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July 15, 2025
 

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PROSTITUTION

Osaka Prefectural Police headquarters
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 12, 2025
Osaka police crack down on crime ring over underage prostitution
The group, made up of roughly 70 members, is suspected of recruiting about 130 underage girls for prostitution through social media.
People walk down a street in the red-light entertainment area of Kabukicho in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo on March 31.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 20, 2025
Social media helps fuel growing 'sex tourism' in Japan
Only certain sexual services are prohibited in Japan, and it is the sex workers — not their clients — who face fines or prison, if caught.
The skyline during sunset in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Japan's new underground criminal groups operate under a highly organized and brutal system.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 10, 2025
How police are cracking down on 'scout' sex broker groups
Major scout groups are under scrutiny, as authorities uncover a far more systematized and sinister network than previously imagined.
Beniko, a former sex worker-turned professional photographer, browses though her new photo book in Sumida Ward, Tokyo, on Feb. 10. The 52-year-old has set out to visually document Japan's pleasure districts.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 30, 2025
Former sex worker records Tokyo's red-light history
"I can't make up for lost time, but I want to document the sex industry as part of history," says Beniko.
The illuminated advertising board of a host club in Tokyo's Kabukicho entertainment district. The bill approved by the government on Friday aims to ban hosts from emotionally manipulating customers into making excessive purchases — a common tactic in the industry.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 7, 2025
Japan looks to crack down on host club exploitation with tighter regulations
Police received 2,776 consultations nationwide related to host clubs last year, with many involving women coerced into sex work to cover unpaid bills.
Billboard advertisements for host clubs in the Kabukicho area of Tokyo.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2025
Tokyo police step up crackdown on sex worker scout group
The group is believed to have earned about ¥7 billion over five years by dispatching women to the sexual service businesses that offered the best pay.
Koichiro Ito, a producer of the hit Japanese anime film "Your Name," has been convicted of "violating laws on child prostitution and pornography" as well as non-consensual sex and the filming of indecent images, a Wakayama District Court spokesperson said on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 3, 2025
'Your Name.' anime producer jailed over obscene acts against minors
Koichiro Ito was reportedly accused of paying a 15-year-old girl money in return for sex, and demanding that another teenager take and send him explicit photos of herself.
English-language signs and other materials seized from men’s aesthetic salon Sparaku by the Metropolitan Police Department on Tuesday in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 4, 2025
Tokyo police arrest brothel operator catering to foreign tourists
About 60% of the brothel's customers were non-Japanese, drawn in by promotions on its English website, introduction videos and street touts.
Police officers from the Metropolitan Police Department conduct a search at the premises of Natural, one of Japan's biggest sex worker scout groups, on Monday in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 28, 2025
Tokyo police arrest members of major sex worker scout group
The group had up to about 1,500 scouts nationwide, and its annual revenue is believed to have reached about ¥5 billion.
An advertisement in Tokyo's Kabukicho, Japan's largest red-light district. The country is home to a thriving adult entertainment industry and has recently seen a boom in sex tourism fueled by the weak yen and availability of red-light services.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 30, 2024
From geisha to oshikatsu, toxic tropes fuel sex industry
It isn't only the foreign gaze that produces stereotypes of Japanese women as submissive and promiscuous. Local laws and cultural norms play just as important a role.
OnlyFans CEO Keily Blair gestures during the Axios BFD event in New York on Oct. 12, 2023.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 30, 2024
How OnlyFans turned into a global empire bent on redefining porn
For all its ambition and influence, the inner workings of OnlyFans remain opaque.
Then U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz runs up the East Capitol stairs as the deadline to avert a partial government shutdown approaches on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 30, 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 24, 2024
Matt Gaetz found to have paid for sex and drugs, and obstructed U.S. Congress
Matt Gaetz was found to have paid $90,000 to 12 women, a substantial portion of which the panel found was likely for either sexual activity or drug use.
The streets of Tokyo's Kabukicho entertainment district in 2020. Consultations over matters relating to host clubs have been increasing every year at police stations nationwide, according to the National Police Agency.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 19, 2024
National Police Agency panel calls for stricter rules against host clubs
The expert panel recommends targeting malicious practices, rather than specific establishments, to cover more ground.
A vendor sells a box of cigarettes across rolls of barbed wire, separating Thailand and Myanmar, in Mae Sot, Thailand, on Aug. 18, 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 17, 2024
Myanmar’s war has forced doctors and nurses into prostitution
The rise in prostitution is another blow to the status of women in Myanmar.
A woman is arrested for soliciting prostitution near Okubo Park in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in October.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 5, 2024
88 arrested for soliciting prostitution near Tokyo park so far this year
The arrests reflect ongoing challenges in curbing illegal activities in Shinjuku's Okubo Park area, which has been dubbed a “prostitution haven” on social media.
A car carrying suspect Ryotaro Masuda, who was indicted for allegedly beating his 25-year-old girlfriend to death, leaves the Shibuya Police Station in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 21, 2024
Man charged with murder allegedly made victim date other men for money
Investigators suspect Ryotaro Masuda beat his girlfriend repeatedly and invested money she received from coerced involvement with other men.
The group executive is denying violating the employment security law, while the other four have admitted to it, according to sources.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 19, 2024
Japan police arrest executive of group referring women to sex trade
According to the sources, the group, called "Akusesu," had about 160 members who used aliases among themselves.
Daisuke Tanaka's profile photo on his Instagram account
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 13, 2024
Host arrested on suspicion of coercing client into prostitution
A host club employee in Tokyo’s Kabukicho entertainment district was arrested for allegedly attempting to force a female client into prostitution.
Indian and Bangladeshi girls rescued from sexual exploitation stand near the window of a house provided by a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Kolkata on Sept. 11.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Nov 7, 2024
Trafficked: The girls sold for sex in India
A 2023 U.S. report on trafficking said that India is making "significant efforts" but still falls below minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
Investigators from the Osaka Prefectural Police conduct a search last month at the high-end Japanese restaurant Tenhime, operated by Tateki Okuda, in the city of Osaka.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 6, 2024
Osaka brothel owner arrested for allegedly forcing 150 into prostitution
The suspect, who had already been arrested for facilitating prostitution, was newly arrested along with four others for offering venues for prostitution.
U.S. urges clarity on Japan’s role in potential war over Taiwan, report says
A Ground Self-Defense Force member conducts a military drill with an anti-ship missiles unit, at the GSDF's base on Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture in April 2022.
Tourists in Japan have telemedicine options before calling 119
Foreign tourists at Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo. More than 1 million international visitors have a medical issue in Japan every year.
Tropical Storm Nari moves northward, with possible landfall Tuesday
Tropical Storm Nari's forecast path as of Monday morning
Nissan clinches $4.5 billion bond deal after orders soar
Nissan Motor has raised $4.5 billion through a junk bond sale in U.S. dollars and euros, part of which carries a record-high coupon rate.
Students in Japan struggle with Japanese language and math sections on national exam
The correct answer rate for the Japanese language section on a national test dropped to 67.0% from 67.8% the previous year among elementary school sixth-graders.
Japanese scientists discover clue to why women burn more fat than men
Scientists say a recently-published study could help explain why women are typically less prone to weight-related conditions and may lead to new therapies that target calorie-burning mechanisms.
Music idol and anime fandom merch is big business
Businesses who cater to fandoms gathered at Tokyo Lifestyle Week for the second annual Oshikatsu — Merch Collection Expo, a trade show devoted to fandom goods.
U.S. urges clarity on Japan’s role in potential war over Taiwan, report says
A Ground Self-Defense Force member conducts a military drill with an anti-ship missiles unit, at the GSDF's base on Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture in April 2022.
Tourists in Japan have telemedicine options before calling 119
Foreign tourists at Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo. More than 1 million international visitors have a medical issue in Japan every year.
Is Japanese skin really ‘too smooth’ for Hideo Kojima’s games?
Hideo Kojima, the leading auteur in Japanese video games, has skirted controversy in the wake of the release of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan
By Megha Wadhwa

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