The Japanese tabloid Flash has run an extraordinary interview with a former soapland sex worker with an elite education, and today works as an administrative scrivener.
Sumika Hori (保利澄香) was born into an elite family of doctors in Akita Prefecture, in northern Japan.
She endured humiliating experiences during childhood, such as being called fat by her family, and she ran away from her family home. She successfully escaped by enrolling in a high school with a dormitory in Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo, but voluntarily withdrew due to various circumstances, leading to an unstable ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
On October 10, 2025, Sapporo police arrested three men living in the city's Chuo Ward on suspicion of violating the Anti-Prostitution Act.
According to a report by Sapporo TV, the arrested men were a 55-year-old man running a sex entertainment establishment, a 41-year-old man, and a 50-year-old man, both of whom worked at soapland-style brothels.
The men are suspected of conspiring to provide a venue for prostitution at a bathhouse's private rooms in the ward, knowing that the prostitutes were engaging in sex work with customers. The charges relate to activities up to September.
Initially ...
Miporin (Miporin-sama) is known as one of most high-profile dominatrixes in Tokyo. She works for the 11 Channel soapland in Yoshiwara (and claims to be the only latex fetish specialist dom working in that famous district) and the BDSM members' club Dominant Tokyo. Heavily tattooed, the half-Chinese, half-Filipino mistress is also known for her cheerful personality that completely contrasts with the aggressive image of a dominatrix.
The self-professed "rubber queen" gave an interview to Spa! last month and we have translated some of the highlights below.
How did she get her first ...
