A new ordinance requires JK businesses to be registered with the police, and prohibits the employment of girls under the age of 18. In 2017, with the Olympics approaching, the police cracked down on the rising number of JK businesses across Tokyo. A society that commercialises and consumes underage women as a sexually high-value commodity has a problem Pornography laws relating to children are also limited – they do not, for example, cover manga, anime, or virtually created content, allowing games such as 2006’s controversial (and now no longer available) RapeLay, in which the player stalks and attempts to rape a single mother and her two school-age daughters. Ordinarily, a child under 18 involved in sex work is automatically considered trafficked, with harsh penalties for those responsible. Crucially, in the case of JK businesses, Japan has no specific anti-trafficking laws in place. Japan’s anti-prostitution laws broadly prohibit the sale and purchase of sex, but there are significant loopholes, of which establishments such as soaplands take full advantage. She is not a high school student, but she says wearing the uniform at the cafe makes her more popular. “Even on TV, comedians will say: ‘I like to date junior high school girls.’ People make fun of those comments, but still they are made.”Įighteen-year-old cafe worker Airi chats with a customer. “We almost allow men to say: ‘Yeah, I’m attracted to young children, as young as 14, 15,’” says Shihoko Fujiwara, founder of Lighthouse, a charity working to end human trafficking in Japan. She highlighted the lack of up-to-date official data and called for a comprehensive strategy to tackle the root causes of exploitation, noting that other forms of popular Japanese entertainment, including “junior idol culture”, are worrying examples of children being treated as sexual commodities. In 2016, Maud De Boer-Buquicchio, the UN special rapporteur on child sex trafficking and sexual abuse, raised serious concerns about Japan’s JK and pornography industry. And while non-physical encounters may make up the majority of reported cases of JK activity, the fact that sex does not take place does not mean no harm is done. Young women in school uniforms can be offered for reflexology and massage treatments, photography sessions and “workshops” in which girls reveal glimpses of their underwear as they sit folding origami or creating jewellery.īut while many of these have a strict no-touch policy, a proportion do lead to physical encounters. The term “JK business” has become a catch-all for cafes, shops and online agencies which provide a range of “activities”, many of which are not overtly sexual. AKB48’s Mion Mukaichi (left) and Mayu Watanabe.
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