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 ...
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 ...
The number of sex services and brothels for women in Japan is gradually on the rise. The number currently registered on the sex industry information site Kaikan is said to be around 400 nationwide. A new book, Thoughts on Money, Care, and Desire After Using a Sex Service for Women Because I Was Lonely, written by Chiaki Fujitani and published by Chuokoron Shinsha in March, discusses this rapidly developing industry.
Shueisha Online recently interviewed the author about the trend. The following is an edited translation of the article.
In recent years, female-oriented sex establishments ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
