Japan cracks down on vice clubs forcing women customers into sex work

Four arrests were made in connection to a website promising women opportunities to ‘earn tens of millions of yen a month’ in the US sex industry

Police also raided 729 ‘host clubs’ where women pay to be entertained by men, but often run up sky-high bills they are coerced into sex work to settle

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Women walk past an advertisement for a “host club” in the Shinjuku ward of Tokyo in December. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 9:00am, 8 Apr 2024

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.

“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.”