Comments on: Fuzoku Friday: “Prostitution” vs Prostitution

By: Sarah Noorbakhsh

Sarah Noorbakhsh — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:22:24 +0000

Big John: Korean and Columbian, not Korean-Columbian. My mistake, the entry has been corrected! I would imagine a number of them come of their own volition since there are a number of Central and South Americans with connections to Japan, but I don’t know the numbers for sure.

Rich: Gotanda is quite the hotspot (I guess we could call it the G-spot?) too. Not sure about the regulations thing, hopefully Jake will pipe in with some information.

By: Rich Pav

Rich Pav — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 05:30:05 +0000

Seems to me that trying to clean up Tokyo is like playing whack-a-mole. Move ‘em out of Kabukicho and they pop up in Shibuya or Ikebukuro.

Here’s something I’ve always wondered. Are there rules and regulations that licensed fuzokuten have to abide by to protect employees and customers from STDs? Judging from some of the services I’ve seen offered, the answer looks like no.

By: Big John

Big John — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 06:35:31 +0000

“seven Korean-Columbian prostitutes”

Do they mean, some are Korean and some are Columbian ?
Are there a lot of foreign prostitutes in Japan ? Are they trafficked or come of their own accord ?

Columbia is a very long way from Japan

By: RMilner

RMilner — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:47:16 +0000

A lot of people outside Japan have heard of 4chan though they may not be aware it is based on 2chan.

By: Jake Adelstein

Jake Adelstein — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 11:03:39 +0000

By 2chan, you’re referring to 2 Channel the widely read bulletin board, I assume. (I’m not sure it’s well-known outside of Japan). Yes, “delivery health” at a “hotel” or “derihote” does often include actual intercourse but it can’t advertise the service.
I’ve known a lot of dodgy sex shops where the owners were always given notice before a raid. And sometimes the owners were foreigners. Obviously, there is protection money paid and there have been a few cases of cops being arrested and fired for taking bribes from sexual service establishments and warning them when raids were about to take place—so it’s not just rumor. The question of how wide-spread such corruption is something that I can’t answer. The current police chief of Azabu PD (in Roppongi) is a total straight arrow and that’s why you see a lot of the clubs there being shut down. Of course, Governor Ishihara also has a bug up his butt about cleaning up Tokyo—probably because he felt that was important in having the city host the Olympics.

By: RMilner

RMilner — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 09:32:23 +0000

The difficulty with such research is the reluctance of the subjects to be involved in any formal process of questioning, for obvious reasons. Similar issues arise in all research into human sexual behaviour.

It would be possible to gather some qualitative data if the researcher were prepared to sample the services himself.

By: NM

NM — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 08:49:01 +0000

Maybe these things were supposed to be left to the readers’ imaginations, but:

1) “Hotel health” includes “goal in”, or the establishment will wind up pilloried on 2chan, and lose its customers in short time.

2) When a shop gets busted, it is almost always staffed by foreigners. This may be because Japanese businesses know how to navigate the waters better, but I’ve heard more sinister accusations. Namely that the police and some of their “friends” have vested interests in closing down independently-operated shops, especially when they don’t pay protection.

By: Jake Adelstein

Jake Adelstein — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 08:04:38 +0000

I don’t think a good study has been done in years. I’ll talk to Fujiwara-san at Polaris Project and post the results if they exist.

By: MatthewD

MatthewD — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:49:14 +0000

Has there been, or is it possible, to do any study concerning the demographics of women involved in “prostitution” and prostitution?