Police say they took action against 40 human traffickers in Japan in 2018

40 people? This is a sad joke! With the immense popularity of Japanese AV and the "pink" light districts that abound in this country this number has got to be just scratching the surface here!

There are hundreds of establishments employing women from Asian countries.

When Japan takes hundreds of thousands of laborers there will be even more..

No comment on who is responsible for the trafficking, then? Just descriptions of the girls who were victims, but not of the actual criminals. Ain't that always the way...

What Maria said

Name and shame the Yakuza!

This is a good thing.

@Yubaru

you have to remember that they go by the exact definition of what a human trafficker is. While there are many women in the sex industry, there are also many there by choice. That means they are not being trafficked.

Choice is the biggest difference between human trafficking and illegal prostitution.

What action was actually taken?

A slap on the wrist, as a brown envelope was passed across the bar or snack counter?

And life carries on for the traffickers...

Sadly, data from labour organisations such as the ILO show that of all the girls that are repatriated back to their home countries, around half will return within a year, the lure of money, filial duty and a relatively better life is too much, compared to breaking your back in a rice paddy in the sun.

Kaoru Aoyama of Kyoto University has done extensive research on the topic, and outlines the difficulties of getting interviews with these sex workers, but also notes that many of these programmes to try help end up driving sex workers deeper 'underground' and out of reach of help.

American guy I know in BKK is part of team that gets paid $1500 for each Thai or other SE Asian lady they escort to Japan. They say they are engaged so practice answering questions if any immigration officers get nosey like 'what kind of furniture to do you have in your apt in BKK, what do you see out of the windows? blah blah, but they usually are whisked thru immigration at Narita with no hassles. Immediately outside the airport a Japanese man takes possession of the lady's passport, take her to a van waiting nearby and she's never seen again. What happens is they are taken to brothels located in countryside for local laborer customers, no phone no internet no contact with outside world. Very occasionally a girl can escape make her way to a pay phone, call an embassy, get shelter then is sent packing back home.

(Pinky in mouth) "Last year we arrested...... 40 PEOPLE!!!!"

@macv - there is a group in Japan called the Akahige Society (named after the Kurosawa film) who try to help these girls and return them home. On one occasion in Tohoku, a girl managed to escape the brothel, and made it to a police station, thinking she was safe, but the local police returned her to the brothel owners!

Is that something to brag about? Here's a cookie! You did your job!