Around the end of December, people started tweeted about a "worrying" new development in Akihabara, the Tokyo district known for electronics and otaku culture.
The restaurant Kitchen Jiro has been replaced by a "free guidance place" (muryo annaijo) -- essentially a sex industry information center, where you can get introductions on nearby soaplands, massage parlors, and other types of brothels. Such modestly sized places are common in areas like Kabukicho or Ikebukuro in Tokyo, Namba in Osaka, or just about any downtown area in a major Japanese city.
Does this, as people seem convinced, ...
The technical intern training program in Japan has rightfully attracted international condemnation for legalizing what often amounts to near-slavery conditions for foreign workers, especially Vietnamese. Employers -- including small manufacturers -- are allowed to pay these workers extremely low wages and it is all sanctioned by the government.
The workers are trapped, unable to change jobs and frequently in debt to middle-men for the fees to get their places on the scheme and come to Japan.
Over the years, many sad stories of abuse and even suicide have emerged from the "internships" ...
Talk about party poopers.
The cops in Osaka have arrested a 62-year-old man for violations of prostitution laws after they found seven men and women naked in his home.
On the night of October 3, as widely reported in the Japanese media, police raided his home, where the man has been running an orgy party service for years.
The five men (aged between their thirties and fifties) and two women (in their thirties) were arrested for indecent exposure, though later released. No charges were reported against them.
The organizer, Yoshihiro Murakami, admits to the allegations against him. Men paid ...
The Japanese government has stepped in with cash handouts for both citizens and businesses during the coronavirus pandemic in an attempt to offset the worst effects of the economic fallout. Offering a maximum of ¥2 million in a one-off lump sum to help pay rent, the money has been a lifeline for small companies like shops and restaurants.
But what about the sex industry? So far, operators of such services have been excluded from the relief program.
One woman has taken matters into her own hands, filing a lawsuit against the Japanese national government as well as two firms overseeing the ...
At a point when the sex industry in Japan is under economic and social pressure -- demonized by politicians and the media for spreading the coronavirus, deserted by customers -- comes a timely reminder of the "healing" and affective nature of sex work, and its curious status in society.
Recently reviewed in the Japan Times, Gabriele Koch's book Healing Labor: Japanese Sex Work in the Gendered Economy (2020, Stanford University Press) argues that Japanese sex workers regard their work as necessary to the social and economic well-being of society.
The book is the result of nearly two years of ...
As previously discussed on this blog before, hostesses and hosts have received much of the blame for the spread of the coronavirus in Japan, especially in Tokyo.
The nightlife scene, particularly the seedier side in areas like Kabukicho, has found itself demonized by the authorities and media as the most obvious source of infection clusters.
While we don't doubt that intimate encounters with prostitutes or long sessions in small hostess club booths does increase the risk of infection, we are very suspicious of the narrative that the media is pushing.
Indeed, this week Tokyo announced 55 ...
With much of Japan on semi-lockdown (or at least, slowdown) due to measures to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus, freelancers and the self-employed are particularly feeling the crunch.
This naturally includes prostitutes of various types (soaplands, call girls, etc.). Though some delivery health services are trying to cash in on the crisis with coronavirus-themed marketing, we expect most fuzoku establishments are closed or running reduced hours right now. Naturally, accurate numbers of these are hard to come by, though we did read an interview with a sex worker at an Ikebukuro ...
We wrote recently about some of the ways that the coronavirus pandemic has affected the adult industry in Japan.
We didn't talk about prostitution much except for the closure of Tobita Shinchi, a famous red-light district in Osaka, and outbreaks associated with Kabukicho in Tokyo.
It's a sure thing that people aren't going out to red-light districts or brothels, but what about other types of fuzoku services such as delivery health?
Well, it seems that call girls are still available and may even be busier than usual as lots more people hang around at home with little to do except think ...
With the coronavirus pandemic still raging all over the world, many people are stuck at home. If they are stuck there with a partner, the chances are they are passing the time by getting intimate together. There's nothing quite like sex to take one's mind off a crisis. Failing that, there's always masturbation, so we are sure that traffic for porn sites is going through the roof right now.
Things in Japan just got more serious, with the declaration last night of a state of emergency, although the current number of infections are still much lower than other major industrialized nations.
How ...
In case you have ever wondered where your taxes went, take a peep into the lurid world of politicians' "travel expenses."
In the case of Ken Namikawa, the young mayor of Tenri City in Nara Prefecture, he made two trips to Tokyo in February and June. The provincial politico was determined to make the most out of his time in the capital, it seems, since he procured the services of delivery health call girls at his hotel room for intimate nude "massages".
He has since apologized at a press conference on August 31st after Shunkan Shincho made allegations about the 38-year-old's ...
