Coming on the heels of the hottest September in recorded history, October 2023 will be remembered as the month when the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department launched the biggest crackdown on prostitution in recent memory, snaring no fewer than 80 streetwalkers.
Just prior to that event, Spa (Oct 3) interviewed several anonymous males whose case studies give an idea on the incentives for working women to converge on the area.
Case No. 1, male, age 58: Spends about ¥100,000 per month on sex, at the rate of two or three times a week.
Comments: "There are cops around, but mostly they just ask the woman her age (to make sure she's not a minor). It's illegal but it's not penalized so it doesn't work to discourage the practice. If there were penalties, nobody would come here, myself included. As long as girls are around to sell their services, my conscience doesn't bother me."
Case No. 2, male in his 30s: Spends between ¥300,000 to ¥500,000 a month on sex, at the rate of two or three times a week.
Comments: "Before I used to troll for women on X (formerly Twitter), and would invite women to meet at an izakaya. Or else I might follow recommendations posted by other satisfied customers. Listening to the girls talk however, I have come to understand the problems they confront in their work."
A man who enjoys watching, but not doing, told the magazine, "All I do is tease them," he chuckles. "Giving somebody trouble will bring the cops. I'm afraid to catch an STD, and some of them might be minors -- no way I'd want to pick one up. I only lapsed once, when I was drunk.
"My wife manages our household expenses and she doles out ¥30,000 a month to me. The girls are said to do it four times an evening, and top earners might bring in maybe ¥120,000 a day, right? They're highly paid.
"A lot of the girls on the street wear face masks. If I want to see their full face, I say to them, "Do you want some juice? I'll treat you to one from the vending machine. Then you'll take off the mask so you can take a drink."
Spa also raises the question of why men's procuring the services of prostitutes is not subjected to punishment.
Attorney Sho Wakabayashi works out of the Gladiator Law Office, whose website says his personal maxim is "Stay hungry, stay foolish."
Wakabayashi points out that in the case of prostitution, "penalties are not built into the law."
"In cases where the females are punished, it is not for prostitution, but soliciting or loitering. With the exception of cases where the woman is younger than 18, penalties are not considered for the customers."
From April 2024, Japan's Anti-Prostitution Law is due for a revision. "The purpose will be to provide support to women, and not discourage prostitution per se," says Wakabayashi.
Masanori Sento, a writer who covers the Kabukicho scene, tells Spa's reporter, "It may be a bit of a wild guess, but I suspect that the reason why the district has not completely cleaned up at this time is because Shinjuku Ward is expecting economic benefits from inbound tourism. Last April, Tokyu Corporation opened the Tokyu Kabukicho Tower high-rise, and I suppose the presence of a 'pink' area next to it is seen as a great tourist attraction. In the April 1 issue of the community newspaper Shinjuku Shimbun, the director of the Kabukicho Promotion Board, Mr Sugiyama, suggested establishing the post of "night mayor" for the area, the way things are done in some European cities. The mayor of Shinjuku Ward, Kenichi Yoshizumi, seemed to be enthusiastic about the idea.
"I sense that Sugiyama intends to use the location as a catalyst for the night economy," Sento says.
© Japan Today
17 Comments
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TaiwanIsNotChina
And yet our porn is uncensored in the US, so go figure.
1glenn
There seem to be many articles about prostitution in this outlet. Having said that, may I say that I am very disappointed in the ultra-puritanism that seems to permeate American culture. This country was largely founded by religious extremists, and it shows.
gcFd1
This is next on my list of hot spots to hit.
Yubaru
Thing is they aren't "technically", it's just the media/press calls it that. It's some real stupid guano and I 100% agree with you!
Yeah, and it might actually help with the birth rate too!
Tatami53
It is insane that anyone is being arrested for being a "prostitute."
Sex work is not going to "go away." And more importantly, I would be my life that many of the so-called politicians in this country (and probably any country) have hired the services of a male or female sex worker.
By continuing to see it as "dirty work," by continuing to shame people for paying for it and shame people for offering it, laws should be set in motion, as another commenter said, and sex work should be made legal.
That said, if someone can drink or vote, they should be able to work as a sex worker. Also, they would need to have regular health check-ups. That is only fair to them and their clients. It's stupid to think that one can't catch an STD.
But more importantly, people need sex education and they need to communicate their needs and hopes and wants and desires with their important other. I think one of the biggest problems in relationships is that people fail to communicate what they want and need, and this drives one or the other of them to see companionship elsewhere.
On the otherhand, a sexual experience with a professional can give you a whole new outlook on yourself, your relationship and your life.
Everyone needs to grow the f' up and live in the present not the past. Don't know if it will ever happen.
Yubaru
Quite so! I wonder just how many of the people who are against it actually "prostitute" themselves for the companies or businesses they work for. Hell plenty of them get proverbially poked in the arse all day, and yet when it comes real they turn into hypocrites!
opheliajadefeldt
In many EU countries sex working is legal, as it should be. Working in the sex industry has been going on for centuries and it will not stop, why, because it is very much needed, and these women help to raise children, pay for homes, keep their families together...etc... And to be very honest, if i ever had to choose between working for a disgustingly corrupt corporation, or a politician, I think I would choose being a sex worker. At least it is honest work and a lot more interesting......ps. please stop using prostitution, sex working is better.
cclz
@piskian. Thanks for a much needed morning chuckle
Elvis is here
I second that idea.
Yubaru
Comedy central here! Like you have never paid for sex. Wait one, you do know what sex is right?
Prudish thinking like this only makes things worse for everyone involved!
If the women or men choose to be prostitutes of their own volition, not coerced or extorted in any manner, but purely by their own choice, so what?
What right do you have to tell anyone what they can do with their body? Let me guess anti-abortion too!
Officially legalize it, regulate it, tax it! Everyone's happy! (Well except you perhaps!)
Yubaru
What's up with the articles on prostitution? Is there going to be an escort section on JT next?
falseflagsteve
It needs to be made illegal and men who are caught soliciting should be named and shamed on posters and also their families and workplaces informed of their perversions. This will ensure at least a massive reduction in this immoral behaviour.
The women need help to reform and earn a respectable living if they slip up and continue this profession severe punishments should be meted out as a deterrent to others.
Pimps should have their assets stripped and serve a prison sentence.
piskian
Spa certainly has a predilection for this topic.
I wonder if their 'journalists' are claiming expenses....
browny1
When the previous emperor visited my city a good while back, all the "soaplands and the like" were instructed by local authorities to close down for a few days.
Why?
It was thought that many were in the vicinity of and could be seen
from the imperial suite of the luxury hotel where the royal couple were
staying.
Heaven forbid if the morals of the royal highnesses were to be
corrupted from the top floor while looking at some pink neon.
But as soon as the tour was over - business back to normal.
Unfortunately the couple couldn't experience any sense of this
normality - warts and all.
Is the Kabukicho crackdown a watered down version of this - got to
keep the peasants sensibilities in line.
GBR48
Stop being so prudish and stop banning adults from making a living or spending their cash.
dagon
Seems this is a feature built into the system, probably because many of the people taking advantage of Japan's commodification of sexual services are at the highest reaches of influence and power and the fact is barely hidden (yakiniku and Ginza hotesses after a Diet session?).
Remember during the pandemic some inappropriate comments about how it would force a lot of cute girls into the world of fuzoku and mizu shobai?
These are used in Japan instead of a social welfare safety net.
Speed
Just leave it alone. Prostitution should be legal anyway.