Industry News — Crime, Regulation & Trends

A Missing Contract, Two Years On: Okayama Applies Japan's Adult-Video Consent Law for the First Time News
Okayama

A Missing Contract, Two Years On: Okayama Applies Japan's Adult-Video Consent Law for the First Time

Kurashiki police referred a 34-year-old unemployed man from Imabari, Ehime, to prosecutors on August 17, 2026, on suspicion of contracting a teenage girl for an adult video without giving her the written disclosures Japan's 2022 performer-protection law requires. It is the first time Okayama prefectural police have applied the statute, and the case surfaced only because of a separate arrest six months ago.

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Three Years Without a License: Kochi Police Arrest a Bar Operator and a Yamaguchi-gumi Affiliate Over a Hostess Lounge News
Kochi

Three Years Without a License: Kochi Police Arrest a Bar Operator and a Yamaguchi-gumi Affiliate Over a Hostess Lounge

Kochi police arrested three people on August 17, 2026, over a downtown lounge they say operated for more than three years without the entertainment license the law requires. One of the three is identified as a member of a group under Goyu-kai, a Yamaguchi-gumi affiliate headquartered in Kochi City. The bar surfaced during an unrelated investigation, and police say they have seized its books.

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Japan Is Reviewing the Law That Replaced Its Anti-Prostitution Safety Net. The Numbers Are Going the Wrong Way News
National

Japan Is Reviewing the Law That Replaced Its Anti-Prostitution Safety Net. The Numbers Are Going the Wrong Way

The health ministry has convened a panel to review the Act on Support for Women Facing Difficulties, the 2024 law that took over the protective machinery of Japan's Anti-Prostitution Act. Emergency shelter placements have fallen roughly 40 percent in a decade, eight prefectures still have no residential facility, and fewer than one municipality in five has adopted a plan.

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Tokyo Emptied Okubo Park of Street Prostitution. Reporters Found the Trade in the Hotel Doorways News
Tokyo

Tokyo Emptied Okubo Park of Street Prostitution. Reporters Found the Trade in the Hotel Doorways

Two field reports published this week found the corner of Kabukicho that became shorthand for Japanese street prostitution largely deserted, three years after it filled up. Shinjuku Ward says patrols and arrests brought the absolute numbers down. Both reporters also found the women a short walk away, in hotel entrances and the gaps between buildings, arranging the same transactions by phone.

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Japan's Sex Industry for Women Doubled in Four Years. The Law Written to Stop Manufactured Romance Doesn't Reach It News
Japan

Japan's Sex Industry for Women Doubled in Four Years. The Law Written to Stop Manufactured Romance Doesn't Reach It

New figures published August 13 put Japan's women's-oriented sex services at 400 to 500 shops and roughly 7,000 male therapists — more than double the count four years ago. The sector grew through the same period in which Japan rewrote its nightlife law to stop businesses from using manufactured romance to extract money from customers. That rewrite covers host clubs. It does not cover this.

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Neighbors Told the Landlord. In Hamamatsu, That Ended a 'Men's Esthe' in a Banned Zone News
Shizuoka

Neighbors Told the Landlord. In Hamamatsu, That Ended a 'Men's Esthe' in a Banned Zone

Shizuoka police arrested three women on August 8 over a 'men's esthe' allegedly selling sexual services from an apartment unit in a Hamamatsu district where storefront sex businesses are banned — a case that began when tenants complained to the building's management company about the traffic. A fourth woman found inside was arrested on suspicion of overstaying her visa by four years.

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