For Polaris, the work of helping to catch abusers of children will continue, along with its battle against human trafficking. The organization sees the two crimes as linked.

“Child abuse can be physical abuse, sexual abuse or neglect, it happens anywhere,” Polaris Japan director Shihoko Fujiwara tells The Japan Times. “The kids (that are abused) are especially vulnerable though, because they don’t have anybody to protect them. I meet a lot of kids who survive by selling their body because that is how they have to survive. Those kids who are abused are easy targets for traffickers, whose aim is huge profit from sexual exploitation.”

Fujiwara says that the Japan branch of the organization, which is run by two full-time staff, a part-time worker and around 22 volunteers, helped around 35 to 40 victims escape sexual exploitation at the hands of traffickers last year. In addition to this, the organization helps to train employees in fields such as teaching, social work and law enforcement on the dangers and signs of trafficking.

Read the rest at A light of hope for abused children.

Ironically, the day before the above article was published, the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly killed an ambiguous bill that would prohibit the sale to minors of manga, anime and video games that depict children in sexualized situations. The idea doesn’t seem to hold much popularity with lawmakers or those involved in the industry, as illustrated by coverage at Anime News Network and The Japan Times.

Like most prefecture-level governments in Japan, Tokyo already has an existing Youth Healthy Development Ordinance to prohibit the sale of “harmful publications” to minors. The Tokyo Metropolian Government’s bill would specify that such “harmful publications” would include sexualized yet non-explicit materials that do not involve actual people. 1,421 manga creators, 10 publishing companies, the Japan Pen Club, the Japan Cartoonists Association, and the Writers Guild of Japan voiced their opposition to the bill.

(via Anime News Network)

The Japan Times quotes Meiji University associate professor Yukari Fujimoto as saying that hiding depictions of minors in sexual situations “can hamper the ability of children to develop a ‘healthy’ attitude about sex.” The proposed bill does stink of a conservative book-burning, but one would wonder what American study Fujimoto got her statistics from on exposure to sexual material and rates of sexual crimes. And while there are dozens if not more studies on the affect of pornography on children, why is the focus not more on keeping sexualized images of youth out of the hands of adults?

The article concludes with Fujimoto saying that the authorities should work harder on “preventing real children from being sexually attacked.” While this is true it could be said that the lightness with which sexualized images of youth are looked upon–from pornographic manga to junior idols, not to mention legalized possession of child pornography–is at the root of the problem and an excuse for police and authorities to remain slow-to-act when the few laws that do exist actually have been broken.

From the book "Illustrated Guide To The Underworld"

If child pornography and border-line materials didn’t bring so much money to so many people, it would have been made illegal a long time ago.

In a move to put a stop to illegal deai-kei cafes, the National Police Agency announced they will tighten regulations regarding love hotels from January of next year. Although the businesses appear to be love hotels, they do not meet standards set by law and some are used as a location for enjo-kosai. Says the Mainichi Daily:

There are about 3,590 facilities that closely resemble love hotels but are not recognized as such because they do not meet the standards set by the current law, according to the NPA. About 80 percent of them are situated in areas where adult entertainment businesses are prohibited by law.

According to the Asahi, the new regulations will specify that love hotels are businesses that have “rest” and “stay” prices displayed in front of the building, have an entrance that is shrouded by curtains or some other obstruction, and may be used without seeing employees face-to-face. Those under 18 years of age must be prohibited from entering, and the business cannot be within 200 meters of a school.

Also from the Mainichi Daily (and a great AP article here), Japan has finally begun to respond to international pressure regarding child pornography, with the National Police Agency and other government ministries pressuring the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to agree to ban access to websites dealing in child porn instead of simply demanding site owners delete them. Despite some concerns that the move may be an infringement of freedom of expression, most seem to welcome the plan. And it couldn’t come sooner, as the day after the announcement was made police reported that seven child pornography sites–five “ranking” sites and one run privately–had been discovered and the owners ordered to shut them down. Still waiting for them to get their act together on the junior idol stuff..

Back on the fuzoku topic, it was reported today that a Dentsu employee was arrested for running a nightclub in Kanagawa Prefecture that illegally employed Filipino waiters and hostesses. The man started the club in August 2006, reportedly trying to pay off debts he accumulated through “entertainment” and the purchase of a 43 million yen condo. To staff the pub, he started a fake web design company to get work visas for the Philippine nationals. As we learned earlier, Dentsu is known as being quite the harsh taiikukai-kei company, so you have to wonder where the entrepreneur found the time to run his other operation.

Nearly 70%, or 67 girls, said that they would never want to create a family environment like their parents have compared to 18% of 100 girls in the same age range who were randomly surveyed. 46% said they were ignored by their parents (compared to nine in the random survey) and 36 girls said they were abused by their parents (compared to seven in the random survey).

The report went on to say that 77 out of 100 girls surveyed randomly said they were normally home by 9pm, while only 34 of those involved in enjo kosai answered similarly. Thirty-eight of those who had been caught said they often stay out past 11pm.

While the survey results aren’t anything startling or new–anyone working in child welfare or juvenile delinquency could tell you that an unhappy home environment and little parental involvement often results in youth committing crimes–this was still the first time a survey has been done focusing on girls who have been caught in enjo kosai.

“Many teenagers doing enko (enjo kosai) feel alone,” says Polaris Project representative Shihoko Fujiwara. “Kids may turn to prostitution because of a lack of social protection, in the cases of poverty or abuse, but a lot of them may lack self esteem because they’re never really treated as valuable by their parents.”

As an interesting aside, throughout both the survey and the article, girls who had been caught doing compensated dating are referred to as higai shonen (被害少年 – damaged youth). Some girls are technically in violation of deai-kei site laws, but they’re also victims of child welfare laws being broken.

Says Fujiwara, “For a lot of kids enko is a way to make money, but at the same time it’s self-destructive behavior.”

Some girls get wrapped up in en-deri–an abbreviation of enjo kosai delivery health–a service that provides call girls who are underage. According to the Sankei Shinbun, en-deri is a booming business that is easy to set up because entrepreneurs need only a single computer to get started, and employees, known as a “cast,” are easy to come by.

Says the article, in the case of one en-deri business, the girls were taking home 50% of their earnings. One 16-year-old girl reportedly made over ¥350,000 in 15 days–a feat for any high school student. Hearing a story like that, many likely wonder about the motivation of girls who turn to prostitution.

In the end, Fujiwara says there is no one factor to blame but that society as a whole needs to try harder to support children and young adults. “Right now society pressures just parents and schools to raise kids,” she points out. “But what if parents are abusive? There needs to be more social resources around kids within the community.”

March 27 – Tokyo’s “Kyabakura Union”–a labor union formed by and for cabaret girls–held their first protest Friday night in Shinjuku’s infamous Kabukicho district.

Around 150 members marched through the streets followed by a truck with giant speakers that pumped out music into the neighborhood, shouting things such as “Pay us right!” Some participated in the 80-minute protest wearing full cabaret dress.

Both men and women in the industry are demanding better working conditions, and the group was also working to make known a new consultation service for those who are having problems. In the cabaret business many have problems with not getting paid, violence, sexual harassment and fine systems, and union representative Rin Sakurai explained they hoped the efforts will help improve the poor standards that have become normal in the industry.

Some are apathetic, however. One male cabaret employee complained, “Those who get fined for being late, it’s their own fault.” Higher ups in the union were seen walking and smoking during the protest and verbally abusing traffic cops in the area.

Sankei News has some (small) photos of the demo here. Read more about the union itself here.

The first clip is from “The Zokufu 24 Hours,” a program on a local Chiba TV station. We find ex-pro wind surfer and host, Saito Ryotsu, here to learn along with viewers “How to Hotel Health.”

We find Saito in front of “Kiken na Baito Ikebukuro East Exit,” a “hotel health” shop near Ikebukuro station (notice the hours of operation.. could it really close this early?). He heads to the reception desk of the shop and meets the owner, who explains that after choosing a girl a customer heads to a particular room in a particular love hotel, after which the girl arrives. The two then have a “little bit of pervy play.” The owner whispers to Saito the specifics, and he laughs in excited disbelief. The girls are aged 18-23 to appeal to customers with a Lolita complex.

Saito chooses then heads to the hotel, and is soon met by 21-year-old “Mei-chan.” Speaking in simple, childish Japanese, Mei says her favorite kind of customers are the really perverted ones who make her to exhibitionistic things like flash out the window. She says she originally wanted to be an “idol” (model and singer), but now found out about “fudols” (fuzoku idol) and is content with becoming that.

Mei explains that when customers come they become her boyfriend. She then takes a school uniform out of her bag and changes for Saito. He then supposedly tries out Mei’s services, which appear to be pretty satisfactory as he declares, “Hotel health is the best!!!” The segment ends with Saito asking the manager for a discount.

Despite how comically the “delivery health” service is to many, on the flip side of the coin we have illegal brothels that provide more traditional services. Here is a news clip about a police bust on a brothel in Kawasaki earlier this year:

In the clip we see police interrogating several women inside a small building, and the narrator explains that all the women in the brothel were Koreans who are suspected of having come to Japan to become prostitutes. An officer asks one woman her name, and although she doesn’t understand Japanese she tells him she arrived in Japan on vacation. We see small rooms lit with pink lights, containing nothing but futons, electric fans and other personal goods.

Customers were charged 10,000 yen for the deed, and investigators find cash inside one woman’s purse. They ask one woman how many customers she’s had today and she insists the bills are her own personal funds. The girls lived in the brothel and advertised services themselves.

The report says that the area in Kawasaki where the bust occurred is full of illegal prostitution. They show a video taken in May of women standing in windows calling out at men. When a man asks one of the women how much, she tells him 20,000 yen. In order to hide activities from the police the brothels have a lookout, who the camera catches nearby. Police catch him on patrol while they bust the brothel, and ask him about wireless radios and a list of license plate numbers found inside. The lookout had the numbers of 70 police cars, allowing him to spot undercover cops then radio back to the brothel and tell the girls to run.

In all they arrested four lookouts and 18 Korean women. This is apparently not an unusual occurance in Kawasaki, and police had busted another brothel in the same area earlier in the year, arresting the Korean who ran the operation and seven Korean and Columbian prostitutes.

Hello.

My child has been attending kindergarten from March, and since then I’ve been working as a delivery health girl. I tell my husband, “I’m still looking for a job.. today I went to the employment office but still haven’t been able to find anything,” but in reality I’m doing good business every weekday from 10am-3pm.

I want to tell the hubby that I’ve found a job, but am not sure how to go about it. Before I got pregnant I worked an office job, so I want to tell him I’ve found the same sort of work.

The delivery health place I work at has an alibi service, so I can tell him I’m a temp worker.. but I’m worried he won’t really believe me. I’m afraid I’ll give them a company name that doesn’t exist, and either he or my parents will be like, “I’ve never seen ads for that company…” or “What are you doing every day?”

What can I say that will be most believable? The shop I work at specializes in married women, so when I go I’m dressed in chic clothes like pencil skirts and look like an office worker. Since it starts at 10am, chances are I’ll never bump into my husband, but he takes weekdays off two or three times a month so he’ll see what I’m dressed like then.

I don’t want it to get out what I’m doing and it makes me think I should quit but don’t… I want to keep on working there for the time being. My husband would definitely never forgive me for something like this, and we’ve got a pretty good relationship right now.

I’m sorry for being so soft about the whole thing, but appreciate any replies.

Could you imagine if you had a wife or girlfriend that was sneaking off every day to work in the sex business while you’re in the office? Probably the majority of people couldn’t, and thus covering up a “high-income part-time job” is a real worry for a lot of fuzoku girls.

That’s when the alibi service comes into play. Much like similar services in the West, the alibi service will drum up evidence of fake jobs, including business cards, employee ID card and statements of income. But while most western alibi companies advertise their services for married people in “discreet relationships,” for those who want to take a day off of work or impress their friends with some ultra-cool job or sports experience, Japan’s alibi services don’t beat around the bush when they advertise their services for those working in “the nightlife business and sex industry.”

For a mere ¥5,000 a month, a girl can have a fake pay stub mailed to her home with the name of a temp agency, ad agency, real estate agent or retail business. Shop owners can get discounts when registering a group of women, which is how many fuzoku businesses advertised in magazines can provide alibi services to employees. The services specialize in other business as well, such as creating false documents such as statement of income for those looking to take out a home loan, finding a guarantor for those looking to rent an apartment, or proof of employment for those who want to put their children in daycare but don’t have a job.

But what about the query above? Are these things really believable? The top-rated reply:

I’m a woman in my 20s who also works in the fuzoku business.

I think it’s best to stick with the “office work” you’ve always been doing. If someone tries to ask about it, it’ll be that much easier to reply if you know the work. But if something happens and you get a call while you’re servicing a customer, you can’t answer, right? I am (of course) working int he industry without my parents knowing, so I tell them I’m a telephone operator. That way it makes sense when I don’t answer the phone.

What kind of services does the alibi company your shop uses have? Most of them provide verification of employment and fake pay stubs…

The place I work has two phone lines, one of which they answer under the name of the fake company created by the alibi service, so that when my parents or husband demand I give them my office number I’ve got something to give them.

If you’re worried about what you wear when you leave the house, I think it’s best to change at a station on the way or at the shop. (I know people who do this) Probably 20-30% of the women who do this work keep it a secret from their husband or boyfriend. But they all take it as far as they can to make sure they don’t get caught.

I think it’s best to get down a company phone number (with someone answering as an alibi), a company address (if the shop has an office, then that address), and what you do at work. Give a thorough look at job magazines and find a good setup from the start.

Finally, while you can obviously make a lot of money, the fact is that a lot of people can’t stop once they start. Create a financial goal for yourself and don’t be greedy; when you reach it, wash your hands of the whole thing so you don’t get found out by your family.

If this is what the person who asked the question has decided to do, then I think they can. Good luck.

A 10-year-old "junior idol" poses at a bookshop in Akihabara. Fans who buy a girl's DVD get tickets to events where they can meet idols and take photos. Photo by Sarah Noorbakhsh

An article posted a few weeks ago but recently brought to my attention through Japan Probe:

Tokyo Metro Police create dedicated anti-child porn unit

A special Tokyo police unit to combat the spread of child pornography on the Internet will begin work Thursday.

The unit will also operate a 24-hour hotline, hoping that citizens’ reports will help expose child pornography violations. The hotline will be the first in the country dedicated to combating the banned material.

In 2008, the Metropolitan Police Department arrested 60 people on child pornography violations — about double the number of four years before — and in a joint operation with the Fukuoka Prefectural Police in January and February this year arrested a group operating a pay site for obscene images out of Hong Kong and a pornographic movie site from a server in the United States in order to avoid exposure in Japan.

Read the article in full here.

And a second more recent one:

Gov’t sets up working team on eradication of child pornography

In response to the rise in child pornography cases, the Cabinet Meeting on Anti-Crime Measures has decided to set up a working team toward the eradication of such crimes.

The government made the decision — in light of the international community’s criticism of Japan’s delayed handling of the issue — that in addition to making amendments to the Law for Punishing Acts Related to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, related ministries and agencies must take other action toward eradication.

By mid-December, National Public Safety Commission Chairman Hiroshi Nakai is expected to propose the establishment of the working group in a Cabinet Meeting on Anti-Crime Measures. The first meeting of the group, to be composed of vice ministers and ministerial aids from related ministries and agencies, will be held in January. It will also consider fielding input from experts on Internet distribution and care for child victims.

Read the article in full here.

Neither article explains whether the people arrested last year were involved in possession of full-blown child pornography or “junior idol” materials. Despite Amazon’s crackdown in 2007, books and videos depicting scantily clad teen and pre-teen children in sexually provocative poses are still available in bookstores throughout the country, though most popular in Akihabara. Some say the industry gets by because they simply “toe the line” between artful photography and pornography, but an arrest of Shinkosha producer Jisei Arigane in October of the same year for pushing the limits too far while making a DVD in Bali would make some wonder if that line is in the wrong place.

The Japan Times featured an excellent article last week about the latest trend of iede (家出) web sites where young girls who have run away from home look for kami (神 – god) or men who will take them temporarily off the streets in trade for sex or other favors. Some of the girls are aged 13 or younger, and use the sites to not only find protection, but also money.

Observers say such sites have emerged because the operators and male users want to dodge new laws on “deaikei,” or “encounter sites” (where members of the opposite sex can meet), that ban people under 18 from using them, diminishing the chance they will attract underage girls.

“If you regulate one type of Web site, users will go to another,” said Atsufumi Suzuki, an expert on Internet activity. Runaway sites first emerged about five years ago, he said.

With online encounter sites flourishing as a hotbed for sex with minor girls seeking pocket money, a law was introduced in 2003 that bans under-18 users and, since last year, requires site operators to register with authorities and confirm the identity of their users.

Read the full article here: ‘Runaway sites’ latest Net-based exploitation of young girls

We asked Shihoko Fujiwara of Polaris Project for her thoughts on the issue, and she had this to say:

Polaris Project Japan has known for sometime that SNS sites are sometimes used by criminals to target victims for commercial sexual exploitation, including trafficking, and we’ve known that runaway underage girls are especially vulnerable to sexual exploitation.

最近はコミュニケーションが希薄で、彼氏や援交相手を見つけるのもネットです。見えない相手に自分の切実な相談をするほど孤立していて、自分が侵されている権利を友達にも先生にも話せないのでネット上の知らない人に話すという逆転した状況があります。そういう現実の中では、彼女たちが使う言葉でＱ＆Ａをつくってネットに流すのが効果的だと思い、女の子向けの携帯サイトもつくっています。

(Recently, the Internet had become the place for girls to find boyfriends and enjo kosai (compensated dating/teen prostitution) partners. These girls are so alone that they have to find solstice in someone they can’t even see. They talk about their situation to strangers on the Internet because they feel they can’t tell friends or teachers. Working with those facts, we think making a Q&A on the Net using these girls’ own words would be most effective, and created own mobile site for runaways.)

This article confirms that where these two meet — the “iede saito” — is most dangerous for at-risk girls.  This is one of the reasons we launched our on-line SOS site for teen-age girls and young women (www.POL214.com).  The internet is a wonderful tool for connecting people, but it can also pose risk to those who are already vulnerable. Polaris Project Japan is committed to take the fight against sex trafficking to what is now ground-zero for traffickers — the internet — to help women fight back.

Jake Adelstein, an editor of this site and a board member of Polaris Project Japan, also had this to say:

Japan doesn’t have an effective support system for teenage girls or boys that run away from home.  There are some shelters but in general the response of the police or authorities upon finding runaway children is to return them to the same abusive homes they fled from in the first place.  Japan’s laudatory enforcement of anti-human trafficking laws has made it more difficult for traffickers to exploit foreign women and it seems to be the case that they are now setting their sites on Japan’s rootless teenagers, both boys and girls, as the new chattel for sexual slavery and exploitation. The business model of human traffickers relies on paying the sex workers/sex slaves as little as possible or nothing, and they have become very adept at recruiting young exploitable girls over the web.  They (the traffickers) extend what appears to be a helping hand and then get a death grip on the girls and put them to work–as prostitutes, as porn actresses, as escorts, as massage girls–whatever they can be used for to make money.  The men they see as benevolent “gods” often turn out to just be demons in disguise.

Chat Lady

Good for idiots: 2

No nudity required: 4

Work when you want: 3

Easy stand-by: 5

Calorie burner: 1

Payment: 1-star

Enjoy conversations with men, either over the internet as a Chat Lady or in a cafe as a Talk Lady. This isn’t a “service” job, and you can make money just by making conversation.

Health

Good for idiots: 4

No nudity required: 2

Work when you want: 3

Easy stand-by: 5

Calorie burner: 4

Payment: 4-stars (At a shop), 3-stars (Delivery-style)

Girls mainly provide service for customers using hands and mouth. Because fees are low the customer turnover tends to be high, and short-courses are also available with even more customers per shift. But the money is good!

Soap

Good for idiots: 3

No nudity required: 1

Work when you want: 4

Easy stand-by: 5

Calorie burner: 5

Payment: 5-stars (At a shop)

Girls use their whole body to wash customers and provide services in a bed. Because there’s a bedroom and bathroom the working area is big. Customers come here looking for high-class service, so technique is important.

Note:  Soaplands are supposedly the only fuzoku business where customers actually have intercourse with the girls, and this gets around prostitution laws by having the man and the woman supposedly decide to have sex independent of the money that was exchanged for a shower and massage.

AV Actress/Model

Good for idiots: 3

No nudity required: 4

Work when you want: 5

Easy stand-by: 5

Calorie burner: 5

Payment: 2.5-stars (Delivery-style)

The majority of work is in adult DVDs and magazines. Girls have a chance to reach the big time and become legitimate celebrities if they do well in this industry, and there are many actresses recently who got their start as an AV (adult video) model. This is a great job for girls who enjoy sex and like to stand out.

Information provided here is not meant to promote nor criticize the sex industry or sex workers, and is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only.

LunLun Work is once again here to help, with a handy work guide that simply and clearly lays out a description, demands and money-making potential for sex industry jobs from “lingerie cabarets” to soaplands. For example:

Image Club

Good for idiots: 3

No nudity required: 4

Work when you want: 4

Easy stand-by: 4

Calorie burner: 4

Payment: 4-stars (At a shop) 3-stars (Delivery-style)

Here girls dress in various types of costumes, such as a schoolgirl, nurse or maid, and roleplay with customers. Playing pretend can be fun!

Sexy Pub

Good for idiots: 4

No nudity required: 4

Work when you want: 4

Easy stand-by: 3

Calorie burner: 3

Payment: 2.5-stars (At a shop)

Girls let customers cop a feel while having a chat “cabaret” style. Because there’s no quotas or hard services, this line of work is ideal for beginners.

Seikan Aeste

Good for idiots: 4

No nudity required: 2

Work when you want: 3

Easy stand-by: 4

Calorie burner: 4

Payment: 3-stars (At a shop), 2.5-stars (Delivery-style)

Massage customers’ naughty bits. For girls who think, “I don’t want to be touched by guys…” or “I hate being on the receiving end..” this job is for you. Girls can generally keep their clothes on, making this a good job for beginners.

Kosai Club

Good for idiots: 2

No nudity required: 5

Work when you want: 5

Easy stand-by: 5

Calorie burner: 1

Payment: 2.5-stars (Delivery-style)

Go on dates with men registered with the service. Because both men and the call girls are registered workers can feel safe. The job essentially involves just going out for dinner and drinks, and whatever else couples might do. If you don’t like the guy, it’s OK to say “NO”!!

S&M

Good for idiots: 1

No nudity required: 2

Work when you want: 4

Easy stand-by: 4

Calorie burner: 4

Payment: 3.5-stars (At a shop), 3.5-stars (Delivery-style)

Fulfill men’s fantasies by playing S or M. While there are some places that practice harder play, recently there’s been an increasing number of soft businesses. Because customers are paying a premium price, salaries here are higher then usual.

Not only do magazines such as LunLun Work provide an ample number of available jobs for those looking to make some quick yen through sex work, but they also provide simple, cut-to-the-chase information for the curious newbie.

Information provided here is not meant to promote nor criticize the sex industry or sex workers, and is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only.