Chapter 1

Micha stopped, incredulous: “How much do they pay? For your panties?

Well, 3000 yen, for that, I can buy twenty more!

Are you sure? And do you take them off in private, or do you take them off and sell them?”

Kamiko laughed: “Yes, Micha, you can take them off in private if you want ... or you can take them off in front of the men. They’ll pay a little more for that...”

“Where is this place, Kamiko? Is it in the slums?”

“Oh, no, Micha, it’s just on the way to school, right there, you see, above the tailor’s shop. Do you see the little sign on the second floor in the window? It says “buru.”

“But he’s a tailor and it means “cute.”

“Yes, Micha, and the place is called a Burusera Palace.”

That’s code for a schoolgirl or any young girl, what you call, in the West, a “Lolita.” But it’s above a tailor’s shop, so they disguise it like that.

“And you’ve been there, Kamiko?”

“Oh yes, several times. How do you think I got the money to buy the blue jeans and other nice things I bought recently?”

“Well, your family isn’t exactly poor, Kamiko...”

“Oh, but my father would never give me enough money for all the things I want. So...”

“Kamiko, do you think they’d let a Western girl, like me, in there?”

“Oh, I think so, Micha. In fact, there are pictures of Westerners on the walls, and I heard Mr. Fukuji (old pervert), the owner, specifically ask if any Westerners had come to the club.”

Micha was thinking fast. She really wanted some money. Her father is a career diplomat at the embassy, but he gave her very little. She had watched her classmates with envy as her Japanese friends squandered thousands of yen on video games in the arcade, where they had bought Western clothes (which cost twice as much as in the States) in the stores.

That very afternoon, she and Kamiko went to Burusera above the tailor shop. As they walked through the door, a pretty, well-dressed woman of about thirty-five greeted them.

“Ah, Kamiko,” she said in Japanese, “I see you’ve brought a friend with you.” You!”

Micha, who spoke the language fluently, bowed slightly and said, also in Japanese: “Greetings, madam, please. I came here with Kamiko for the first time ... If you don’t mind, I’d just like to watch and see what’s going on.”

The woman was all smiles: “Yes, of course, little one, you may come in. This is a social club, and we encourage you to relax and be friendly.””

With that, she opened the two leather-padded doors behind them and led them down a hallway and into a large room on the right. Micha stared in amazement. The decor was austere but elegant, as traditionally Japanese as the most conservative home. Rugs and low tables were scattered around the room, delicate tea sets on some, small plants on others. There were typical but elegant Japanese prints on the rice paper walls, and larger pots with jade plants or bushy herbs here and there. Sitting in armchairs were several groups of two or three people, elderly businessmen, looking very prosperous and content.

Also in the room were several young women, some dressed as geishas, though they wore no makeup at all, only kimonos, loose belts, no obis, sandals, facial makeup, and hair wigs.

In fact, she recognized several of the little geishas, and they were clearly classmates of Micha’s. These fourteen- and fifteen-year-old girls were serving tea and flirting with the men. Micha saw one of the men slip his hand under her kimono as the girl leaned toward him. The girl smiled modestly as the man felt her breasts for a few seconds. Then she stood up slowly and bowed gracefully, and he reached for her belt and placed a folded piece of cloth, probably paper money.

While Micha stood there gaping, an older man approached her and said, in heavily accented English, “Ah, my pretty young American girl, would you like to join me and my friends for tea?” He indicated a table at the side of the room where two other men sat and smiled expectantly at her.

Micha, entranced, began to follow him as he led her by the wrist, but Kamiko grabbed her other hand and said to the man in Japanese, “My friend Micha is here for the first time today, and I’d like to show her the rest of the club before she decides what to do.”