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. ...