No-pan kissa (Japanese: ノーパン喫茶, Hepburn: Nōpan kissa, pronounced [noːpaŋ kiꜜssa], lit. 'no-panties cafés') are Japanese sex establishments offering food and drinks served by waitresses wearing short skirts with no underwear. The floors, or sections of the floor, are sometimes mirrored.[1]
Shops generally operate under a "no-touch" policy.[2] The shops otherwise look like normal coffee shops (kissaten), rather than sex establishments, although they charge a premium price for the coffee.[1] Previously, most sex establishments, such as soaplands and pink salons, were staffed with professional prostitutes. No-pan kissa were a popular employment choice amongst some women because they paid well and generally required little sexual contact with the customers.[citation needed]
The first one to open was in Osaka in 1980.[3] Initially, all of them were in remote areas outside the traditional entertainment districts. Within a year, large numbers had opened in many more places, such as major railway stations.[4]
In the 1980s (the peak of the boom in these shops), many started to have topless or bottomless waitresses.[5] However, at this point, the number of such shops started to decline rapidly.[1]
Eventually, such coffee shops gave way to fashion health (massage) clubs and few no-pan kissa, if any, remain.[1] The New Amusement Business Control and Improvement Act came into force on February 13, 1985, which further restricted the sex industry and protected the more traditional businesses.[6]
In addition to no-pan kissa, there have also been no-pan shabu-shabu[7] and no-pan karaoke.[2][8]
In 1998, four officials at the Ministry of Finance were arrested and 112 disciplined for accepting bribes in the form of visits to a no-pan shabu-shabu restaurant in Shinjuku.[9]