> Dear colleagues,
>
> The Japan Times recently printed an article of mine on sex
> trafficking in
> Japan. The article can be found on the Japan Times site at:
>
> http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20060815zg.html
>
> The piece can also be found on my blog at:
>
> http://steve-s.livejournal.com/38437.html
>
> The full piece is below.
>
> I hope the article will contribute to a greater understanding and
> discussion
> of sex trafficking in Japan.
>
> Thank you,
> Steve Silver
>
> ---
> Steve Silver
> http://steve-s.livejournal.com
>
> The trafficking scourge
> Japan has tackled sex trafficking, but challenges remain
>
> By Steve Silver
> The Japan Times
> Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2006
>
> Her journey began with an invitation from a wealthy neighbor – her
> mother's
> childhood friend – in her small Thai village to come and work at a
> restaurant she claimed she owned in Japan.
>
> It ended with her in a Japanese prison, serving a sentence for murder.
>
> Urairat Soimee, like many poor and uneducated women of Thailand, was
> deceived into moving to Yokkaichi, Mie prefecture nearly seven
> years ago
> with the hope of earning enough to provide for her children and
> disabled
> husband. Instead, she was saddled with a large debt and told that
> she would
> have to prostitute herself – or face serious injury, even death, if
> she did
> not comply.
>
> It was after months of horrific abuse that she solicited assistance
> from her
> Thai friend to help her escape – an escape that led to the killing
> of her
> pimp and her conviction for murder.
>
> While in prison she developed a fatal form of cancer. With the help
> of human
> rights organizations, she was allowed to return to Thailand to
> spend the
> last days of her life with her family.
>
> She did not intend to go quietly, however. Her traffickers – the
> family of
> three who were her neighbors – were convicted for trafficking and
> sentenced
> for thirteen years in prison. She also filed a 4.68M baht (14.3M
> yen) civil
> lawsuit against them – thought to be the first of its kind in
> Thailand. "I
> hope that I may witness the end of this story," she was quoted as
> saying.
>
> Urairat Soimee did not realize that hope. The 38-year old died in
> May of
> this year before her trial began. Her adoptive mother has vowed to
> continue
> her fight.
>
> Thailand is one of the primary source countries of women trafficked
> as sex
> workers in Japan, along with the Philippines, Columbia, and
> increasingly
> China, South Korea, and Indonesia. For years, there was resistance
> by the
> Japanese government in taking significant steps to reduce human
> trafficking.
> While Japan was a signatory to the UN protocol against human
> trafficking, it
> could not ratify it due to Japan not having a specific law
> outlawing human
> trafficking. In June of 2004, it was placed on the "Tier 2" watch
> list in
> the U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons report, stating
> that
> Japan was not complying with the minimum standards towards the
> elimination
> of human trafficking.
>
> "The Japanese government was very shocked to know that they were
> placed on
> that list," said Nobuki Fujimoto of the Asia-Pacific Human Rights
> Center in
> Osaka.
>
> That same year, the Japanese foreign ministry adopted an action plan
> outlining measures to combat human trafficking. Many of the
> measures have
> been adopted, among them being the passage of a criminal law
> against human
> trafficking and the revision of immigration procedures that allow
> victims to
> stay in Japan for their own safety and to assist the government in
> prosecuting traffickers.
>
> However, this temporary visa does not allow them to work, thus denying
> victims much needed resources to support themselves through the
> long process
> of a criminal trial. Shelters and other non-governmental
> organizations often
> support victims, but such organizations are almost entirely
> dependent on
> support from the general public as they receive little in the way
> of funding
> or tax breaks from the government. "The government should go
> further in
> securing victims' testimony against traffickers," said Mr.
> Fujimoto. "Now
> there is no institutional support to do this."
>
> An Organized Crime Control Department was established in the
> National Police
> Agency in 2004 to carry out anti-trafficking activities. Last year the
> National Police Agency reported 81 arrests for human trafficking –
> a record
> number for the second straight year. Yet while there have been
> increased law
> enforcement resources committed to fighting human trafficking, many
> convictions result in light sentences and few traffickers have done
> any hard
> time. Only five cases have been prosecuted under the new law so
> far, all of
> which resulted in suspended sentences.
>
> "The NGOs are becoming more vocal," said Andrea Bertone, director of
> HumanTrafficking.org, a clearinghouse for trafficking-related
> issues. "But
> the primary motivation for the Japanese government is the U.S.
> pressure.
> Laws are wonderful, but you need to implement them."
>
> While it is widely known that Japan is a major destination country
> for women
> who are trafficked for sexual exploitation, it is perhaps not as
> commonly
> known that Japan once served in the opposite role -- that of a source
> country. For almost eighty years, largely uneducated and poor
> Japanese girls
> and women known as karayuki-san were trafficked into prostitution
> across
> Southeast Asia and China well into the 1930s – largely the
> culmination of a
> long history of human trafficking and prostitution within Japan. These
> forces – class and gender – are the same ones largely feeding the
> demand for
> sex workers that are trafficked into the country eighty years later.
>
> Yet to paint a picture of the victims of trafficking as poor,
> uneducated
> women duped into prostitution and kept under close guard would not be
> completely accurate. "Most cases are not that simple," says Ms.
> Fujiwara of
> the Polaris Project.
>
> She tells a story of one woman from an East Asian country who had a
> degree
> from a vocational school and was making a decent living in the social
> welfare field, but wanted to change careers and save enough money
> to study
> in Japan. She read an advertisement for a position in a café in
> Tokyo that
> would provide her with transportation and a free place to stay. The
> mamasan
> in charge of the bar even flew from Japan to meet her and interview
> her in
> person. Although her friends said it sounded sketchy, she decided
> to take
> the job and flew to Japan.
>
> However, she soon realized that the café where she would work was
> really a
> hostess bar. Soon after she started working, the mamasan closed the
> bar,
> citing financial troubles. She provided her with a high-interest
> loan, and
> referred her to another hostess club. But her new club required
> dohan, which
> is "dating" clients, and usually included sex. Other women working
> at the
> bar advised her to do it, as it would be "dangerous" for her to
> refuse.
>
> Two years later, unable to pay off her debt, she contacted Ms.
> Fujiwara. She
> was identified as a trafficking victim, and the authorities were
> contacted.
> However, soon after, she ceased contact with Ms. Fujiwara, and her
> whereabouts are currently unknown. The club she worked at is still in
> business.
>
> Many trafficking victims come to Japan on entertainment visas,
> among them
> Filipinos being the largest group. The number of entertainers from the
> Philippines has steadily increased over the last thirty years, and
> reached
> over 82,000 in 2004. Most wind up working in hostess bars, where
> the working
> conditions are usually much different than they had been expecting,
> and they
> are often are forced to perform work that was not stated in the
> contract –
> such as dohan – for lower wages than they had been promised. Although
> foreign entertainers are forbidden by law to work as hostesses, the
> government often turned a blind eye to the practice.
>
> Hidenori Sakanaka, retired head of the Tokyo Regional Immigration
> Bureau,
> attempted ten years ago to enforce the law by investigating
> establishments
> that hired women on entertainment visas. In one year, the number of
> women
> entering Japan on entertainment visas dropped from about 90,000 to
> 55,000 in
> 1996. In response, he received threatening phone calls and pressure
> from
> legislators to back off, and he eventually was transferred to the
> immigration bureau in Sendai. Upon his appointment at the Tokyo
> bureau in
> 2002, the number had shot up dramatically to 120,000.
>
> Under international pressure, however, the government has begun to
> crack
> down, starting last year with the tightening of procedures under which
> Filipinos could be issued entertainment visas, which has greatly
> reduced the
> number of such visas issued. The Ministry of Justice last June also
> imposed
> stricter requirements on club owners, prohibiting those with a
> record of
> trafficking from hiring foreign entertainers as well as those who have
> engaged in illegal employment or forging immigration documents
> within the
> last five years. In addition, the employer must not have a record of
> shortchanging any of the staff for the last three years, helping to
> ensure
> that entertainers are paid a decent wage.
>
> The drop in visas issued to Filipinos has led to an increasing
> number of
> Indonesian women being recruited to fill their role, according to
> several
> NGOs. In addition, there is the risk that the crack down could push
> the
> issue further underground, given the demand for foreign hostesses
> and the
> large number of Filipino women wanting to work in Japan. "The
> Japanese and
> the Philippine governments and the NGOs should closely monitor the
> implementation," Mr. Fujimoto warns.
>
> While Japan was removed from the U.S. State Department watch list
> the year
> following its placement in recognition of its efforts to fight human
> trafficking, it still remains in the list of "Tier 2" nations,
> according to
> the most recent report released in June of this year. The report lauds
> Japan's "remarkable progress", particularly with regard to the
> tightening of
> restrictions on entertainment visas as well as other anti-trafficking
> reforms. The report also notes that the Japanese government has
> provided
> funding to the UN and the International Labor Organization for
> anti-trafficking and rehabilitation programs in Thailand and the
> Philippines. While it states that Japan is beginning to address the
> demand
> for trafficking through education programs in secondary schools, it
> also
> chastised the Japanese government for failing to criminalize the
> demand for
> prostitution that fuels the industry.
>
> "Prostitution and sex trafficking are linked together," says Ms.
> Fujiwara,
> arguing that johns must be made aware that they are participating in a
> crime.
>
> In fact, prostitution is virtually legal in Japan -- only the act
> of coitus
> is banned. In Tobita Shinchi in Osaka, women can be seen sitting in
> open air
> "rooms" along the street, surrounded by decorations and ornaments
> along
> various themes. Some women are dressed in lace lying on a leather
> couch,
> while others are infantilized with red ribbons in their hair,
> surrounded by
> stuffed animals and blankets emblazoned with the ubiquitous "Hello
> Kitty".
> Men walk the streets, leisurely browsing as though they were window
> shopping
> at a department store. Women will take their clients upstairs,
> leaving the
> room below empty – a notification that she is working.
>
> "We must raise awareness that women are not a commodity," said Mr.
> Fujimoto.
> "Many males believe that prostitution is needed in order to prevent
> rape,"
> he said, citing a common justification among men for what is known
> as the
> "water trade"– estimated to be a 10 trillion yen a year industry in
> Japan.
>
> Trafficking is not limited to only foreign women – it also has
> ensnared
> Japanese girls. Three girls in Kobe were approached by karasuzoku –
> literally "crow gangs" – men named for their trademark black suits.
> The
> girls, all of whom were minors, were induced to come with the men
> to a "host
> club", where they were charged outrageously high prices for drinks.
> Eventually, they found themselves with a bill for millions of yen,
> and were
> threatened with physical harm to them and their families if they
> did not
> pay. They were coerced into prostituting themselves and were sold to a
> brothel in October 2003, where they were kept under house arrest.
> After two
> months of forced prostitution, they were able to escape, and
> charges were
> eventually filed by the Hyogo police.
>
> "Society accepts this kind of exploitation," says Ms. Fujiwara.
> "The demand
> is the same. It is still booming."