleavage.

"Will you buy me a drink?" she urged our reporter, batting her long eyelashes furiously. Swallowing hard, the reporter nodded dumbly in agreement.

Kerrie polished off her glass of wine in minutes, and promptly cajoled the dumbstruck reporter for a refill. After she imbibed five in about an hour, at 3,000 yen a pop, his bill, with tax and service charges added, came to over 20,000 yen -- quite a bit more than the 4,000 yen promised on the sign posted outside. Not an outrageous rip-off by Shinjuku standards, true, but typically deceptive.

"They'll usually try to get a customer drunk while getting the hostesses to keep ordering drinks to inflate the tab," explains Taro Chikuzen, a writer familiar with the latest trends in crimes by foreigners in Japan, who adds that the previous July in Shinjuku a Nigerian club owner was arrested after padding a customer's bill to the tune of 230,000 yen.

"After the police and Immigration Bureau teamed up in a major sweep, the Chinese, who were getting too powerful, disappeared from the area," says Akira Hinago, a reporter who covers the Kabukicho scene. "But now the Africans have been moving in to fill the vacuum. And because their visa status is legal, it's harder for the cops to clamp down on them."

Get rid of one foreign hood, sighs Asahi Geino, and another one will just pop up in his place. As this game of leapfrog is likely to continue, all the usual caveats against Shinjuku swindlers continue to apply. (By Masuo Kamiyama, People's Pick contributor)

November 18, 2006

Ethiopians Protest U.S. Mutilation Case
Saturday November 18, 2006 6:31 PM
By LES NEUHAUS
Associated Press Writer

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - About 2,000 people demonstrated on Saturday to demand the release of an Ethiopian immigrant sentenced to 10 years in prison in the United States for mutilating the genitals of his 2-year-old daughter.

Khalid Adem, 30, was convicted on Nov. 1 of aggravated battery and cruelty to children by a court outside Atlanta. It was believed to be the first such criminal case in the U.S.

The protesters marched peacefully around one of the squares in the Ethiopian capital, chanting ``Free Khalid.'' They were watched from a distance by dozens of policemen.

During the trial, prosecutors said Khalid used scissors to remove his daughter's clitoris in his family's Atlanta-area apartment in 2001. The girl's mother, Fortunate Adem, said she did not discover it until more than a year later.

Khalid's attorney Mark Hill suggested during the trial that the couple's daughter was coached to testify against her father by her mother, who won custody of the child after they divorced in 2003. The girl, now 7, had testified on videotape that her father ``cut me on my private part.''

``His trial was not fair ... how is it that Fortunate did not notice that her own daughter had been circumcised for almost two years? How is that possible? She only told the police when they got the divorce to hurt him - to get back at him,'' Adel Adem, Khalid's brother, told The Associated Press before the demonstration.

Federal law specifically bans the practice of genital mutilation, but many states do not have a law addressing it. Georgia lawmakers, with the support of the girl's mother, passed an anti-mutilation law last year. But Adem was not tried under that law since it did not exist when his daughter was cut.

During the trial, Adem testified he never circumcised his daughter or asked anyone else to do so. His attorney acknowledged that the girl had been cut, but implied that the family of the girl's mother, who emigrated from South Africa, may have been responsible.

He said he grew up in Ethiopia's capital and considered the practice more prevalent in rural areas.

Genital mutilation crosses ethnic and cultural lines and is not tied to a particular religion. Activists say it is intended to deny women sexual pleasure. In its most extreme form, the clitoris and parts of the labia are removed and the labia that remain are stitched together.

Knives, razors or even sharp stones are usually used. The tools are frequently not sterilized, and often, many girls are circumcised at the same ceremony, leading to infection.

It is unknown how many girls have died from the procedure, either during the cutting or from infections, or years later in childbirth. Nightmares, depression, shock and feelings of betrayal are common psychological side effects, according to a 2001 U.S. federal report.

Since 2001, the U.S. State Department estimates that up to 130 million women worldwide have undergone genital mutilation.

Ethiopians protest against U.S. circumcision jailing

Reuters
Saturday, November 18, 2006; 5:54 AM

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Hundreds of Ethiopians took to the streets of Addis Ababa on Saturday calling for a retrial of an Ethiopian jailed in the United States for circumcising his daughter.

In what was believed to be the first such case in the United States, a Georgia judge sentenced Khalid Adem to 10 years in prison this month for removing his two-year-old daughter's clitoris with scissors in 2001.

The jailing has fuelled a passionate debate across Africa, with some approving the punishment but others opposing it.

Carrying placards such as "Free Khalid Adem - He is innocent," about 300 people marched across the Ethiopian capital on Saturday demanding a retrial.

"The trial against my brother was partial, biased and based on insufficient provisions of information. The judge heard only three of 10 defense witnesses before he passed his guilty verdict," 25-year-old relative Adel Adem told Reuters.

"The fact that his little daughter is circumcised does not prove his guilt. There is no strong hard evidence against him. This was just a nasty divorce fight that ended up in Khalid being framed by his wife for something he did not commit."

During the trial, Khalid and the victim's mother, blamed each other for the circumcision.

Adel said his brother's supporters were calling for a new trial at a different venue in the United States.

An estimated 3 million girls and women are mutilated or cut each year on the African continent, the U.N.'s children's charity UNICEF says, in a custom viewed in many traditional cultures as a necessary rite of passage.

Circumcision is also used to control or reduce women's sexual desire to lessen the chance of promiscuity in marriage.

Opponents say it disfigures and sometimes kills, causes psychological harm, complicates childbirth in life and reduces sexual pleasure for women.

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