Is adultery allowed in Japan (if with a prostitute)?
September 19, 2023
/ Tadashi Anahori
The YouTuber Takashii, who provided the interesting video we reposted recently about Japanese women and their attraction toward foreign men (or non-attraction, as the case may be), has produced a couple more videos with interviews about the old saw: adultery.
His latest provocative topic is on adultery in Japan, especially cheating on a partner with sex workers.
He asks some women for their opinions and some men.
They give a range of responses, but the general gist is that the women don't seem to mind if their men cheat on them with fuzoku (sex workers/services). In fact, this doesn't ...
SOD Land porn theme park to reopen after five-month closure
August 9, 2023
/ Tadashi Anahori
Japan's porn giant Soft on Demand seems finally to have recovered from one of the most bizarre and shocking screw-ups in their history.
SOD Land in Kabukicho suddenly closed down in March this year after police discovered it was violating the law on fuzoku ("amusement businesses") establishments, which covers hostess clubs, brothels, and so on.
Billed as an "adult theme park," SOD Land allows visitors to meet and interact with actual Japanese porn performers (and others like sex workers and hostesses) in various ways across five floors, including bars and a space for viewing performers in ...
Scientists build sexual contact network from reviews of soaplands nationwide
April 26, 2023
/ Tadashi Anahori
Here at Tokyo Kinky, we pride ourselves on how we strive to keep up with the latest research and fieldwork. It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it.
And so when we see an academic article titled "Exploring sexual contact networks by analyzing a nationwide commercial-sex review website," it's a no-brainer whether or not we read. Even if it's written by ecologists.
Though framed in academese, the article is essentially looking at reviews for soaplands on a website that covers 66% of establishments in Japan (784 soaplands) and has more than 2 million members and information on 38,964 sex ...
SOD Land porn theme park bar closes after arrest of Soft on Demand president
March 17, 2023
/ Tadashi Anahori
You would think that a company as large and successful as Soft on Demand would have an army of lawyers and legal advisors on retainer, and that they would consult them carefully when launching a major and costly new project. Or perhaps they did and their team simply wasn't doing their job right.
Either way, our proverbial jaw hit the floor when we read this news.
On March 16, it was announced by Tokyo Metropolitan Police that the 40-year-old CEO of SOD -- the biggest porn producer in Japan -- has been arrested for violation of the fuzoku law. You might presume this is related to ...
Tokyo District Court dismisses lawsuit over pandemic relief for sex workers
July 1, 2022
/ Tadashi Anahori
After the government and media demonized mizu-shobai (host and hostess clubs, and similar businesses) as Covid superspreaders, the industry reacted by working with officials to spread information about how to avoid affection.
Others, though, fought back. A member of the sex industry sued the government for its refusal to provide handouts to adult businesses, despite giving such funds to private citizens and small businesses in "respectable" industries. As we wrote when legal proceedings began at Tokyo District Court in autumn 2020, the woman who filed the suit argued this was in violation of ...
Single mom brainwashed by Tokyo couple into prostitution
June 30, 2022
/ Tadashi Anahori
A Japanese married couple has pleaded guilty to forcing a 25-year-old single mom into prostitution.
The single mother was staying with them. As payment for laundry and other costs, they made her work as a prostitute, according to media reports of the trial at Tokyo District Court, which began in May.
There were 334 acts of alleged prostitution in six months. The mother was apparently brainwashed by the couple and sent out into the local area to pick up clients.
Prosecutors are seeking a custodial sentence of 2.5 years for the couple.
The single mother was working as a hostess and giving ...
Department store in Japan uses fake “adult information booth” to promote event
June 18, 2022
/ Tadashi Anahori
Parco, a leading department store chain in Japan, has issued an apology after it used a "sex booth" to promote an event.
The installation was decked out in the style of the "free information" kiosks (muryo annaijo) that are found in certain city districts for providing listings, referrals, and recommendations about various forms of sex services (fuzoku), including blowjob parlors, delivery health, and soaplands, and also hostess clubs and girls bars.
Though less common as they were in the days before everyone had access to the internet on their phones, such adult booths are still found in ...
Tokyo female tax bureau employee punished for soapland side job to pay for host club habit
February 4, 2022
/ Tadashi Anahori
It's almost time to declare taxes in Japan, so we were particularly amused by this story in the news. Tokyo Taxation Bureau has announced the punishment of a 27-year-old female employee at one of its branches for breaching its rules on civil servants having side jobs.
The nature of the side job probably didn't help.
The unnamed woman was actually working at a soapland as a sex worker. For her troubles, she has been handed down a nine-month suspension, the bureau announced at the end of January.
She was working at soaplands from October 2020 to January 2022 at weekday nights and on days ...
Tokyo’s famed Nakagin Capsule Tower was once used by sex workers
September 16, 2021
/ Tadashi Anahori
It's probably Tokyo's most famous and futuristic pieces of architecture: the Nakagin Capsule Tower.
Despite its repute, it's an endangered species: demolition of the Metabolist landmark has been scheduled for a long time.
People have continued to reside in the pod-like pied-à-terre living units or use them as office spaces. Or for other uses, it seems.
We had never heard of this before but it seems that certain capsule rooms in Nakagin were used by prostitutes to service customers.
In Tokyo, a brothel-style fuzoku service typically has its own little place with basic facilities. ...
Appearance in Akihabara of sex industry information center has people worried about future of district
January 4, 2021
/ Tadashi Anahori
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, ...