At Niigata Juvenile Training School in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, 11 of the facility’s 61 residents — nearly 20% — are there for crimes linked to so-called “dark part-time jobs,” illegal work arranged through social media or personal connections that has drawn young people across Japan into fraud schemes and violent home invasions.
The facility houses young people between the ages of 16 and 20, many transferred from Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba and other parts of the greater Tokyo area. School officials said residents involved in dark part-time job crimes have made up a consistent share of the population for roughly the past decade, with most recruited through social media posts or through friends who acknowledged the work was questionable but promised large payouts.
According to the Ministry of Justice, more than 80% of young people in juvenile training schools who became involved in dark part-time jobs were recruited through introductions from friends, older acquaintances or other people they already knew. Authorities believe criminal organizations exploit young people’s reluctance to abandon friends and their desire to belong to a group.
One resident, a 17-year-old from the Kanto region who dropped out of high school, described repeatedly taking part in special fraud schemes, including collecting or withdrawing money obtained from victims, after a friend introduced him to a man connected to organized crime. “He had so much money, and it looked cool to me. It was like, if you have money, you’ve won,” the teenager said. He said the man later paid him to recruit other young people who needed cash, and he brought in two acquaintances from his hometown.
He said he later considered traveling overseas after hearing stories of people earning large sums through fraud operations abroad, including a claim that one person returned with 500 million yen. “I was only hearing positive stories like that, so I really wanted to go,” he said. His planned trip, which he had intended to make with the friend who first introduced him to the scheme, fell through after that friend was arrested; his own parents ultimately took control of his passport to stop him from leaving.
A second 17-year-old resident, who had worked construction jobs since graduating from junior high school, said he joined a dark part-time job after a friend told him it offered an easy way to make large sums of money, including an offer of about 500,000 yen for a single job. He and two friends were initially told the job involved breaking into a house — occupied by an elderly couple — to steal valuables, and were told to bring a baseball bat and a bag.
He said the plan changed after they arrived near the scene, when they were instructed to buy rope and other restraints. The group was then ordered to enter the home, restrain the couple and take a large amount of cash. The teenager said people connected to organized crime were behind the operation, and the group feared retaliation if they refused. “If we ran away from the job, we didn’t know what they would do to us,” he said.
According to his account, the three found an elderly woman asleep inside the home and, fearing she would scream, tied her up with rope and tape before demanding to know where money was kept, following instructions to insist the couple was hiding cash. He said the group grew frightened and panicked during the encounter, and the victims were injured while being restrained. He said pressure from his friends compounded his fear of the criminal organization, since he did not want to be the only one who backed out.
In response to the pattern, Niigata Juvenile Training School has introduced a rehabilitation program focused specifically on special fraud offenses, described as one of the first such initiatives at a juvenile facility in Japan. Through group discussions, participants examine why they became involved in crime and why they placed such value on money that they were willing to harm others to get it.
In one session, a teenager described wanting the outward appearance of success after experiencing severe financial hardship, including having utilities shut off, and said he was drawn to the lifestyle of people who profited from fraud — expensive cars, spending freely, eating well and not having to work. Staff encouraged participants to look past the money itself and examine what they hoped it would provide, with some acknowledging they wanted others to think they were wealthy or wanted approval from people around them.
Officials at the facility said many residents had few prior experiences of being recognized or valued by others and had tried to fill that gap through money obtained from crime. The program asks participants to consider not just why they wanted money, but what emotional need — such as being respected, noticed or trusted — they were trying to satisfy by spending it.
Staff members said preventing repeat offenses will depend heavily on whether the young people can build trusting relationships after leaving the facility. Participants are encouraged to distance themselves from previous criminal contacts, form new friendships, and identify dependable people who value steady effort over criminal success. Officials said having a trustworthy adult to turn to could give a young person facing financial trouble, peer pressure or renewed contact from criminal groups an alternative path away from crime.
Source: Newsonjapan.com
