Japan is inching toward a legal revision that would make it illegal to pay for sex. As part of a review of the Anti-Prostitution Law, the Ministry of Justice presented a draft report based on prior discussions to an expert panel on August 24, according to the Asahi Shimbun. The draft outlines a direction to expand the scope of offenses regarding solicitation. At present, solicitation is punishable only for the seller, but the revision would expand this to include the buyer. The proposed revisions would also raise the maximum fine. The ministry is coordinating plans to finalize the report in ...

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This week, one of the biggest crime stories related to the sex industry has been the arrest of five people at a high-end brothel in Yoshiwara on suspicion of violating the Anti-Prostitution Act. The 55-year-old operator, who was among the arrested on June 22 and June 23, is suspected of earning ¥5.5 billion in revenue over approximately eight and a half years. Investigators think Louvre had as many as 36 woman on its books. It has been in business since 1983 and would serve around 20 customers a day, who paid ¥80,000 for a two-hour session. Customers would pay about the official fee of ...

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A primary school teacher in Kakamigahara City, Gifu Prefecture, has been dismissed for attempting to secretly film a female employee at a sex establishment. The male teacher worked at Naka Daiichi Elementary School in Kakamigahara, but was dismissed by the Gifu Prefectural Board of Education on June 19, according to multiple news reports. In mid-December last year, the teacher attempted to record video footage of a prostitute at a sex establishment in Saitama Prefecture using a smartphone. The woman noticed what he was doing and the police were called. The Saitama Prefectural Police then ...

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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 ...

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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. ...

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It was a rather sad and pitiful end for such a large enterprise. The Marin chain of soaplands came to end on January 30, announced by just a single message on the app LINE. The chain of around 30 soaplands was run by Morishita Group, a giant in the nightlight and adult services sector in Japan with huge interests in Kabukicho, Shinjuku. This included soaplands in Ikebukuro and Kabukicho, such as the foreigner-friendly soapland Barubola. The Marin Palace (also known as Marin Blue or Marin Mito) was probably the best-known location, renowned for its luxurious-looking and kitsch facilities. It ...

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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 ...

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It's not a shock to anyone that the officers in the vise squad are probably getting a few freebies. But to see it described in plain print and blunt detail still raises eyebrows. A former senior police officer in Wakayama received free services at an illegal brothel for eight years. As broken in a scoop from Weekly Bunshun, Yasuhiro Horiuchi allegedly used his power over a soapland and exploit it for freebies, according to testimony from a former operator. "For eight years, I was extorted by a senior Wakayama Prefectural Police officer. He used his police authority to force me to provide ...

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University teachers are generally seen as figures of respect in Japan, like elsewhere, but they sometimes do things that seriously endanger that status. Who can forget the Taisho University educator who was found wandering the campus in the buff, having been ordered to strip off by his student lover? But the case of a 49-year-old associate professor at the University of Toyama's Information Technology Center trumps that. Toyama police re-arrested Hiroshi Takitani, a natural disaster and computational scientist, on June 2 on suspicion of fraud and extortion, having already been charged with ...

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Held at an undisclosed venue in Ginza on April 27 from 2:30 p.m., GBGW features a lineup of dozens of top Japanese sex workers as well as several leading Fantia adult content creators. Events include: a "breasts contest" with the lovely ladies, competing to see who has the best tits in the "oppai Olympics"; a game of "human musical chairs"; a talk with the ladies; and a sex quiz. The emcees include two pairs of manzai comedians, the porn star and wrestler Chanyota, and two top sex workers. Attendees also receive discounts from all the participating brothels and sex services that they ...

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