In Japan, it is currently illegal to receive money for sex, but not to pay for sex. In other words, a sex worker’s customer is not doing anything wrong in the eyes of the law, though the sex worker and the service she works for may well be in breach of the law.
A way around this is that sex workers may not always provide full service, at least nominally.
But in the wake of the moral and media panic over increased visible signs of prostitution in places like Okubo Park on the outskirts of Kabukicho, Tokyo, there are now motions in the government to redress the imbalance in the legal situation, and make it illegal for someone to pay for sex, no doubt hoping it will deter men picking up young, vulnerable women moonlighting as street walkers (since cracking down on the women does not seem to work).
On February 10, the Ministry of Justice announced a panel of experts to begin discussions over revising the current Prostitution Prevention Law to include legal penalties for people who pay for the sex services, not just those who solicit customers.
The wheels of governance move slowly and it will likely be quite some time before the panel’s findings become law, though the Liberal Democratic Party’s large majority will make it easy to pass any legislation. On the hand, many lawmakers themselves probably avail themselves of the services of high-class hookers (perhaps under the guise of papakatsu compensated dating), so perhaps it’s in their personal interests not to pursue a new anti-prostitution law.
Indeed, there are also many gray zones and potential loopholes, not least compensated dating, which comes in many shapes and sizes. Would the law formally classify these as prostitution? This would impact a lot of rich and influential men who have “Minato girls” on the side that they keep happy with gifts of expensive handbags and a few large notes in an envelope handed over after each date.
Any legal change will also make operators very nervous, since publicly visible establishments like soaplands claim not to offer full service, hence can operate in the open. If the new law makes men wary of going, it will lead to a lot of closures, like we have seen recently among a particularly large soapland chain.
