Japan

There are 60,000-70,000 Filipina dancers in Japan; a third are undocumented. (Virginia Calvez, a director at the POEA manpower registry division, Roli Ng, "Feature: Filipina dancers keep swinging despite yen," Reuters, 7 July 1998)

Philippine women are vulnerable to trafficking due to the Asian economic crisis. Requests for entertainer visas for Japan did not decline in the first six months of 1998. Travel to Japan increased 21% in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 1997. The label "entertainer" sometimes implies "sex worker." The women are vulnerable in Japan, not because they lack skills, but because they are young, beautiful women in a hazardous or vulnerable occupation. Trafficking laws exists but are not enforced. (Supalak Ganjanakhundee, "Migrant workers booming as Asian economy declines," Kyodo News, 23 September 1998)

32 foreign women called the Japanese National Police for help in 1997, triple the number in 1996. Four calls for help came in 1994, eight in 1995, nine in 1996. The women were trafficked under false pretenses and forced into prostitution Of the 32 cases in 1997, 15 women were from Taiwan, 6 from Cambodia, 2 from Hong Kong, 2 from Thailand and 2 from Cost Rica. (Japan¹s National Police Agency, "Forced prostitutes climb in Japan," UPI, 6 April 1998)

Some 80% of Asian female migrant workers who legally entered Japan in the 1990s were "entertainers," a euphemism for those engaged in the booming sex industry. (International Labor Organization, Elif Kaban, "UN labour body urges recognition of sex industry," Reuters, 18 August 1998)

There are more than 150,000 foreign women in prostitution in Japan; more than half are Filipinas and 40% are Thai. (CATW-Asia Pacific, Newsletter Volume 1.2, Winter 1998)

Sri Lankan women are lured under false pretenses to Japan, and then disappear. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Japan is a destination of trafficked women from Ukraine and Russia. (Global Survival Network, Vladmir Isachenkov, "Soviet Women Slavery Flourishes," Associated Press, 6 November 1997)

In Tokyo police have sold trafficked women who have escaped back to those who enslaved them. (Local relief agenices, Michael Specter, "Traffickers¹ New Cargo: Naive Slavic Women," New York Times, 11 January 1998)

The Thai Embassy in Japan helps hundreds of trafficked Thai women return to Thailand every year. Many of them were abducted or tricked into prostitution in Japan. (Supalak Ganjanakhundee, "Migrant workers booming as Asian economy declines," Kyodo News, 23 September 1998)

The sex industry accounts for 1% of the GNP, and equals the defense budget. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

The sex industry is a multibillion-dollar business that caters to every preference and is easily accessible ("Pornography Easy To Find in Japan," Joseph Coleman, Associated Press, October 1997)

One "sex zone" in Tokyo, only .34 sq. km., has 3,500 sex facilities, including strip theaters, peep shows, "soaplands," "lover's banks," porno shops, telephone clubs, karaoke bars, clubs etc. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

About a quarter of female students aged from 12 to 15 have taken part in telephone chat clubs. Male clients of telephone clubs pay to enter booths, and wait for private calls from women and girls, who dial a free telephone number from outside the club, often from their own home or a public telephone. The phone conversations usually fix a date to meet and are often a straightforward agreement on the details and price of the particular sexual act to be performed. (government survey, "Tokyo cracks down on teenage prostitution Œclubs¹," Reuters, 13 August 1997)

One third of all reported cases of prostitution are teenagers. (1996 National Police Agency survey, "Tokyo cracks down on teenage prostitution Œclubs¹," Reuters, 13 August 1997)

Enjo kosai or "supportive relationship" is the euphemism used in Japan for the prostitution of teenage girls. ("Japanese law would ban sex under 17," Agence France Presse, 24 August 1997) [catwlog9709a]

The Sexy-Up School in Osaka trains strippers and porn actresses. It offers classes in dancing, "bedroom techniques" and male sexuality. It has graduated 100 women since opening in 1996. (Yasuo Yaniyama, Director, Sexy-Up School, "Pornography Easy To Find in Japan," Joseph Coleman, Associated Press, October 1997)

A woman was arrested for selling her 16-year old daughter to a geisha house in northwest Japan for one million yen (US$6,800). The girl escaped and sought police after her mother abused her for running away. ("Japan police say mom sold daughter to geisha house," Reuters, 7 August 1998)

Prostitution was outlawed in 1956, but has had a minimal effect. ("Pornography Easy To Find in Japan," Joseph Coleman, Associated Press, October 1997)

Until 1997, Tokyo and Nagano are the only areas of Japan where sex with children was not illegal. (Joseph Coleman, "Pornography Easy to Find in Japan," Associated Press, August 1997)

Tokyo has introduced measures to combat the rising trend of teenage girls selling sex to older men through Œtelephone chat clubs¹. It is now illegal to put up posters and fliers advertising the clubs within 200 yards of schools and also for any such establishment to let girls under 18 inside. Until now, there has been no punishment for the clients of prostitutes. The new law is to act as a stronger deterrent. The legal age of consent for sex in Tokyo and Nagano is 13, not 18 like the rest of the country. (Tokyo¹s Youth Division spokesman, "Tokyo cracks down on teenage prostitution Œclubs¹," Reuters, 13 August 1997)

A new Japanese law went into effect 16 December 1997 making paid sex with a child under age 18 a criminal offence. Anyone who pays for sex with anyone under 18 will be liable to up to a year's jail term and a 2,600 pound sterling fine. Prior to this law sexual contact with children under 13 was illegal but relations with a teenager aged 13 or over was allowed, unless coercion was involved. (The Times, London, 11 October 1997)

The enormous sex industry in Japan is socially accepted. At the center of this empire is Kabukicho district. "It¹s a crime, but police don¹t really bother us." (Manager of a pornography producing company, "Pornography Easy To Find in Japan," Joseph Coleman, Associated Press, October 1997)

500 complaints about the sex industry were filed in Tokyo in 1996. 90% urged the city to outlaw sex with minors. (Mr. Hirabayashi, City official, "Pornography Easy To Find in Japan," Joseph Coleman, Associated Press, Ocotober 1997)

Kenichi Aitani, 44, a Buddhist priest, was the first man charged under a 1997 law that makes it illegal to buy sex from someone younger than 18. He is charged with paying a 17-year-old girl for 24,000 yen (US$185). ("Priest Held Under Tokyo Sex Law," Associated Press, 24 December 1997)

Japanese men constitute the largest number of sex tourists in Asia. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

The Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong are some of the primary Asian destinations for organized sex tours from Japan. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Many sex establishments in the Philippines are backed by Japanese capital. (International Labor Organization, Elif Kaban, "UN labour body urges recognition of sex industry," Reuters, 18 August 1998)

Australia is a destination for Japanese sex tourists. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Japanese sex tourists frequent Bangkok and other parts of Thailand to buy women and children as young as 12 and 13. ("Japan¹s UNICEF ambassador rails against child sex abuse," Kyodo, 17 June 1998)

In 1998, Japan was the world's biggest producer of child pornography and Parliament recently refused to pass a law banning the production of child pornography, citing "business reasons." (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes, Poona Antaseeda, "Expert urges global law to end child pornography on the Internet," Bangkok Post, 3 June 1998)

1,000 illegal pornographic tapes are produced in Japan each month - 35 new titles a day. (Director Mitsuhiro Shimamura, Joseph Coleman, "Pornography Easy to Find in Japan," Associated Press, August 1997)

19.3% of Tokyo high school boys are interested in using the Internet to access pornography. (National Police Agency survey, "Survey: Tokyo boys want "cyberporn," Mainichi Daily News, 21 October 1997,

Pornography is so pervasive, even schoolchildren have access to comic books with pornographic contents. Sex magazines can be bought at vending machines. Twenty-four hour pornography is available through cable television. Pornography can be accessed through computer networks. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Advertisements, known as "pink chirashi," promoting videos and massage parlors are placed in people¹s mailboxes. They are legal and widespread. (Joseph Coleman, "Pornography Easy to Find in Japan," Associated Press, August 1997)

Internet pornography in Japan:

In November and December 1997, a survey polled 1,928 high school and university students as well as 1,244 parents of high school students in Tokyo, Osaka, Mie, Fukuoka and Okayama prefectures

Of students who have used the Internet several times:

51.1% of male university students and 46.2% of male high school students have accessed pornographic material on the Internet.

4% of female university students and 8.2% of female high school students have accessed pornography.

Of students who said they knew of the Internet:

80% responded they were aware they could access pornographic material.

66.4% of mothers and 60.3% of fathers responded that it was wrong to look at pornographic material on the Internet.

The majority of parents responded that pornographic sites on the Internet should be either legally regulated or voluntarily regulated by the provider of the material.

57.8% of male high school students and 30.4 % of female high school students said it is acceptable to look at pornographic material on the Internet. ("Half of male Internet-using students access pornography," Kyodo News, 19 September 1998)

Yuri Komuro, a 20 year-old girl, classified by procurers as an "A-level" actress for her girlish good looks, makes the equivalent of US$25,000 for a one-hour movie. The woman has made 10 of these movies in the past 18 months. She isn¹t permitted to speak to a reporter without her agent, and sometimes looks to him for approval before answering questions. True to the compliant persona prized in Japanese pornography actresses, this woman exudes an unabashed enthusiasm for sex while maintaining the veneer of childlike innocence. The woman¹s latest video sold 17,000 copies - adult video actresses rarely last more than a year or two. (Joseph Coleman, "Japan Sex Biz Offers Glamour, Money," Associated Press)

Sekiya Saida, author of erotic novels, videos, and articles in a child pornography magazine called ŒAlice Club,¹ estimates that about 40% of his work involves sexual depictions of children. He¹s been in this profession for 20 years. An agent procured nine girls for Saida and brought them to a rented bungalow in the Northern Thai city of Chiang Rai. They kept the girls for three days, recorded 10 hours of video tape, and back in Japan, produced six, 40-minute video tapes. The girls were supposed to be 15 years old, but Saida says they looked younger, as the videos demonstrate. Sauda paid each of nine girls a total of 30,000 baht (US$50) and the agent, US$80. The tapes have sold for years for 10,000 yen or 14,000 yen each - at today¹s rates US$83 and US$117. Each video has sold past the break-even point of 300 copies. Saida asked that his real name be kept out of this article in favor of his pen name, to avoid any future difficulties in travelling. (Cameron W. Barr, "An Industry Seen Through the Eyes of One Producer," Christian Science Monitor, 2 April 1997)

There is no law prohibiting child pornography in Japan. 5000 pornographic films are approved each year by an ethics commission composed of major representatives of studios. Japan's obscenity laws require pornographers to blur out pubic hair and genitals. 1,000 illegal pornographic, that do not blur the genital regional, are produced in Japan each month - 35 new titles a day. Media Jack Productions makes 500 approved pornographic videos a year and makes US$31.7 million ("An industry seen through the eyes of one pornographer," Christian Science Monitor, Cameron W. Barr, 2 April 1997) & (Director Mitsuhiro Shimamura, "Pornography Easy To Find in Japan," Joseph Coleman, Associated Press, October 1997)

The Japanese government plans to implement legislation by April 1999 that will ban Internet providers from sending pornography to anyone under age 18. The law will require Internet pornography suppliers to verify the age of clients before providing contracted services. ("Japan seeks tighter control over Internet porn," Agence France-Presse, 6 March 1998)

A record 58 suspected crimes on pornographic Internet sites were investigated by Japanese police in 1997. 57 were investigated in 1996, and 38 in 1995. The crimes range from displaying obscene images to selling pornographic videos. ("Japanese police investigate record 58 pornographic crimes on Internet," AFP, 26 February 1998)

The Tokyo Police Department arrested 17 people for operating an Internet pornography franchise.This is the first case in which police have arrested dealers of computers containing pornographic images. About 30 servers were sold for 11 million yen (79,000 dollars) each. ("Japanese police nab 17 for Internet pornography franchise," Agence France Presse, 6 July 1998)

In December 1997, two men were convicted of using the Internet to distribute "obscene images." They set up a web site with pornographic photographs with the genital areas covered with a mosaic, but the software needed to remove the mosaic was readily available. Shinichi Wakaiki, 25, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for three years, and Koichi Asakura, 35, was given one year in prison, suspended for three years. ("Two Japanese guilty of pushing cyberporn," United Press International, 16 December 1997)

The Fact-Finding Team of Truth about Forced Korean Labourers uncovered 1937 court documents that detail how the manager of a Shanghai brothel serving Japanese Navy personnel was convicted of tricking "comfort" women into prostitution. The legal precedent is significant as it clearly shows that the forced use of "comfort women" was regarded as a crime even under Japanese law. According to the proceedings of a 1937 case, the brothel manager had attempted to expand his business within Shanghai after Japanese and Chinese troops clashed in the Shanghai Incident of 1932. ("1937 Supreme Court Proceeding Unearthed: Brothel Owner Found Guilty of Recruiting Women," The People¹s Korea, August 1997)

The South Korean government ended its efforts to get compensation from the Japanese government for the South Korean women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese during World War II. The South Korean government will pay each of the 152 women used as comfort women by the Japanese military during World War II $22,700, US$4,700 of which is from victim¹s rights organizations. (Stephanie Strom, "Korea Won¹t Seek Japanese Reparations for WWII¹s ŒComfort Women¹," New York Times, 22 April 1998)

The hundreds of thousands of Koreans forced into prostitution or labor for the Japanese military deserve an apology from the Japanese. The apology should come during President Kim Dae-jung¹s visit to Japan in October 1998. Japan has apologized several times, but many South Koreans feel the apologies have fallen short of true remorse. ("S. Korean leader seeks Japan apology," Associated Press Online, 16 September 1998)

There are 6000 Japanese Amerasians, fathered by U.S. Servicemen, who are denied legal immigration to the U.S. (Jojo Due, "Government Pressure Needed for Amerasians" TODAY, 15 November 1997)