With a weakening currency and rising poverty, Japan’s capital Tokyo has become the new hub for “sex tourism”, reported The Star.
Secretary general of the Liaison Council Protecting Youths (Seiboren), Yoshihide Tanaka, told This Week in Asia, “Japan has become a poor country.” The organisation has noted a significant increase in the number of foreigners of all races, but especially Chinese men, who have started visiting the city for its sex industry after post-pandemic travel restrictions were eased.
The phenomenon is coupled with a rise in teenagers and women in their early twenties turning to the sex industry to survive, along with an increase in violence as well, Tanaka said. Many of these activities take place in parks such as the Okubo park, which has become part of the tourism experience for visitors in the city, according to Kazuna Kanajiri, a representative of Paps, a nonprofit that offers support to victims of sexual violence.
Lawmakers have also been advocating for regulations on sex work, with Kazunori Yamanoi of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the country’s main opposition party, saying, “The reality is that Japan has become a country where foreign men can obtain young women and essentially buy sexual services.”
Yamanoi states that this is not just a domestic issue but damages the perception of Japanese women in the international community.