On May 4, a tiny cafe in Tokyo's Koenji neighborhood was transformed into an informal meeting hall. Porn-film kingpins (and a "queenpin") had called an "emergency meeting" to respond to a recently released report by Human Rights Now (HRN).
On March 3, the international NGO, which is based in Tokyo and has U.N. special consultative status, reported the results of an in-depth investigation into the pornography business in Japan. The report concluded that the industry had violated the human rights of women and girls through means such as blackmail, virtual enslavement and seeking illegal breach-of-contract damages from women who try to back out of films after being persuaded or duped into acting in them.
Porn industry bigwigs hosting the event this month struck back. Erotic fiction writer Kureichi Matsuzawa claimed the report has "smeared the entire industry with the rot of a few bad apples." The hosts deftly played the woman card, accusing HRN of "painting a picture of actresses as helpless damsels in distress with no will of their own, and fostering discrimination against those in the industry who take great pride in their work."