Teenage Wasteland

Mai and Rika squat on a Shibuya street corner crawling with drunks and hustlers. Dressed almost identically in tight tees and pants, the girlswho say they're 18 but look 14touch up their lipstick as they draw leers from the men stumbling by. Mai pulls out her bleating cell phone and checks the number on the screen. "My mom," she tells Rika, tucking the phone back in a Starbucks tote bag without answering. Rika nods. Mai tosses her long hair and declares: "Tonight's an all-nighter."

The Shibuya district of Tokyo is a teen mecca by day, by night a...