Fuzoku Friday
The fuzoku (風俗) industry, or sex industry, is an integral part of Japan’s underground economy and a multi-billion-dollar operation that is difficult to keep track of actual numbers because of…
Is Shibuya Tokyo's new sin city?
Since the tightening of regulations against fuuzoku sex industry businesses in Shinjuku’s Kabuki-cho last year, there have been voices of concern about whether or not the neighborhood will lose its…
Cabaret Club Girls in Japan: All You Ever Wanted To Know
The publication of the magazine Koakuma Ageha in 2005 sent a shock-wave through Japanese society: when did cabaret-club hostesses become socially accepted to the degree that they have their own…
Hosts and Hostesses: Some thoughts on Hiroko Tabuchi's great article
Tabuchi-san wrote an interesting piece about the resurgent popularity of hostess jobs in Japan in the New York Times last week. I contributed a commentary to the debate blog about…
Amazon Japan Says Goodbye to Covert Child Porn
In the Empire of Child Pornography: AMAZON JAPAN REMOVES CHILD PORN FROM THEIR WEBSITE May 2009 by Jake Adelstein and Polaris Project Japan “Idols” in Japan refer to pin-up girls,…
"Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation in Japan. The New Victims: Japanese Teenagers"
Japanese female teenagers are being used to replace foreign women in the sex-trafficking industry, possibly as a result of crackdowns by the Japanese government against the exploitation of foreign women…
Human Trafficking In Japan: An Older Report But Still Worth Reading
From 2006 to 2007, I worked on US State Department sponsored project to study human trafficking in Japan, and contributed a large portion of the final report. At the time,…
Silence Broken: The Plight Of The Comfort Women
Former Comfort Women Await Justice Adair K. Fincher, September 25, 2008 (This is a well-researched article about the women who were forced to work as sexual slaves by the Japanese Army…
Prostitution isn't just for Professionals anymore! How to find a high-paying job in Japan's Sex Industry.
In Japan, prostitution isn’t just for professionals anymore. The quasi-legal sex industry in Japan is estimated to be a multi-billion dollar market and all signs indicate that it continues to…