There has been a lot of outrage recently about male hosts in Japan exploiting vulnerable women, young and old, in order to get them to pay the ridiculous fees their clubs charge. This includes forcing underage girls into prostitution.
We shouldn't overlook the dark and controversial world of music idols, however, where the casting coach is commonplace (as it is in gravure modeling). Things get particularly murky in the far less lucrative world of minor and underground idols, who don't get mainstream exposure and are more vulnerable to managers and so on promising success and money.
A ...
The stories about the victims of male hosts' exploitation seem to become more sensational week by week.
Last week, we wrote about the schoolgirl who was allowed to build up a huge bill at a host club and had to prostitute herself to pay off her debt.
Now comes a story in which this latest moral panic seems to dovetail with another recent trend: the tales of Japanese women going abroad to earn money as sex workers and take advantage of the weak yen.
This has become so common that a crackdown has started in the United States.
China, Hong Kong, and Macau remain popular destinations, however ...
More bad news coverage about male hosts as the moral panic over this industry continues.
A Kabukicho host was arrested early last week for allegedly exploiting and prostituting a junior high school student who owed his club around ¥6 million.
The 22-year-old host Renji (Yuya Inaba) works at the appropriately named Worst Over in Kabukicho, central Tokyo. He is also accused of bringing the girl into his club when she was just 15 years old and serving her alcohol, including a very expensive "champagne tower" order.
The student used her mother's credit card and cash from her grandmother to ...
Revenge porn cases hit a record high in 2023, according to a report by the National Police Agency released on April 8.
The agency said that it received 1,812 consultations from people during the 2023 about nude images leaked by a partner or ex-partner.
It's up 4.9% from 2022 and marks the seventh year in a row in which cases have risen.
It is a worrying trend but, with the complete proliferation of phones and online culture, likely only to get worse. In part, the increase is also due to greater recognition of revenge porn as a phenomenon and a legal category, and criminalization of it ...
With the yen cheap, local wages stagnant, and the media full of stories of young Japanese people on working holiday visas in Australia earning lots of money, is it any wonder that some people thinking going abroad is a quick and easy way to make a fortune?
And that includes sex workers.
As we have previously reported, Hong Kong has cracked down on Japanese porn stars traveling to the country to work as prostitutes, where they receive higher fees and are marketed as a AV celebrities.
In the United States, border officials will stop young women if they appear to be entering the country for ...
We have all experienced times when we are horny. Often, the only solution is to sneak off somewhere and bust a nut to get rid of that pesky boner that just won't die down otherwise.
Some guys, though, take a different approach to dealing with their untamable sexual desires.
According to multiple reports in the media, police in Tokyo have arrested a man on suspicion of damaging property after he rubbed his anus against a faucet in a public park.
The self-employed 56-year-old's actions resulted in the faucet becoming unusable.
The faucet was in Roka Park, located in the residential ward ...
Police have arrested six people with Chinese nationality on suspicion of registering a fake marriage and births.
The arrested included a 35-year-old woman who ran a sex service and lived in Matsusaka, Mie. Whereas such cases in the big cities typically involve younger people, perhaps it is a reflection of the aging demographic that even alleged prostitution in the countryside tends to be older, like the patrons: one of the arrested was 60 years old!
According to police, the 35-year-old business owner wanted to secure a visa for the 60-year-old woman, so registered a fake marriage with a ...
A man with Pakistani nationality has been charged on suspicion of indecent acts with variously aged women on the streets of Hanyu, following several other recent incidents in the Saitama city.
The unanmed 25-year-old man, who lives in Fujiishimogumi, Hanyu, has been additionally charged with the gropings and sent to the prosecutors.
Local police say there have been eight such cases in Hanyu, of which the man has now been additionally charged in connection with five.
The alleged incidents took place between July and December last year, and involved women in Hanyu either walking or ...
While we are used to police raids on small or even clandestine bars and clubs for breaching rules on public indecency or licensing, it was a shock when the failure to obtain the proper license led to the arrests last year of management at SOD Land in Kabukicho and the expensive closure of the "porn theme park" for five months. (Thankfully, it is up and running again, and in very rude health from all accounts!)
Well, now the same kind of issue has claimed yet another high-profile victim.
Police have arrested the manager of Burlesque Tokyo, a popular burlesque club in Roppongi.
The erotic ...
The biggest entertainment world scandal in Japan of late has been the allegations of past sexual assault made against one of the nation's most famous comedians, Hitoshi Matsumoto.
The reports first emerged in a tabloid magazine in late December and have continued to unfold. At first, Matsumoto, his agency (Yoshimoto Kogyo), and broadcasters ignored or gave the report a minimal denial, and colleagues offered on-air support, but more revelations are still trickling out in further articles, and 60-year-old Matsumoto has now withdrawn from his television commitments, nominally so he can pursue a ...
