Following recent report that nearly half of men and 4% of women have used sex workers, and that the sex industry is shifting toward a model centered on in-call services instead of brothels, there is much public debate right now in Japan about prostitution.
The TV show Abema Prime recently hosted a discussion about the merits of punishing customers, something that may become possible in the future with proposed changes to current legislation under review.
The author, former Nikkei reporter, graduate if Keio University, and ex-porn star Suzumi Suzuki (pictured) was one of the guests. She ...
Following the earlier report about discussions underway to review the Prostitution Prevention Law to include the possibility of penalties for those who pay for sex services in Japan, the Asahi Shimbun recently wrote about the sheer scale of the sex industry in Japan.
The market for delivery health services (as call-girl services are euphemistically known) alone is ¥1.4 trillion. The newspaper describes Japan as a "sex industry superpower" whose growth has been fostered by a "Galapagos-like" legal system.
The Prostitution Prevention Law only covers actual full sexual intercourse between men ...
Discussions are underway regarding a review of the Prostitution Prevention Law, including the possibility of penalties for those who pay for sex services. According to a report in the Asahi Shimbun on March 31, the discussions draw on data from a large-scale survey of 8,000 people revealing that approximately 48% of men living in Japan have used sex industry services at least once in their lives.
The survey was undertaken by a team including researchers from the University of Tokyo. It was conducted online in July 2022, targeting 8,000 people (4,000 men and 4,000 women) aged 20-49. Its main ...
We recently reported about the large-scale closure of soaplands around Japan following the shuttering of a major chain, possibly to avoid a police crackdown in the wake of the investigation into a major scouting operation that has had far-reaching consequences for the Japanese adult entertainment industry.
And with the closures, it brings to mind a peculiar legal situation for soaplands in Tokyo: according to the regulations governing sex services, you are not allowed to open an establishment in the city, with the exception of a few blocks near Yoshiwara, the old red-light district of Tokyo. ...
In Japan, it is currently illegal to receive money for sex, but not to pay for sex. In other words, a sex worker's customer is not doing anything wrong in the eyes of the law, though the sex worker and the service she works for may well be in breach of the law.
A way around this is that sex workers may not always provide full service, at least nominally.
But in the wake of the moral and media panic over increased visible signs of prostitution in places like Okubo Park on the outskirts of Kabukicho, Tokyo, there are now motions in the government to redress the imbalance in the legal ...
It's one of those truth-is-stranger-than-fiction stories. And it's got a bit of everything. Bribery. Expensive dinners. An elite educational institution. Sex. Lawsuits. Even CBD.
A University of Tokyo professor has been arrested for accepting over ¥1.8 million in bribes in exchange for research favors. Leading dermatologist Shin'ichi Sato (pictured below) also allegedly received complimentary visits to high-end hostess clubs and soapland brothels. The 30 visits to clubs and soaplands reportedly brought the total amount of his bribe to ¥3.8 million.
The 62-year-old is a professor at the ...
In November, Bunshun published a two-part report about an elderly female prostitute, based on a book by Mizuho Takagi about street prostitution in the Kabukicho district of Shinjuku, Tokyo. The same book included an interview with a teen prostitute in Kabukicho, previously introduced in October.
One morning in Kabukicho, Takagi called out to an elderly woman crouching on the asphalt and got to know her. Kumi (not her real name) was standing on the street, working as an elderly streetwalker for ¥3,000 a session. She looked to be over 60 years old. He gradually came to learn her story.
Born ...
On December 5, Tokushima Prefectural Assembly approved the resignation of assemblymember Hiroshi Furukawa, who was arrested at a Tokyo hotel on suspicion of secretly filming a woman working at a delivery health (outcall) adult entertainment establishment.
He is a representative of the prefectural headquarters for Komeito, known as the "clean government" party and affiliated with the Buddhist religious movement Soka Gakkai.
He was arrested on the night of November 28 at a hotel in Akasaka, Tokyo, on suspicion of violating the Act on Punishment of Sexual Photography, for secretly filming the ...
Does regular sex with a prostitute count as adultery? It's not just a moral question, but a legal one, because it could be grounds for divorce and a lawsuit, since an aggrieved spouse can sue the lover in Japan for damages if it can be proved they knew the man or woman was married.
FNN recently reported on a father of four married for 24 years who had a secret. He was secretly meeting a woman he met at a brothel at a love hotel once a month, paying her ¥30,000 each time. Upon learning of his betrayal, his wife directed her anger at the other woman, and sued her for ¥3.3 million.
All three ...
Here's a story so horrible that it made us practically spit our coffee out when we first read it in the Japanese-language media last Friday.
On November 6, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police announced the arrest of a 51-year-old male owner of a massage parlor on suspicion of violating the Labor Standards Act by employing a 12-year-old Thai girl.
The girl first came to Japan with her mother and police believe she was a victim of human trafficking. She was forced to provide sexual services to male customers at the parlor.
According to the announcement that was widely reported by media outlets, ...
