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Prostitution in Japan has a long and varied history. While the Anti-Prostitution Law Of 1956 made organised Prostitution illegal, various loopholes, liberal interpretations of the law and loose enforcement have allowed the Sex Industry to prosper and earn an estimated 2.5 trillion Yen a year. TERMS Many terms have been and are used for the sex industry in Japan. ''Baishun'' (売春), literally "selling spring", has turned from a mere euphemism into a legal term used in, for instance, the name of the 1956 Anti-Prostitution Law (売春防止法 ''Baishun-bōshi-hō''); the modern meaning of the word is quite specific and is usually only used for actual (ie. illegal) prostitution. ''Mizu shōbai'' (水商売), the "water trade", is a wider term that covers the entire entertainment industry, including the legitimate, the illegal and the borderline. '''''Fūzoku''''' (風俗), lit. "public morals", is commonly used to refer specifically to the sex industry, although in legal use this covers also eg. Dance Hall s and Gambling and the more specific term ''seifūzoku'' (性風俗), "sexual morals", is used instead. (This rather odd-sounding term originates from a law regulating business ''affecting'' public morals; see Legal Status below.) HISTORY As in all countries around the world, prostitution has been practiced in Japan since time immemorial. Shinto does not regard Sex as a taboo, while the impact of Buddhist teachings regarding sex has been limited. Shogunate era In 1617 , the Tokugawa Shogunate issued an order restricting prostitution to certain areas located on the outskirts of cities. The three most famous were Yoshiwara in Edo (present-day Tokyo ), Shinmachi in Osaka and Shimabara in Kyoto . The districts were walled and guarded to ensure both taxation and access control. Rōnin , masterless samurai, were not allowed in and neither were the prostitutes let out, except once a year to see the '' Sakura '' cherry blossoms and to visit dying relatives. Meiji era The Opening Of Japan and the subsequent flood of Western influences into Japan brought about a series of changes. Japanese novelists, notably Higuchi Ichiyo , started to draw attention to the confinement and squalid existence of the lower-class prostitutes in the red-light districts. In 1908 , Ministry of Home Affairs Ordinance No. 16 penalized unregulated prostitution. Escaping poverty in their own land, many Japanese women, known as ''Karayuki-san'' (lit. "gone to China"), worked (or were sold) as prostitutes into South-East Asia (esp. Singapore ), Siberia , Hawaii , Australia and even some parts of India and Africa. War era During WWII , the Japanese military forced women as procured prostitutes for its soldiers in China . Many if not most of the so-called " Comfort Women " were tricked or coerced into service. The women were kept until they contracted diseases and then discarded. They received no compensation, and many survivors are still seeking compensation in Japanese courts. Postwar After the war, SCAP abolished the licensed prostitution system in 1946 . In 1947 , Imperial Ordinance No. 9 punished persons for enticing women to act as prostitutes, but prostitution itself remained legal. Only the Anti-Prostitution Law Of 1956 (No.118, passed May 24th, 1956) — reportedly spurred by alarming rates of venereal disease among troops — made organised prostitution illegal. PROSTITUTION TODAY Legal status The Anti-Prostitution Law Of 1956 (No.118, passed May 24th, 1956) did not make practicing prostitution illegal. It did prohibit the following: soliciting for purposes of prostitution, procuring a person for prostitution, coercing a person into prostitution, receiving compensation from the prostitution of others, inducing a person to be a prostitute by paying an "advance", concluding a contract for making a person a prostitute, furnishing a place for prostitution, engaging in the business of making a person a prostitute, and the furnishing of funds for prostitution. {Link without Title} However, the definition of prostitution is strictly limited to Coitus . This means numerous sex acts such as Oral Sex , Anal Sex , and other non-coital Sex Acts are all legal. The Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Law Of 1948 (風俗営業取締法 ''Fūzoku eigyō torishimari hō''), amended in 1985 and 1999 , regulates these businesses. Types The sex industry in Japan uses a variety of names. Soapland s are bath houses where customers are soaped up and serviced by staff. Fashion Health shops and Pink Salon s are notionally massage or esthetic treatment parlors, and Image Club s are themed versions of the same. Call Girl s operate via Delivery Health services. Freelancers can get in contact with potential customers via Telekura (telephone clubs), and the actual act of prostitution is legally fudged by terming it as '' Enjo Kosai '' or "compensated dating". Today the single and biggest opponent of prostitution is the PTA (Parent-teacher associations), which views it as especially harmful to teenage girls. |
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