Prostitution in Japan

Prostitution in Japan has existed throughout the country's history. While the Prostitution Prevention Law of 1956 states that "No person may either do prostitution or become the customer of it", loopholes, liberal interpretations, and lax enforcement have allowed the Japanese sex industry to persist and flourish.

According to various estimates, there are roughly 300,000 active sex workers in Japan. The sex industry generates an estimated 2.3 trillion yen ($24 billion) annually, which could amount to roughly 1% of Japan's GDP according to some studies.

Sex trade and sex services may be referred to as fūzoku (風俗), which also means "manners", "customs", or "public morals".

Since Japanese law defines prostitution strictly as "intercourse with an unspecified person in exchange for payment", most fūzoku services offer non-coital services such as conversation, dancing, or bathing, sometimes accompanied by sexual acts that legally are not defined as "intercourse", in order to remain within the law.

Sex workers in Japan face structural challenges, including limited labor protections, lack of social security coverage, and social stigma. Estimates suggest the number of sex workers could be higher if part-time or clandestine operators are included.

From the 15th century, Chinese, Koreans, and other East Asian visitors frequented brothels in Japan.

This practice later continued among visitors from "the Western regions", mainly European traders who often came with their South Asian lascar crew (in addition to African crew members in some cases). This began with the arrival of Portuguese ships to Japan in the 1540s, when the local Japanese people assumed that the Portuguese were from Tenjiku (天竺, "Heavenly Abode"), the ancient Chinese name (and later Japanese name) for the Indian subcontinent, and thus assumed that Christianity was a new Indian religion. These mistaken assumptions were due to the Indian state of Goa being a central base for the Portuguese East India Company at the time, and due to a significant portion of the crew on Portuguese ships being Indian Christians.

Hundreds of Japanese people, especially women, were sold as slaves. Portuguese visitors and their South Asian and African crew members (or slaves) often engaged in slavery in Japan. They bought or captured young Japanese women and girls, who were either used as sexual slaves on their ships or taken to Macau and other Portuguese colonies in Southeast Asia, the Americas, and India, where there was a community of Japanese slaves and traders in Goa by the early 17th century. Anti-Portuguese propaganda and exaggerations were actively promoted by the Japanese, particularly with regard to the Portuguese purchases of Japanese women for sexual purposes.