View source for Prostitution in Japan

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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
[[File:Tokyo Yoshiwara Taisho Era postcard.jpg|thumb|right|Tokyo's [[Yoshiwara]] pleasure quarter, antique postcard]]

'''Prostitution in Japan''' has existed throughout the [[History of Japan|country's history]]. While the [[Prostitution Prevention Law|Prostitution Prevention Law of 1956]] states that "No person may either do prostitution or become the customer of it", loopholes, liberal interpretations and a loose enforcement of the law have allowed the Japanese [[sex industry]] to prosper and earn an estimated 2.3 trillion [[yen]] ($24 billion) per year.<ref name="japantimes">{{cite news|last1=Hoffman|first1=Michael|title=Japan's love affairs with sex|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2007/04/29/life/japans-love-affairs-with-sex/#.WjrqUEpl-M8|newspaper=The Japan Times Online|access-date=20 December 2017|date=25 April 2007}}</ref>

Sex trade and sex services may be referred to as {{nihongo||[[wikt:風俗|風俗]]|fūzoku}}, which also means "manners", "customs" or "public morals".
[[File:KITLV - 110667 - Kusakabe, Kimbei - Prostitution at Ahiduoka in Japan - circa 1890 (cropped).tif|thumb|Prostitutes sitting behind {{nihongo||張り見世|harimise}} in [[Shizuoka (city)|Shizuoka]] in Japan, {{circa|1890}}, taken by [[Kusakabe Kimbei]]]]
Since [[Law of Japan|Japanese law]] defines prostitution as "intercourse with an unspecified person in exchange for payment", most {{transliteration|ja|fūzoku}} services offer specifically non-coital services, such as conversation, dancing or bathing, sometimes accompanied by sexual acts that legally are not defined as "intercourse", in order to remain legal.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2008/05/27/reference/law-bends-over-backward-to-allow-fuzoku/#.VFq1OPTF_Kk |title=Law bends over backward to allow ''fuzoku'' |last=Hongo |first=Jun |date=27 May 2008 |website=japantimes.co.jp |publisher=the japan times |access-date=1 June 2020}}</ref>

== History ==
From the 15th century, [[Chinese people|Chinese]], [[Koreans]], and other [[East Asia]]n visitors frequented [[brothel]]s in Japan.{{sfn|Leupp|2003|page=48}}

This practice later continued among visitors from "the [[Western world|Western regions]]", mainly [[Europe]]an traders who often came with their [[South Asia]]n [[lascar]] crew (in addition to [[Africa]]n crew members in some cases).{{sfn|Leupp|2003|page=49}} This began with the arrival of [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portuguese]] ships to Japan in the 1540s, when the local [[Japanese people]] assumed that the [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] were from {{nihongo3|"Heavenly Abode"|天竺|[[Tianzhu (India)|Tenjiku]]}}, the ancient [[Chinese language|Chinese]] name (and later [[Japanese language|Japanese]] name) for the [[Indian subcontinent]], and thus assumed that [[Christianity]] was a new [[Indian religions|Indian religion]]. These mistaken assumptions were due to the [[India]]n state of [[Goa]] being a central base for the [[Portuguese East India Company]] at the time, and due to a significant portion of the crew on Portuguese ships being [[Christianity in India|Indian Christians]].{{sfn|Leupp|2003|page=35}}

Hundreds of Japanese people, especially women, were sold as slaves.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2013/05/26/books/book-reviews/the-rarely-if-ever-told-story-of-japanese-sold-as-slaves-by-portuguese-traders/|title=The rarely, if ever, told story of Japanese sold as slaves by Portuguese traders|first=Michael|last=Hoffman|date=26 May 2013|website=The Japan Times}}</ref> Portuguese visitors and their [[South Asia]]n and African crew members (or slaves) often engaged in [[slavery in Japan]]. They bought or captured young Japanese women and girls, who were either used as [[Sexual slavery|sexual slaves]] on their ships or taken to [[Macau]] and other [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese colonies]] in [[Southeast Asia]], [[Portuguese colonization of the Americas|the Americas]],{{sfn|Leupp|2003|page=49}} and [[Portuguese India|India]], where there was a community of Japanese slaves and traders in Goa by the early 17th century.{{sfn|Leupp|2003|page=52}} Anti-Portuguese propaganda and exaggerations were actively promoted by the Japanese, particularly with regards to the Portuguese purchases of Japanese women for sexual purposes.<ref>In the Name of God: The Making of Global Christianity
By Edmondo F. Lupieri, James Hooten, Amanda Kunder [https://books.google.com/books?id=KR5H1Jj9M6EC&dq=The+Japanese+propaganda+accused+them+of+buying+and+selling+and+haggling+anything%2C+including+slaves.+They+were+especially+accused+of+handling+an+enormous+number+of+Japanese+young+girls%2C+and+selling+them+overseas%2C+in+foreign&pg=PA190]</ref>

In 1505, syphilis started to appear in Japan, likely because of Japanese prostitutes having sex with Chinese sailors. In [[Sakai]] and [[Hakata]] ports, Japanese brothels had already been patronized by Chinese visitors far before Europeans came to Japan. When the Europeans ({{transliteration|ja|Nanbanjin}}) came to Japan, they too patronized Japanese prostitutes.{{sfn|Leupp|2003|page=48}} Traders of the various European East India Companies, including those of the [[Dutch East India Company|Dutch]] and [[East India Company|British]], engaged the services of prostitutes while visiting or staying in Japan.{{sfn|Leupp|2003|page=50}}

===Edo era ===
[[File:1846 Yoshiwara map.jpg|thumb|right|Map of Yoshiwara from 1846]]
In 1617, the [[Tokugawa Shogunate]] issued an order restricting prostitution to certain areas on the outskirts of cities, known as {{Nihongo3|{{lit|pleasure quarter}}|遊廓、遊郭|[[yūkaku]]}}.<ref name="enc">{{cite book|last1=Ditmore|first1=Melissa Hope|title=Encyclopedia of prostitution and sex work|date=2006|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Conn.|isbn=978-0313329685}}</ref> The most famous of these were [[Yoshiwara]] in [[Edo]] (present-day [[Tokyo]]), [[Shinmachi]] in [[Osaka]], and [[Shimabara, Kyoto|Shimabara]] in [[Kyoto]].<ref name="gop">{{cite web|title=Edo Pleasure Districts|url=http://geishaofjapan.com/history/history-establishing-the-pleasure-districts-17th-century/|website=Geisha of Japan|access-date=21 December 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Courtesans and the Licensed Pleasure Quarters in Edo Japan|url=http://education.asianart.org/explore-resources/background-information/courtesans-and-licensed-pleasure-quarters-edo-japan|website=Asian Art Education|access-date=21 December 2017}}</ref>

Pleasure quarters were walled and guarded for taxation and access control.<ref name="enc" /> Prostitutes and courtesans were licensed as {{nihongo3|"women of pleasure"|遊女|yūjo}} and ranked according to an elaborate [[hierarchy]], with {{transliteration|ja|tayū}} and later {{transliteration|ja|[[oiran]]}} at the apex.<ref name="gop" /> The women were not allowed outside of the walls except to visit dying relatives and, once a year, for {{transliteration|ja|[[hanami]]}} (viewing [[cherry blossom]]s).<ref name="enc" /><ref>{{cite book|last1=Becker|first1=J. E. De|title=The nightless city : geisha and courtesan life in old Tokyo|date=2007|publisher=Dover Publications|location=Mineola, N.Y.|isbn=978-0486455631|edition=Dover}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Pate|first1=Alan Scott|title=Ningyo: The Art of the Japanese Doll|date=20 October 2016|publisher=Tuttle Publishing|isbn=978-0804847353}}</ref>

===Prewar modern era===
The [[Bakumatsu|opening of Japan]] and the subsequent flood of [[Westernization|Western influences]] into Japan brought about a series of changes in the [[Meiji period]]. Japanese novelists, notably [[Ichiyō Higuchi|Higuchi Ichiyō]], started to draw attention to the confinement and squalid existence of the lower-class prostitutes in the red-light districts. In 1872, the [[María Luz Incident]] led [[Government of Meiji Japan]] to enact new legislation, emancipating {{transliteration|ja|[[burakumin]]}} [[Outcast (person)|outcast]]s, prostitutes and other forms of [[bonded labor]] in Japan.<ref>Downer, Leslie, ''Women of the Pleasure Quarters: The Secret History of the Geisha'', Broadway,{{ISBN|0-7679-0490-7}}, page 97</ref> The emancipating law for prostitution was named {{nihongo||[[:ja:芸娼妓解放令|芸娼妓解放令]]|Geishōgi kaihō rei}}. In 1900, the [[Home Ministry (Japan)|Japanese Government]] promulgated Ordinance No. 44, {{nihongo||[[:ja:娼妓取締規則|娼妓取締規則]]|Shōgi torishimari kisoku}}, restricting the labor conditions of prostitution. The restriction neither reduced the total number of prostitution nor granted more liberty to women. Instead, prostitution thrived under the Meiji government. The name {{nihongo|"kingdom of whoring"|売春王国|baishun ōkoku}}<ref>Morisaki, Baishun ō koku no onnatachi.</ref> was to describe Japan during the Meiji Period. Due to the development of the modern transportation system, the demand and the supply of prostitution increased, and the female population drastically increased.{{sfn|Stanley|2012|page=193}} The government, therefore, with the legislation, could legally collect taxation from prostitution. Rather than improving human rights or liberty, the legislation intended to facilitate government revenue. The prostitution industry contributed a large part of government revenue from the late Tokugawa period to the Meiji period.{{sfn|Stanley|2012|page=194}}

In 1908, the Ministry of Home Affairs' Ordinance No. 16 penalized unregulated prostitution.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tiefenbrun|first1=Susan|title=Decoding international law: semiotics and the humanities|date=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0195385779|page=[https://archive.org/details/decodin_tie_2010_00_2145/page/480 480]|url=https://archive.org/details/decodin_tie_2010_00_2145/page/480}}</ref>

===={{transliteration|ja|Karayuki-san}}====
{{main|Karayuki-san}}
{{transliteration|ja|Karayuki-san}} was the name given to Japanese girls and women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who were trafficked from poverty stricken agricultural prefectures in Japan to destinations in [[East Asia]], [[Southeast Asia]], [[Siberia]] ([[Russian Far East]]), [[Manchuria]], and [[British Raj|India]] to serve as prostitutes and sexually serviced men from a variety of races, including Chinese, Europeans, native Southeast Asians, and others.<ref>{{cite news |author=来源：人民网-国家人文历史|date=10 July 2013<!-- 01:52:36--> |title=日本性宽容："南洋姐"输出数十万 |url=http://news.takungpao.com/history/story/2013-07/1748611.html |newspaper=Ta Kung Pao 大公报 }}</ref><ref name="FischerTine2003">{{Cite journal|first=Harald|last=Fischer-Tiné|author-link=Harald Fischer-Tiné|title='White women degrading themselves to the lowest depths': European networks of prostitution and colonial anxieties in British India and Ceylon ca. 1880–1914|journal=Indian Economic and Social History Review|year=2003|volume=40|doi=10.1177/001946460304000202|pages=163–190 [175–81]|issue=2|s2cid=146273713}}</ref>

=== Postwar era ===
{{Main|Recreation and Amusement Association|Rape during the occupation of Japan}}
[[File:Yasuura House.jpg|thumb|[[G.I. (military)|G.I.]]s in [[Recreation and Amusement Association]] during the [[occupation of Japan]]]]
Immediately after [[World War II]], the [[Recreation and Amusement Association]] was formed by [[Naruhiko Higashikuni]]'s government to organize brothels to serve the Allied armed forces occupying Japan. On 19 August 1945, the [[Home Ministry (Japan)|Home Ministry]] ordered local government offices to establish a [[prostitution]] service for Allied soldiers to preserve the "purity" of the Japanese race. This prostitution system was similar to the comfort system, because the Japanese police force was responsible for mobilizing the women to serve in these stations similarly to the way that Japanese Military during the Pacific War mobilized women. The police forces mobilized both licensed and unlicensed prostitutes to serve in these camps.<ref>Yuki Tanaka, ''Japan's Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery and Prostitution during World War II and the US Occupation'', Asia's Transformations (NEW York: Routhledge, 2002)133-135.</ref> The official declaration stated that "Through the sacrifice of thousands of '[[Okichi]]s' of the [[Shōwa era]], we shall construct a [[wikt:dike|dike]] to hold back the mad frenzy of the occupation troops and cultivate and preserve the purity of our race long into the future."<ref>[[Herbert Bix]], ''[[Hirohito and the making of modern Japan]]'', 2001, p. 538, citing Kinkabara Samon and Takemae Eiji, ''Showashi: kokumin non naka no haran to gekido no hanseiki-zohoban'', 1989, p. 244.</ref> Such clubs were soon established by cabinet councilor [[Yoshio Kodama]] and [[Ryoichi Sasakawa]].

[[Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers|SCAP]] abolished the licensed prostitution system (including the RAA) in 1946, which led to the so-called {{Nihongo|red line|赤線|[[akasen]]}} system, under which licensed nightlife establishments offered sexual services under the guise of being an ordinary club or cafe. Local police authorities traditionally regulated the location of such establishments by drawing red lines on a map. In other areas, so-called "blue line" establishments offered sexual services under the guise of being restaurants, bars or other less strictly-regulated establishments. In [[Tokyo]], the best-known "red line" districts were Yoshiwara and Shinjuku 2-chome, while the best-known "blue line" district was Kabuki-cho.

In 1947, Imperial Ordinance No. 9 punished persons for enticing women to act as prostitutes, but prostitution itself remained legal. Several bills were introduced in the Diet to add further legal penalties for soliciting prostitutes but were not passed due to disputes over the appropriate extent of punishment.

On 24 May 1956, the [[Diet of Japan]] passed the Anti-Prostitution Law, which came into force in April 1958. The Anti-Prostitution Law criminalized the act of committing sexual intercourse in exchange for actual or promised compensation. This eliminated the "red line" and "blue line" systems and allowed a number of paid sexual services to continue under "sexual entertainment" regulations, such as "[[soapland]]s" and "[[fashion health]]" parlors.

In 2013, [[Toru Hashimoto]], who co-leads the [[Japan Restoration Party]] proposed "There are places where people can legally release their sexual energy in Japan", and "Unless they make use of these facilities, it will be difficult to control the sexual energies of the [[United States Marine Corps|wild Marines]]."<ref name=SS20130514>{{cite news | title=Osaka mayor: 'Wild Marines' should consider using prostitutes|first=Erik|last=Slavin | date=14 May 2013 | publisher=[[Stars and Stripes (newspaper)|Stars and Stripes]] | url=http://www.stripes.com/osaka-mayor-wild-marines-should-consider-using-prostitutes-1.220845 | access-date = 19 May 2013}}</ref> The [[U.S. Department of State]] later criticized Hashimoto's remarks.<ref name=JT20130517>{{cite news | title=Hashimoto remarks 'outrageous and offensive': U.S. State Department | date=17 May 2013 |work =[[Kyodo]]| publisher=[[Japan Times]] | url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/17/national/hashimoto-remarks-outrageous-and-offensive-u-s-state-department/ | access-date = 19 May 2013}}</ref>

In 2020, Japanese police arrested 80 women in Kabukicho, Tokyo for prostitution, the majority of the women were in their 20s and were Japanese.<ref>{{cite news  |date= Oct 3, 2023 |title=80 women arrested in Tokyo's Kabukicho for alleged prostitution |url=https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2023/10/76a6a3b25794-80-women-arrested-in-tokyos-kabukicho-for-alleged-prostitution.html |work=KYODO NEWS }}</ref>

Vietnamese women working as technical interns or students engage in prostitution in Japan.<ref>{{cite news |last=TANAKA |first=NOBUAKI  |date= |title=Tokyo sex parlor heads accused of illegally hiring foreign trainees|url=https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13917980 |work= The Ashahi Shimbun}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Anahori |first= Tadashi |date=November 11, 2020 |title= Tokyo brothel busted by police for employing Vietnamese women forced into prostitution by coronavirus|url= https://www.tokyokinky.com/tokyo-brothel-busted-police-employing-vietnamese-women-prostitution-coronavirus/%7Cwork=Tokyo Kinky }}</ref>

==Religious connotations==

===Shinto===
The [[Shinto]] faith does not regard [[sex]] as a [[taboo]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://injapan.gaijinpot.com/play/culture/2012/11/09/why-japanese-people-are-comfortable-with-nakedness/ |title=Why Japanese People Are Comfortable With Nakedness |last1=Velgus |first1=Justin |date=9 November 2012 |publisher=Gaijin Pot |access-date=10 December 2015 |quote=While sexuality is not encouraged in most Western religions, Japan’s native Shinto religion is more open-minded… Shinto and Buddhism, both practiced and often blended in Japanese beliefs, do not consider most forms of sexuality to be sacrilegious.}}</ref> During the Kamakura period, many shrines and temples, which provided for {{transliteration|ja|[[miko]]}}, fell into bankruptcy. Some {{transliteration|ja|miko}} started travelling in search of livelihood and came to be known as {{nihongo3|{{lit|walking {{transliteration|ja|miko}}}}||[[Wandering miko|''aruki miko'']]}}. While {{transliteration|ja|aruki miko}} primarily provided religious services, they were also widely associated with prostitution. However, no religious reasons for {{transliteration|ja|miko}} prostitution are known, and hence the act might be unrelated to [[sacred prostitution]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kuly|first1=Lucy|title=Locating Transcendence in Japanese Minzoku Geinô Yamabushi and Miko Kagura|url=https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/ethno/2003-v25-n1-ethno557/007130ar/|journal=Ethnologies|access-date=12 December 2017|language=fr|date=2003|volume=25 |issue=1 |doi=10.7202/007130ar|doi-access=free}}</ref>

===Buddhism===
[[Buddhism|Buddhist]] teachings regarding sex are quite reserved: "It is true to say that Buddhism, in keeping with the principle of the Middle Way, would advocate neither extreme puritanism nor extreme permissiveness."<ref name="accesstoinsight1">{{cite web|url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/walshe/wheel225.html |title=Buddhism and Sex |publisher=Accesstoinsight.org |date=16 June 2011 |access-date=3 August 2012}}</ref> Buddhism has rules and protocols for those that are to live the Buddhist principles in the monasteries and the secular part of the [Shanga]. For the Buddhist monks or nuns, chastity is mandatory since they live on the premise of getting rid of any feelings of attachment. Their way of living is regulated by very strict rules concerning behavior and this includes sex.<ref name="accesstoinsight1"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dhammaweb.net/books/DVEMATIK.PDF |title=The Rules for Buddhist Monks and Nuns |publisher=Dhammaweb.net |access-date=24 October 2013}}</ref>

As for the secular Buddhists, there are no specific rules to be followed about sex; although any kind of abuse is regarded as "misconduct".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://buddhism.about.com/od/basicbuddhistteachings/a/sexbuddhism.htm |title=Sex and Buddhism - What Buddhism Teaches About Sex |publisher=Buddhism.about.com |access-date=3 August 2012}}</ref>

==Current status==

===Legal status===
Article 3 of the {{nihongo|[[Prostitution Prevention Law]]|売春防止法|Baishun Bōshi Hō}} of 1956<ref>For the name, see [[WWWJDIC]] ([http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1C link] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150103191356/http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1C |date=3 January 2015 }}).</ref> states that "No person may either do prostitution or become the customer of it", but no judicial penalty is defined for this act.<ref name="spl5">{{cite web |title=5: The definition of prostitution is applied to limited sex acts (e.g. Japan) |url=http://spl.ids.ac.uk/sexwork-characteristics/5-definition-prostitution-applied-limited-sex-acts-eg-japan |website=Sexuality, Poverty and Law |access-date=21 September 2018 |language=en}}</ref> Instead, the following are prohibited on pain of penalty: soliciting for purposes of prostitution, procuring a person for prostitution, coercing a person into prostitution, receiving compensation from the prostitution of others, inducing a person to be a prostitute by paying an "advance", concluding a contract for making a person a prostitute, furnishing a place for prostitution, engaging in the business of making a person a prostitute, and the furnishing of funds for prostitution.<ref>Hongo, Jun, "[http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2008/05/27/reference/law-bends-over-backward-to-allow-fuzoku/ Law bends over backward to allow 'fuzoku']", ''[[Japan Times]]'', 27 May 2011, p. 3.</ref>

The definition of prostitution is strictly limited to [[Sexual intercourse|coitus]] with an "unspecified person".<ref name="spl5" /><ref>[[Ministry of Justice (Japan)|Ministry of Justice]] (Hōmushō), ''Materials Concerning Prostitution and Its Control in Japan''. Tokyo: Ministry of Justice, 1957, p. 32. [[Online Computer Library Center|OCLC no.]] 19432229.</ref>{{sfn|Sanders|2006|page=41}} This means sale of numerous acts such as [[oral sex]], [[anal sex]], [[mammary intercourse]] and other non-coital [[Human sexual behavior|sex acts]] are legal. Paid sex between "specified persons" (acquaintances) is not prohibited. Soaplands exploit this by providing a massage, during which the prostitute and [[Client (prostitution)|client]] become "acquainted", as a preliminary to sexual services.<ref name="japantimes" />

The {{nihongo|[[Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Law]] of 1948|風俗営業取締法|Fūzoku Eigyō Torishimari Hō}}, also known as the "Law to Regulate Adult Entertainment Businesses", amended in 1985, 1999 and 2005,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hartley |first1=Ryan |title=The politics of dancing in Japan |journal=The Newsletter |date=Spring 2005 |issue=70 |url=https://iias.asia/sites/default/files/IIAS_NL70_0405.pdf}}</ref> regulates these businesses.{{sfn|Sanders|2006|page=28}}

=== Types ===
{{main|Types of prostitution in modern Japan}}
[[File:Yoshiwara.JPG|thumb|Soaplands town Yoshiwara (2008)]]
The sex industry in Japan uses a variety of names. [[Soapland]]s are bath houses where customers are soaped up and serviced by staff. [[Fashion health]] shops and [[pink salon]]s are notionally massage or esthetic treatment parlors; [[image club]]s are themed versions of the same. [[Call girl]]s operate via [[delivery health]] services. Freelancers can get in contact with potential customers via deai sites (Internet dating sites).

Tokyo is the business and trade center of Japan, and therefore also a thriving market for sex work of all varieties. [[Kabukicho]], an entertainment and red-light district in Shinjuku, Tokyo, measures only 0.34&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>, and has approximately 3,500 sex parlors, strip theaters, peep shows, "soaplands", 'lovers' banks, porno shops, sex telephone clubs, karaoke bars and clubs, etc.<ref>{{cite web|title=The sex industry in Tokyo|url=http://www.tokyoezine.com/2011/05/19/the-sex-industry-in-tokyo/|website=Tokyo Ezine|access-date=20 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222052253/http://www.tokyoezine.com/2011/05/19/the-sex-industry-in-tokyo/|archive-date=22 December 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

It was reported in 2003 that as many as 150,000 non-Japanese women were then involved in prostitution in Japan.<ref>{{cite web|last1=McNeill|first1=David|title=Running the sex trade gantlet|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2003/11/11/issues/running-the-sex-trade-gantlet/#.Wjrvokpl-M8|website=Japan Times|access-date=20 December 2017|date=11 November 2003}}</ref> According to [[National Police Agency (Japan)|National Police Agency]] records, out of 50 non-Japanese people arrested for prostitution offences in 2013, 31 (62%) were [[China|mainland Chinese]], 13 (26%) were [[Korean people|Korean]]s and 4 (8%) were [[Thai people|Thai]].<ref>{{cite web |title=来日外国人犯罪の検挙状況（平成25年）【訂正版】|publisher=National Police Agency |page=44 |url=https://www.npa.go.jp/sosikihanzai/kokusaisousa/kokusai/H25_rainichi.pdf |date=24 October 2014}}</ref>

According to [[National Police Agency (Japan)|National Police Agency]] records, out of 224 non-Japanese people arrested for prostitution offences in 2018, 160 (71%) were [[China|mainland Chinese]], 19 (8%) were [[Thai people|Thai]].<ref>{{cite web |title=平成30年における組織犯罪の情勢 |publisher=National Police Agency |url=https://www.npa.go.jp/sosikihanzai/kikakubunseki/sotaikikaku04/h30.sotaijousei.pdf|date=3 March 2019}}</ref>

Many businesses related to prostitution voluntarily (i.e., despite there being no regulation requiring it) ban entry to foreigners, including tourists, people who cannot speak Japanese, and even people who do not have Asian traits.<ref name=SinclairPinkBox/> However, in recent years, several businesses have been set up to specifically cater to the foreigner market.

Korean women work as prostitutes in massage parlours in the US and Japan.<ref>{{cite news |last= 임|first=민혁|date=2012-06-14 |title=마약은 중남미, 윤락은 한국이 본산지" |url=https://www.vanchosun.com/news/main/frame.php?main=1&boardId=17&bdId=43487&cpage1=1004|work=밴쿠버 }} </ref>

==Terms==
{{glossary}}

{{term|Baishun|{{Nihongo3|"selling spring" or "selling youth"|売春|Baishun}}}}
{{defn|The act of selling sex. Originally a euphemism, it has become a legal term used in, for instance, the title of the 1956 {{nihongo|Anti-Prostitution Law|売春防止法|Baishun-bōshi-hō}}; the modern meaning of the word is quite specific and it is usually only used for actual (i.e., illegal) prostitution. The word for "prostitute" in Japanese is {{nihongo||売春婦|baishunfu}}.}}

{{term|Kaishun|{{nihongo||買春|Kaishun}}}}
{{defn|The act of buying sex. The title of the law ({{nihongo||児童買春処罰法|Jidō-kaishun-shobatsu-hō}}) was used in 1999. The reading {{transliteration|ja|kaishun}} is {{transliteration|ja|[[Kanji#Mixed readings|yutō-yomi]]}}, and it is used because the alternative reading {{transliteration|ja|baishun}} would be easily confused with {{transliteration|ja|baishun}}.}}

{{term|Baibaishun|{{nihongo||売買春/買売春|Baibaishun}}}}
{{defn|A combination of {{transliteration|ja|baishun}} and {{transliteration|ja|kai/baishun}}; meaning "prostitution".}}

{{term|Mizu shōbai|{{nihongo||水商売|[[Mizu shōbai]]}}}}
{{defn|Literally the "water trade"; a wider term covering the entire entertainment industry. An older term originating in the pleasure quarters of the previous centuries, the {{transliteration|ja|mizu-shōbai}} referred to not only {{transliteration|ja|yūjo}}, but also their higher-class cousins the {{transliteration|ja|[[oiran]], tayū}}, [[kabuki]] actors, and [[geisha]]; while the former three were legitimate in selling sex, the latter two did not do so officially, though some either chose to sell sex for money, or, in the case of the famous geisha [[Chishō Takaoka|Teruha]], may have been coerced or even forced into it.}}

{{term|Fūzoku|{{nihongo||風俗|Fūzoku}}}}
{{defn|"Manners", also "customs" or "public morals"; commonly used to refer specifically to the sex industry, although in legal use this covers, e.g., [[dance hall]]s and [[gambling]], and the more specific term {{nihongo||性風俗|seifūzoku}}, is used instead. The term originates from a law regulating business affecting public morals.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}}}
{{glossary end}}

== Sex trafficking ==
{{Main|Sex trafficking in Japan}}

Japan is a destination, source, and transit country for men, women and children subjected to [[sex trafficking]]. Men, women, and children from [[Northeast Asia]], [[Southeast Asia]], [[South Asia]], [[Russia]], [[East Europe]], [[South America]], and [[Africa]] travel to Japan for employment or fraudulent marriage and are subjected to sex trafficking. Traffickers use fraudulent marriages between foreign women and Japanese men to facilitate the entry of women into Japan for [[forced prostitution]] in bars, clubs, brothels, and massage parlors. Traffickers keep victims in forced prostitution using [[debt bondage]], threats of violence or deportation, blackmail, passport retention, and other psychologically coercive methods. Brothel operators sometimes arbitrarily impose "fines" on victims for alleged misbehavior as a tactic to extend their indebtedness. Trafficking victims reportedly transit Japan before being exploited in onward destinations, including East Asia and North America.<ref name="state18" />

Japanese citizens, particularly runaway teenage girls, are also subjected to sex trafficking. {{transliteration|ja|[[Enjo kōsai]]}}, or "compensated dating", and variants of the [[JK business]] continue to facilitate the sex trafficking of Japanese children. Highly organized prostitution networks target vulnerable Japanese women and girls—often living in poverty or with cognitive disabilities—in public spaces such as subways, popular youth hangouts, schools, and online, and subject them to sex trafficking. Private Japanese immigration brokers help Japanese-Filipino children and their Filipina mothers move to Japan and acquire citizenship for a significant fee, which the mothers often incur large debts to pay; upon arrival, some of these women and their children are subjected to sex trafficking to pay off the debts.<ref name="state18">{{cite web |title=Japan 2018 Trafficking in Persons Report |url=https://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/countries/2018/282680.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710010326/https://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/countries/2018/282680.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 July 2018 |website=U.S. Department of State |access-date=28 July 2018}}{{PD-notice}}</ref>

{{as of|2020}}, the [[United States Department of State]] [[Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons]] ranks Japan as a '[[Trafficking in Persons Report#Ranking system|Tier 2]]' country.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-trafficking-in-persons-report/japan/|title=2020 Trafficking in Persons Report: Japan|publisher=U.S. Department of State|access-date=May 15, 2021}}</ref>

==See also==
* {{transliteration|ja|[[Akasen]]}}
* [[Comfort women]] serving in brothels of the Japanese military in World War II
* ''[[Gate of Flesh]]''
* [[Geisha and prostitution]]
* [[Prostitution in Cambodia]]
* [[Prostitution in India]]
* [[Prostitution in Indonesia]]
* [[Prostitution in Thailand]]
* [[Prostitution in the Philippines]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=SinclairPinkBox>
{{cite book
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GujtAAAACAAJ
| title=Pink Box: Inside Japan's Sex Clubs
| publisher=Harry N. Abrams
| author=Joan Sinclair
| date=2006
| access-date=5 January 2009
| isbn = 9780810992597
}} 
</ref>
}}

==References==
* {{cite book |last=Leupp |first=Gary P. |year=2003 |title=Interracial Intimacy in Japan: Western Men and Japanese Women, 1543–1900 |publisher=[[Continuum International Publishing Group]] |isbn=978-0-8264-6074-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-I6owJcCOdwC}}
* {{cite web|last=Sanders |first=Holly |year=2006 |url=http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/us-japan/research/pdf/06-11.sanders.pdf |title=Indentured Servitude and the Abolition of Prostitution in Postwar Japan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111121165227/https://wcfia.harvard.edu/us-japan/research/pdf/06-11.sanders.pdf |archive-date=21 November 2011 |url-status=dead |publisher=Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, [[Harvard University]] |place=Cambridge, Mass.}}
* {{cite book|last=Stanley|first=Amy|title=Selling Women: Prostitution, Markets, and the Household in Early Modern Japan|date=2012|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-27090-9|edition=1|pages=193, 194|jstor=10.1525/j.ctt1pnm4q}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin|33em}}
* [[Nobuyoshi Araki|Araki, Nobuyoshi]]. ''Tokyo Lucky Hole''. Köln; New York: Taschen, 1997. {{ISBN|3-8228-8189-9}}. 768 pages. Black and white photographs of [[Shinjuku]] sex workers, clients, and businesses taken 1983–5.
* Associated Press.  [https://web.archive.org/web/20060208092742/http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/women_turn_to_selling_sexual_fav.htm "Women turn to selling sexual favors in Japan"] (archived copy).  ''Taipei Times'', 9 December 2002, p.&nbsp;11.  Accessed 11 October 2006.
* Bornoff, Nicholas. ''Pink Samurai: Love, Marriage and Sex in Contemporary Japan''.  New York: Pocket Books, 1991.  {{ISBN|0-671-74265-5}}.
* Clements, Steven Langhorne.  ''Tokyo Pink Guide''. Tokyo: Yenbooks, 1993.  {{ISBN|0-8048-1915-7}}.
* Constantine, Peter. ''Japan's Sex Trade: A Journey Through Japan's Erotic Subcultures''. Tokyo: Yenbooks, 1993.  {{ISBN|4-900737-00-3}}.
* De Becker, J. E. ''The Nightless City ... or, The "History of the Yoshiwara Yūkwaku".'', 4th ed. rev. Yokohama [etc.] M. Nössler & Co.; London, Probsthain & Co., 1905. {{ISBN|1-933330-38-4}}.
* De Becker, J. E. ''The Nightless City: Geisha and Courtesan Life in Old Tokyo'' (reprint). Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2007. {{ISBN|0-486-45563-7}}.
* De Mente, Boye Lafayette. ''Mizu Shobai: The Pleasure Girls and Flesh Pots of Japan.'' London: Ortolan Press, 1966.
* De Mente, Boye Lafayette. ''Sex and the Japanese: The Sensual Side of Japan''. Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle Publishing, 2006. {{ISBN|0-8048-3826-7}}.
* De Mente, Boye Lafayette. Tadahito Nadamoto (illus.). ''Some Prefer Geisha: The Lively Art of Mistress Keeping in Japan''. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1966.
* Fitzpatrick, William. ''Tokyo After Dark''.  New York: McFadden Books, 1965.
* French, Howard W. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9505E4D6163BF936A25752C1A9679C8B63 "Japan's Red Light 'Scouts' and Their Gullible Discoveries"]. ''The New York Times''.  15 November 2001.  Accessed 11 October 2006.
* Goodwin, Janet R. ''Selling Songs and Smiles: The Sex Trade in Heian and Kamakura Japan''.  Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2007. {{ISBN|0-8248-3068-7}}, {{ISBN|0-8248-3097-0}}.
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100218055243/http://www.paralumun.com/issuesjapan.htm Japan The Trafficking of Women]}}.
* Kamiyama, Masuo. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20071231212544/http://mdn.mainichi.jp/culture/waiwai/archive/news/2006/02/20060225p2g00m0dm003000c.html The day Japan's red lights flickered out]". MSN-Mainichi Daily News. 25 February 2006.  Accessed 11 October 2006.
* Kattoulas, Velisarios. [https://web.archive.org/web/20020209125017/http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/human_trafficking.htm "Human Trafficking: Bright Lights, Brutal Life"] (archived copy). ''Far East Economic Review''. 3 August 2000. Accessed 11 October 2006.
* Longstreet, Stephen, and Ethel Longstreet. ''Yoshiwara: City of the Senses''. New York: McKay, 1970.
* McMurtrie, Douglas C. ''Ancient Prostitution in Japan''. Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing, 2005. {{ISBN|1-4253-7206-6}}.  Originally published in Stone, Lee Alexander (ed.).  ''The Story of Phallicism'' volume 2. Chicago: Pascal Covici, 1927.  Reprinted Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing, 2003. {{ISBN|0-7661-4115-2}}.
* Seigle, Cecilia Segawa. ''Yoshiwara: The Glittering World of ihe Japanese Courtesan''. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993. {{ISBN|0-8248-1488-6}}.
* [https://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2167547?uid=3737512&uid=2&uid=4&sid=47698994333147 The World's Oldest Debate? Prostitution and the State in Imperial Japan, 1900–1945]
* Talmadge, Eric. ''Getting Wet: Adventures in the Japanese Bath''. Tokyo ; New York: Kodansha International, 2006. {{ISBN|4-7700-3020-7}}.
* Yokoyama, M. "Analysis of Prostitution in Japan". ''International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice'', 19, no. 1 (1995): 47–60.
* Yokoyama, M. "Emergence of Anti-Prostitution Law in Japan—Analysis from Sociology of Criminal Law". ''International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice'', 17, no. 2 (1993): 211–218.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110119052603/http://www.catw-ap.org/facts.htm Coalition Against Trafficking in Women-Asia Pacific Facts and Statistics Trafficking and Prostitution in Asia and the Pacific], See under Japan category. Accessed online 27 September 2007.
* [http://www.japansubculture.com/category/sex-industry/ Sex Industry category], Japan Subculture Research Center—a news blog on "the hidden side of Japan".
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120416010821/http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/japan.htm Fact-book on global sexual exploitation]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100108084254/http://www.globalmarch.org/worstformsreport/world/japan.html Global March Statistics]

{{Prostitution in Japan}}
{{Asia in topic|Prostitution in}}

[[Category:Prostitution in Japan| ]]
[[Category:Society of Japan]]
[[Category:Yakuza]]