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© KYODOMan found guilty of forcing women into sex trade to clear 'debts'
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cla68
If he didn’t rob them of their free will, then how was a crime committed?
Norman Goodman
cla68 1) they lied about their intentions 2) they overcharged to the point the women had no money to pay 3) they offered only one means to escape the fake debt 4) they threatened violence either explicitly or implicitly.
This is why prostitution needs to be legalized and regulated; so that enough women can flood the market and drive crooked pimps like this out of it.
tooheysnew
Is this judge an idiot or what !?
one moment he’s saying ‘there’s no room for leniency’,
the next moment ‘he gave a more lenient sentence’
JeffLee
A suspended sentence. No wonder international groups have blasted Japan for sex trafficking. It's got a normally harsh criminal justice system that goes easy on the traffickers. No mention of fraud/exortion charges for the padding bills and debt.
Vince Black
Well done judge! That harsh sentence will certainly deter others!
Dango bong
who responds to people who approach you in the streets anyway? gullible
JJ Jetplane
4 year suspended sentence. Lol
Only 2 years as the ring leader of a force sex trade operation.
What do you call it when you force someone into the sex industry? FORCE is the key word here.
SauloJpn
These news make me so sad! How come this is not lenient? How about an eye for an eye here? How would they feel about paying that debt to society with their body? This is one time I would totally vote for a Law of Talion!
Do the hustle
This scum bag who is the ring leader of a group of twenty other scum bags gets a suspended sentence for forcing hundreds of girls into prostitution? I guess the phrase ‘Miscarriage of justice’ does not exist in Japan.
jcapan
Except for the fact that such establishments have been in business since the first time I came to Japan 20 years ago. Or that countless sleaze bars are still plying their trade in places like Roppongi, not far from those just mandarins in Nagatacho. Or that the government, the police and the yakuza all seem to have certain agreements in place that allow such activities to continue as long as the stink of predation doesn't get too out of hand. I imagine they targeted the wrong young woman whose family raised a fuss.
Want to put a stop to this, eliminate sleazy tout-pimps in one stroke. If we see you on the street approaching young women, we will arrest you. Close their clubs and the BJ bars and deri-heru clubs. Of course, then what would a sizeable percentage of young people working in this industry do for work? That's the real dirty secret in Japan--if you eliminated the sex industry the unemployment rate would double.
rainyday
This is insane,if there was ever a case that screamed “This guy needs to spend some actual time behind bars”, this is it.
gogogo
Insane they get no prison time, clearly a Yakuza comnection at play.
kurisupisu
Forcing people into sex work to repay debts is a form of slavery-especially when those ‘debts’ have been fabricated.
Who would have thought that slavery was an issue in Japan?
FizzBit
And policed!
Criminal International sex trafficking increased in New Zealand after they legalized prostitution.
Ah_so
Possibly gullible. So what? They are still innocent victims of crime. You write as though they deserved what happened to them.
Tokyo-Engr
Send this piece of filth to a U.S. prison where he can be turned out and forced into the prison sex trade to pay off his debt to society.
Kobe White Bar Owner
suspended for four years........
SaikoPhysco
The Japanese Government views prostitution, whether forced or coerced, as some sort of inevitable facet of society. Therefore they give gang and yakuza related entities lax sentences for these crimes. Now, if you and a friend came up with this scheme, they'd throw the book at you because you were cutting into organized crime territory.
blahblah222
One of my friend is currently caught in a scheme similar to this.
There’s no escape. Poluce don’t care once women are forced into sex trade. Everything she makes she have to pay the guy while she can barely afford food.
This type of thing seems very common in Japan
wanderlust
This has been happening for decades. Women in debt go to the fuzoku or sex-related businesses.
nandakandamanda
Early travel documentaries record individual Westerners arriving in Japan and attempting to free women out of service to such rackets. They might let the woman go for a large sum, but it all comes down to money.
Scrote
Yet the judge gave a suspended sentence. Where do they get these clowns?
It should be possible to nullify these "debts" through a simple court procedure, and to have the gangsters arrested for harassment. Not much chance of that with the hopeless Japanese "justice" system.
Wakarimasen
Lenient sentence shows the bias Japanese "justice" has for men and against women, especially if sex is involved.
Luddite
A suspended sentence for pimping, enabling rape and slavery.
Japan needs some new laws to catch up with the 21st century.
Jimi
The Japanese forcing women into prostitution?, now where have i heard that before?
Jimi
The yakuza, politicians and police are colluding and make big bucks from the sex trade, so of course they will be lenient.
lostrune2
Wait, wha......? Only explanation that makes sense is if the women loved it?
Stewart Gale
Another day, another ridiculously lenient sentence handed down by a Japanese court.
Legrande
Anyone here remember the article a couple of days ago in which the US praised Japan as doing a good job regarding human trafficking?
WilliB
I do not see how this scam is particularly related to the sex trade. Would the moralistic outrage here be different if he had offered them to work off their debts with other work? I.e. factory work? In that case you might want take a second look at all those China produced high-tech gadget that you all love so much. The issue here is forced labour, not sex.
Alfie Noakes
That was just a little bone tossed to Shinzo in return for buying all those American stealth planes.
Ionius
A suspended sentence! It reminds me of the movie “The Godfather”. What the victims need to do is visit the Japanese equivalent of Don Vito Corleone. That is the only way they will get justice.
seadog538
First heard of this in Japan in 1960---still goes on!
Ah_so
WilliB - because almost certainly it is done as a strategy for recruiting to the sex trade. Young, attractive Japanese women are not usually knocking at the door of soaplands. Demand therefore outstrips supply and suppliers need to seek ways to meet this demand.
The sex trade therefore needs to find a way to entrap women into a debt which they can't escape
Thunderbird2
You mean get one group of Yakuza to wipe out another? Wouldn't the women then be in debt to their 'saviours'?
Joe Yan
But the 2 and half year sentence was suspended for 4 years....suspending the sentence is showing leniency.......
AustPaul
So, are the prosecutors going to appeal the sentence?
Brian Wheway
Now these guys have been sentenced, how about the cops going back and rearresting them on fraud charges, which since they have committed another crime they loose the suspended sentence stuff, now the can be convicted of fraud, and go to prison for that as well as the original charges/sentences. and then rearrest them on some other fictitious charges, and repeat.
Jalapeno
The same scam happens to guys - ぼったくり - where guys are charge an outrageous amount for a drink at a bar. How come they are not forced into prostitution?
smithinjapan
"The extensive, systematic and occupational crime was highly malicious. There is no room for leniency in the defendant's motive for gain,"
So... why the suspended sentence? Only in Japan!
Andrew Crisp
So if there was no robbing them of free will, minor sentencing would have been the only option the Judge made a good call.
Whats the definition of "pushing them into the sex trade" - there was no mention of violence or blackmail, there's more to this story than whats being reported - irresponsibility on the womens part is coming to mind.
This whole case makes no sense, irresponsibility or gullibility Yes - a stranger approaches women on the street, takes those women to a bar offering a large "tab", when these women couldn't pay offered them a way out by working the "redlight" industry - again makes no mention of violence, threats of violence or blackmail, what did these women think a "bar bill" was an opportunity to drink without paying
SwissToni
Can’t fathom why there’s no jail time here, the fraud, coercion and slavery of hundreds of women is clear evidence that this man and his fellows are a danger to society. What is a criminal justice system for if doesn’t pluck these odious fe*#ers from our midst?
Jimi
another good example of a warped, messed up so called justice system that exists in Japan.... clear collusion here either by local politicians or the police...or both.
garypen
Apparently, there was some room, after all.
macv
am disgusted by the suspended sentences in so many cases justice is blind in japan
commanteer
Lemme guess... is it, maybe, because the girls were forced to work in the sex trade? Just a wild guess, that. I might be wrong.
Right. My daughter comes to me and tells me she is in debt and needs to make money. She got a job offer at the Apple factory, but a job turning tricks all night long pays better. I say "it's up to you darling - all the same to me."
Tell me on what planet the sex trade and a factory job are viewed equally? I am pretty well travelled, but haven't seen this in on Earth.
albaleo
Is there some information behind that that isn't being reported here?
Bugle Boy of Company B
The women involved in this scam are truly victims and I feel sorry for them. But... WOW! They are really stupid!!
Bugle Boy of Company B
The women involved in this scam are truly victims and I feel sorry for them.
The government aught to have some kind of promotion to education people (young women) about this sort of scam. Sort of like those educating (mostly) elderly citizens against the "ore ore" (It's me!) scams. But the question is where do you do those promotions...? high school??
Toasted Heretic
You feel sorry for them but still have to denigrate them, all the same. Hmm.
No, people is just fine. Men need educating too, clearly.
Mocheake
Why a suspended sentence, you say? I say, different day same country.
albaleo
People are asking about the suspended sentence. The article says he was found guilty under the "employment security law". If he coerced women into sexual activities against their will as the article implies, I'd assume he would be charged under a more basic criminal law. I still wonder if we are missing some details.
bajhista65
That's one of the problem in Japan Judicial Branch. Too lenient in punishments. Prosecutors, Lawyers and Judges seem to need a lot to know about Criminal Law. IMHO
Cliff
Corrupted Judge.
commanteer
Yes, people do lots of stupid things when they are young. Then they grow up, and forget how stupid they once were - and start calling the younger generation stupid.
This is why I strongly recommend keeping a journal. Pick it up 20 years later and be amazed at how stupid you really were - and at how your brain whitewashed all memories of the stupidest stuff.
bullfighter
A major reason for this problem is that prostitution as such not legal in Japan. Japan should follow the lead of Holland, Germany, some Australian states, etc. and legalise prostitution.
There is no mention whatsoever of trafficking in the article and no indication that the women were not Japanese.
SaikoPhysco
@bullfighter.... you miss the point. By keeping Prostitution illegal, the Government can control who benefits from it. If they were to Legalize it.... anyone could jump into the business.