Japan cracks down on vice clubs forcing women customers into sex work
Police in Japan have confirmed the arrest of four men on charges of forcibly recruiting victims into the sex industry abroad, following raids on 729 "host clubs" accused of preying on women customers, charging them exorbitant amounts and coercing them into prostitution to pay off their debts.
Activists applauded the police action, but said authorities could have acted much sooner to crack down on the problem - and cautioned that much more needs to be done to halt the international trafficking of women.
"It is good that the police are finally taking notice of this problem, but it really should have been addressed a long time ago," Yoshihide Tanaka, secretary general of the Liaison Council of Parents Protecting Youths (Seiboren), told This Week in Asia.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
"The sex industry has for many years had close connections with the police, who have too often been reluctant to intervene, but now because of the actions of groups such as ours and the media coverage, that is changing."
On Thursday, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police confirmed the arrest of the four men for allegedly recruiting women via the "Dekasegi Charme" website to work in the sex industry in the United States. The site promised opportunities to "earn tens of millions of yen a month" for women over the age of 18.
Yoshihiko Usui, a 53-year-old broker, is accused of introducing two women to sex industry contacts in the US last year. The women worked in brothels, with one reportedly being paid 900,000 yen (US$6,000) for the work over 10 days and the other 2.5 million yen in the space of a month.
Ryosuke Imamura, 37, is accused of creating the website. Authorities believe Usui and Imamura, along with two other men, arranged for as many as 300 women to travel abroad to work in the sex industry in the US, Canada and Australia over three years.
Authorities believe the group raked in around 200 million yen (US$1.32 million) by passing the women on to contacts abroad.
Japanese police were alerted to the group after US authorities identified in April last year unusually large numbers of women attempting to enter US airports and questioned them on suspicion of prostitution links. American police later flagged their suspicions over the "Dekasegi Charme" website to their Japanese counterparts.
The same day as the arrests were announced, Japanese authorities revealed police had raided 729 host clubs in November and December in search of violations of the anti-prostitution law, the employment security law and the adult entertainment business law.
There are around 1,000 host clubs in Japan, where women pay to be entertained by men. The hosts in turn earn their money by convincing their customers to buy expensive drinks, leading some women to run up debts that are practically impossible for them to repay.
Seiboren helps women who have incurred large host-club bills and are being pressured to enter the sex industry to pay off their debts. But Tanaka said thousands of young and impressionable women are still mired in debt traps after being "brainwashed" by hosts.
Of the 729 host clubs searched in 19 prefectures, 203 were fined and told to adhere to the law, such as by clearly displaying drinks prices. The actions of hosts at five clubs were considered to be sufficiently serious that they were ordered to suspend their operations.
In a separate case, a host was arrested in Tokyo in March for forcibly taking a woman's national health insurance card and attempting to force her into prostitution to pay off a debt, Jiji Press reported.
Tanaka said Seiboren is cooperating with similar organisations in the US and hoping to build further connections to combat the problem of sex trafficking.
"It is good that more people are becoming aware of the situation and the police are finally getting involved, but this has not ended," he said.
"We cannot become complacent. This is just the start."
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Copyright (c) 2024. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
