Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the
hands of traffickers Published
reports & articles from 2000 to 2025 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Japan.htm
Japan is one of
several destinations and transit countries to which men, women, and children
are trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual
exploitation … Most officially identified trafficking victims are foreign
women who migrate willingly to Japan seeking work, but are later subjected to
debts of up to $50,000 that make them vulnerable to trafficking for sexual
exploitation or labor exploitation. A significant number of Japanese women
and girls have also been reported as sex trafficking victims. During the last
year, a number of Paraguayan children were trafficked to Japan for the
purpose of forced labor. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report,
June, 2009 Check out a later country report here
or a full TIP Report here CAUTION:
The following links have been culled from the web to
illuminate the situation in Japan.
Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that
are unsubstantiated or even false. No attempt has been made to validate
their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of
particular interest to you. Would you
like to write about Forced-Labor? Debt
Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc. On the other
hand, you might choose to include precursors of trafficking such as poverty and hunger. There is a lot to
the subject of Trafficking. Scan other
countries as well. Draw comparisons
between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. HELP for Victims Polaris Project Japan – 050-3496-7615 International Organization for
Migration -35 45 24 87 Country code: 813- ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Forced Labor? Male Migrant Workers In Japan Have It Tough Suvendrini Kakuchi,
Inter Press Service IPS, Tokyo, Jun 9, 2005 www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/GF09Dh02.html [accessed 16
February 2011] www.ipsnews.net/2005/05/labour-japan-male-migrant-workers-too-have-it-tough/ [accessed 7 June
2017] "While the
problems of human trafficking focuses on women forced into sexual slavery in
Japan, there are many cases of coerced male labor in the country, a situation
that still goes ignored and needs urgent attention," said Tomoyuki
Yamaguchi, a counselor at the Asian Peoples' Friendship, a non-governmental
organization (NGO) supporting migrant workers. He points out that complaints by male workers sound very similar to
those of trafficked women, such as low wages, long and exhausting working
hours, and violence from their bosses.
The bulk of complaints are over unpaid overtime, sometimes running
into years, and injuries in the workplace. The counselor said many of the
workers were reluctant to confront their bosses for fear of being deported
for violating their tourist visas. Colombian Hailed as
Hero in Fight Against Trafficking in Persons Brian Kaper, The Washington File, Bureau of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State, 15 June 2004 iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2004/06/20040616130952mbrepak0.8762171.html#axzz3BcSBZV3F [accessed 27 August
2014] prezi.com/zvxaktppmbju/untitled-prezi/ [accessed 3 February
2018] Francisco Sierra,
Colombia's ambassador to Japan, has made it his personal goal to stop this
trafficking in persons that has taken so many women into forced prostitution.
For his efforts, Sierra was recognized by Secretary of State Colin Powell on
June 14 as one of six heroes in the fight against an illicit industry that
preys upon society's most vulnerable members. Sierra said the
women are told they will find a better life by working in other countries
such as Holland, Japan, and Spain, but they most often find themselves
trapped into working in brothels to pay off their so-called
"transportation" fees; such fees may total as much as $50,000 to
$80,000. Sierra said that the women are expected to pay their captors roughly
$2,000 every ten days or they will be severely punished. ***
GETTING HELP *** Hot Line Reaches
Out To Women Forced Into Sexual Slavery In Japan Chie Matsumoto,
Asian Sex Gazette, April 30, 2005 www.asiansexgazette.com/asg/japan/japan04news19.htm [accessed 16
February 2011] [accessed 3 February
2018] After the State
Department listed Japan in the next-to-worst category, the government began
efforts to eradicate human trafficking and rescue rather than penalize
victims, as well as prosecuting offenders.
The hot line numbers: 0120-879-871 for
English and Japanese,
0120-879-872 for Thai, 0120-879-873 for Chinese and 0120-879-874 for Tagalog. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Japan U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/japan/
[accessed 13 June
13, 2021] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR Indications of
forced labor persisted in the manufacturing, construction, and shipbuilding
sectors, primarily in small- and medium-size enterprises employing foreign nationals
through the Technical Intern Training Program (TITP). This program allows
foreign workers to enter the country and work for up to five years in a de
facto guest worker program that many observers assessed to be rife with
vulnerabilities to trafficking and other labor abuses. Workers in the TITP
experienced restrictions on freedom of movement and communication with
persons outside the program, nonpayment of wages, excessive working hours,
high debt to brokers in countries of origin, and retention of identity
documents, despite government prohibitions on these practices. For example,
some technical interns reportedly paid up to one million yen ($9,200) in
their home countries for jobs and were employed under contracts that mandated
forfeiture of those funds to agents in their home country if workers
attempted to leave, both of which are illegal under the TITP. Workers were
also sometimes subjected to “forced savings” that they forfeited by leaving
early or being forcibly repatriated. PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT Children ages 15 to
18 may perform any job not designated as dangerous or harmful, such as
handling heavy objects or cleaning, inspecting, or repairing machinery while
in operation. They are also prohibited from working late night shifts.
Children ages 13 to 15 years may perform “light labor” only, and children
younger than age 13 may work only in the entertainment industry. The government
effectively enforced these laws. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/japan/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 29 April
2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Individuals generally
enjoy equality of opportunity, and the legal framework provides safeguards
against exploitative working conditions. However, long workdays are common in
practice and have been criticized as harmful to workers’ health. Many workers are
temporary or contract employees with substantially lower wages, fewer
benefits, and less job security than regular employees. Commercial sexual
exploitation also remains a problem. Traffickers frequently bring foreign
women into the country for forced sex work by arranging fraudulent marriages
with Japanese men. Toyota Looking Into
Allegations of Human Trafficking and Sweatshop Abuses Anita Lienert, Correspondent, Edmunds Inside Line, New York,
Jun 19, 2008 www.globallabourrights.org/press/toyota-looking-into-allegations-of-human-trafficking-and-sweatshop-abuses [accessed 27 August
2014] The National Labor
Committee on Wednesday issued a 65-page report, "The Toyota You Don't
Know," which accuses the Japanese automaker of using "low-wage
temps" to build the popular Toyota Prius. The report also alleged that
Toyota has "ties to Burmese dictators" through the Toyota Tsusho
Corporation. "Toyota's much admired 'Just in Time' auto parts supply
chain is riddled with sweatshop abuse, including the trafficking of foreign
guest workers, mostly from China and Vietnam to Japan, who are stripped of
their passports and often forced to work — including at subcontract plants
supplying Toyota — 16 hours a day, seven days a week, while being paid less
than half the legal minimum wage," the group said in a statement. Japan arrests Thai
for human trafficking Bangkok Post, Tokyo,
Oct 08 2007 www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/147209-Japan-Arrests-Thai-Human-Trafficki/ [accessed 16
February 2011] teakdoor.com/thailand-and-asia-news/19674-japan-arrests-thai-for-human-trafficking.html [accessed 11
February 2019] According to local
police, the two "bought" a 27-year-old Thai woman for 2.4 million yen
(642,000 baht) from a broker in May to have her work at Kuo's
bar. They forced the Thai woman into
prostitution, telling her she owed them a 5 million yen (more than 1.3
million baht) debt over her expenses in coming to Japan, police alleged. The case came to light after the Thai woman
sought help at the Thai Embassy in Tokyo, they said. Thai Government and
International Organizations Pledge Cooperation to Provide Assistance to
Victims humantrafficking.org,
June 04, 2007 -- Adapted from: "Trading in People: To ensure adults and
children trafficked in Thailand receive help, state and international
agencies have signed an agreement to not discriminate between victims."
The Bangkok Post (Outlook), 21 May 2007 (edited). (Source: UNIAP Thailand) www.humantrafficking.org/updates/653 [accessed 16
February 2011] "For example,
a Chiang Mai woman in her thirties was lured to Japan by a job broker from
Bangkok who had offered her a job at a home for the elderly, with a monthly
salary of 30,000 baht. Upon arrival in Japan, she realised
she had been tricked. She ended up in a brothel owned by a yakuza gang, but
managed to escape and get to the Thai embassy before she was raped." On
returning to Thailand, the woman had to go into hiding after associates of the
traffickers tracked her down and attacked her. She is now a spokesperson for
an anti-trafficking programme in Chiang Mai. Cops found 38
foreign victims of human trafficking in first half of 2006 29 August 2006 --
Source: mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20060829p2a00m0na031000c.html [accessed 11 July
2013] Activists say many
women voluntarily but illegally enter Japan and are then saddled with
exorbitant debts to their traffickers who enslave them to repay their travel
fees. The trafficking scourge
- Japan has tackled sex trafficking, but challenges remain Steve Silver, The
Japan Times, Aug. 15, 2006 www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2006/08/15/issues/the-trafficking-scourge/#.U_4slaNuVCM [accessed 27 August
2014] Urairat Soimee's 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. Japan Strengthens
Its Efforts on Combating Human Trafficking humantrafficking.org,
August 2006 -- Adapted from: ‘Slamming the brakes on human trafficking.’
Asahi Shimbun, 9 June 2006 www.humantrafficking.org/updates/392 [accessed 16
February 2011] [accessed 11
February 2019] Thailand was chosen
because many trafficking victims in Japan are Thai women. According to the NPA,
169 of the 397 victims taken into custody between 2001 and 2005 were from
Thailand. Most were duped into heavy debts, then forced to work as bar
hostesses or prostitutes. Japan may crack
down on sex trafficking United Press
International UPI, Tokyo, Oct. 31, 2005 laht.com/article.asp?CategoryId=12395&ArticleId=202438 [accessed 27 August
2014] “They know that
they can't go to the police because they have no visas," she said.
"They fear that if they are spotted coming to the shelter they will be
killed, or that their families back home will be hurt by thugs”. Japanese Police
Report Human Trafficking Victims in First Half of 2005 Associated Press
Newswires. 14 July 2005 www.humantrafficking.org/updates/43 [accessed 16
February 2011] The number of
victims was three times the tally in the first six months of last year,
according to the National Police Agency report. The Switzerland-based International Organization
for Migration estimates that as many as 150,000 trafficking victims could be
working in Japan's sex industry.
Activists say many women who voluntarily but illegally enter Japan are
then saddled with exorbitant debts to their traffickers who enslave them to
repay their travel fees. NPA uncovers 29
cases of human trafficking, but report says much more is needed 14 July 2005 --
Source: www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200507140336.html www.childtrafficking.org/cgi-bin/ct/main.sql?ID=1730&file=view_news.sql&TITLE=-1&TOPIC=-1&YEAR=-1&LISTA=No&GEOG=-1&FULL_DETAIL=Yes [accessed 16
February 2011] The problem of
human trafficking continues on a wide scale in Japan, according to a report from
nongovernmental organization Japan Network Against Trafficking in Persons
(JNATIP). They have been lied
to, abused and trapped in the seedy sex industry where defiance is punishable
by gang rapes. And until recently, these foreign women were viewed as
lawbreakers, not victims. Yet the
problem of human trafficking continues on a wide scale in Japan, according to
a report from nongovernmental organization Japan Network Against Trafficking
in Persons (JNATIP). Thai woman admits
selling girl into sex trade The Japan Times,
July 5, 2005 [accessed 27 August
2014] A Thai woman in
Kanagawa Prefecture has been arrested on suspicion of selling a teenage Thai
girl to a woman who manages prostitutes, and a Japanese man in Tokyo was
taken into custody for introducing the girl to another man for purposes of
solicitation, police said Monday. The
MPD quoted Phinkaew as saying that since she
arrived in Japan four years ago, she "sold" about 10 Thai girls and
adult women to pimps and earned 2 million yen to 2.5 million yen for each woman. In October 2002, Phinkaew
sold the girl, who was 13 at the time, to a manager of prostitutes at a
fast-food shop in Shinjuku Ward for 2.3 million yen. Japan's Skin Trade
Shame Associated Press AP,
March 18, 2005 articles.latimes.com/2005/may/08/news/adfg-sex8 [accessed 27 August
2014] In the popular imagination, human trafficking involves women who are kidnapped or otherwise tricked into working as prostitutes. But experts say such cases are rare in Japan. More common are women who come voluntarily but encounter slave-like conditions - and trapping debts - on arrival. Internet date
becomes nightmare South African Press
Association SAPA, Tokyo, 2005-05-13 www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Internet-date-becomes-nightmare-20050512 [accessed 16
February 2011] A Japanese man allegedly chained a teenage girl with a dog collar for more than three months and repeatedly raped and beat her after meeting her in an internet chat room. Human Traffickers Sol Jose Vanzi, Philstar Editorial,
Manila, February 28, 2005 www.libertadlatina.org/Asia_Japanese_Govt_Ends_Legal_Entry_of_Foreign_Sex_Workers_02-27-2005.htm [accessed 16
February 2011] Tokyo wants to clamp down on Japanese crime rings, or yakuza, that bring women into that country from Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America for prostitution and forced labor. Manila should welcome this move and focus on the opening of the Japanese market for foreign nurses and caregivers. Japanese Police
Plan Fresh Crackdown On Sex Traffickers Asian Sex Gazette,
Tokyo, February 3, 2005 www.asiansexgazette.com/asg/japan/japan03news17.htm [accessed 16
February 2011] Japan's crackdown on the sex trade has also drawn international criticism, with weekly pickets outside the Japanese embassy in Manila by Filipinos worried that many legitimate workers would be deprived of their livelihoods. Japan plans to begin restricting the issue of entertainment visas -- often used in human trafficking -- only to Filipinos with two years' training outside Japan or at foreign educational institutes. Report: Japan Sex
Industry Ensnares Latin Women Associated Press AP,
Lima, Peru, April 29, 2005 www.japanaddicted.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1333 [accessed 16
December 2010] www.planet-love.com/smf/index.php?topic=10169.0;wap2 [accessed 3 February
2018] www.pixies-place.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24929 [accessed 11
February 2019] When she arrived she was raped by all three men and sold to a Yakuza organized crime boss, who branded her across the chest with a 6-inch (15-centimeter) rose tattoo. He forced her to provide sexual services to up to 40 clients a day, she said. Human trafficking:
Asia's persistent tragedy Marwaan Macan-Markar,
Inter Press Service IPS, Bangkok, Oct 10, 2002 www.atimes.com/atimes/Asian_Economy/DJ10Dk01.html [accessed 16
February 2011] groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/soc.culture.burma/laTWmsyIaVU [accessed 11
February 2019] www.ipsnews.net/2002/10/rights-asia-experts-tackle-supply-demand-in-trafficking/#more-80991 [accessed 30 April
2020] Ai, a Thai woman in
her early 30s, considers herself among the lucky ones. She was rescued by a
Catholic nun after 10 years of virtual sexual slavery in Japan. "It was like hell," Ai said of
her ordeal as a sex worker that began soon after she was trafficked from
Thailand at the age of 15. "I was dead from the first day. After one
year, I started to take drugs."
Not only was she threatened with abuse at the hands of Japan's
notorious yakuza crime syndicate if she disobeyed commands to sleep with
clients, but she was denied her promised salary on grounds that a substantial
slice of it was needed to pay for the cost of her journey from Thailand. "We were told that once our debts are
paid off, we would be sold to someone else," White Slavery -
Trafficking of Asian women Suvendrini Kakuchi,
The Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan FCCJ At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7
September 2011] Women who were
lured into the sex industry tell horrific stories of gross human-rights
abuses once they are in Japan. Initially promised jobs as waitresses or
entertainers, these young Asian women, usually from poor families, arrive at
Japanese airports only to be met by groups of gangsters. They are then held
in bondage, sometimes for years, for average debts of $30,000. The women work in slave-like conditions,
providing sex to customers on a daily basis. They are under constant
surveillance by their employers and are beaten regularly. Human Trafficking
For Sexual Exploitation In Japan [PDF] International Labour
Organisation ILO, Special Action Programme to
Combat Forced Labour (SAP-FL) www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/tokyo/downloads/r-japantrafficking.pdf [accessed 16
February 2011] INTRODUCTION - AIM
OF THE STUDY
- Relatively few studies have been undertaken on the trafficking of foreign
women into Japan. What is available
forms only a fragmented image of the trafficking industry. Much of the
available commentary consists of broad comment, often by mainstream media or
interest groups. These reports do not
clearly identify information sources or disaggregate terms and broad-based
statistics. The study aims to
make a contribution to understanding of the trafficking of foreign women into
Japan by avoiding generalizations and sourcing data wherever possible. It
aims to add to the body of research in Japan by presenting a clearer profile
of human trafficking: the victims, the abuses they suffer, and the deceptions
used by traffickers. It focuses primarily on the experiences of victims in
order to better understand the push and pull factors of trafficking,
providing details on both the situation in three main countries of origin
(Colombia, the Philippines and Thailand) and the social and legal factors
that make Japan a profitable market in particular for organized crime groups. Japan tries to
erase taint of sex slavery Takehiko Kambayashi,
The Washington Times, Tokyo, June 18, 2004 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7
September 2011] Like most victims of
trafficking in humans, Mia, who wanted to help her family financially, was
told by an acquaintance in Thailand that she could get "a good job"
in Japan. Once in this country,
however, Mia faced something totally unexpected — fictitious debts that she had
to repay by renting her body for sex. She and other foreign women were kept
under rigorous surveillance and never allowed to go out by themselves; they
were shuttled between their apartment and workplaces such as bars and hotels. "I wanted to be treated as a human
being," Mia told Mrs. Otsu. "I am a human being," she said
before describing the humiliations she had endured. Even in Tokyo,
there are very few places victims can go for help. Most private shelters in Japan are
financially strapped and operated by volunteers and private donations. They
receive very little money from the government. The usual way Japan deals with victims of
human trafficking is to arrest them for violating immigration laws and deport
them to their homeland. Politicians and the mainstream media have long
ignored this. "It's hard to say
that the seriousness of human-trafficking issues is widely recognized in
Japanese society," said Kaname Tsutsumi, a professor who teaches sex and ethnicity
issues at Kyushu International University. "In addition, the society
casts a very cold eye on foreign women involved in prostitution." Colombia, Japan to
tackle trafficking The Asahi Shimbun --
International Herald Tribune IHT/Asahi, January 19,2005 www.asahi.com/english/nation/TKY200501190138.html [accessed 16
February 2011] www.cancilleria.gov.co/sites/default/files/ENCOUNTERS-BETWEEN-COLOMBIA-AND-JAPAN.pdf [accessed 30 April
2020] The Japanese and Colombian governments have agreed on a series of steps aimed at preventing human trafficking and providing support to sex-trade victims. This is Japan's second government-level agreement on human trafficking. The first was reached with the Philippines in September. The officials explained to their Colombian counterparts about Japan's new policy of treating women duped into exploitation as victims to protect. The women will be allowed to stay in shelters for an extended period of time rather than be subject to immediate deportation. Japan put on
sex-trade watch list CNN Producer Paul Courson contributed to this story, Cable News Network
CNN, Washington DC, June 14, 2004 www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/14/trafficking.report/ [accessed 16
February 2011] Japan "has a
huge problem with slavery, particularly sex slavery, a tremendous gap between
the size of the problem and the resources and efforts devoted to addressing
the problem," senior State Department adviser John Miller said
Monday. Miller told reporters that he
visited Japan, and "I found only two small shelters, each with eight to
10 beds." He also criticized
Japan for prosecutions that "did not appear to be a great effort" and
said sentences were "relatively light" for people convicted of
"sex tourism" there. Japan accused of
giving haven to people traffickers Deborah Cameron,
Sydney Morning Herald SMH, Tokyo, November 26, 2004 [accessed 16
February 2011] At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly also be accessible [here]
"Human
traffickers operating through a loophole in Japan's immigration law have made
the country a target destination for poor workers and landed it on an
official blacklist. Women and girls
from the Philippines, farm workers from Indonesia and China and desperate
women from the states of the collapsed Soviet Union are brought to Japan
under a visa system wide open to abuse, lawyers and human rights groups say. Japan’s Action Plan
of Measures to Combat Trafficking in Persons [PDF] December 7, 2004 www.mofa.go.jp/policy/i_crime/people/action.pdf [accessed 11 July
2013] www.mofa.go.jp/policy/i_crime/people/pamphlet.pdf [accessed 30 April
2020] The Action Plan
clearly states that victims of trafficking in persons are eligible for
protection and calls for careful response to be made in consideration of the
different conditions of each victim, while giving due thought to the severe
mental and physical situation in which many of victims find themselves.
Regarding the penalties for perpetrators (brokers and employers, etc.), the
Action Plan calls for the criminal law to be amended, reflecting the gravity
of the crime, and for control measures to be further strengthened. The Action
Plan also aims to prevent the trafficking in persons, stepping into the
various systems and structures that may have played a part in making
trafficking in persons in Japan easier. Japan Probing Human Trafficking In RP Sol Jose Vanzi, STAR, Philippine Headline News Online, September 9
, 2004 www.philstar.com/headlines/264115/japan-probing-human-trafficking-rp [accessed 11 July
2013] The deluge of
entertainers to Japan from the Philippines and Thailand has become a serious
problem for his government, he added.
Ogawa said many of these entertainers have unwittingly ended up as
prostitutes upon their arrival in Japan.
Ogawa said the Philippines and Japan must work together to try to
solve the problem of human trafficking as it affects both countries. The problem can be effectively solved if
stopped at its source, he added. Japan immigration
law promotes human trafficking Inquirer News
Service -- Published on page A14 of the January 5, 2005 issue of the
Philippine Daily Inquirer At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7
September 2011] The Partial Amendment
of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act aims to immediately
decrease the number of “illegal foreign residents” in Japan, in reaction to a
purported ?deterioration of public security? and rampant human trafficking.
The law could affect at least 31,000 overstaying Filipinos, 82,000 Filipino
entertainers and thousands of Filipinas married to Japanese. The new law has
outlawed their continued stay in Japan, effective Dec. 2, 2004. Thus, most of
the 304,678 Filipinos in Japan may be subjected to the harsh, inhumane
penalties and procedures under the law. These include warrantless arrests,
jail terms, steep fines and deportation. But the law and the
crackdown on undocumented Filipinos in Japan do not address the issue of
human trafficking. It will only raise revenues for the Japanese authorities
by further penalizing Filipino victims of human trafficking. Meanwhile, human
traffickers will go scot-free, continue wreaking havoc on the lives of
foreign residents even as they amass more profits out of the blood and sweat
of migrant workers. Japan plans to
slash visas to Filipinos to curb sex trade Agence France Presse AFP, November 24, 2004 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 7
September 2011] Japan plans to
slash ten-fold the number of visas issued to Filipinos as
"entertainers" in a bid to stop sex trafficking, a problem whose
scale has put Japan on a US watch list, a report said Wednesday. Japan would trim the number of
entertainment visas issued to Filipinos from 80,000 to 8,000 a year, according
to Kyodo News, which said it obtained a government action plan against human
trafficking. Is trafficking in
human beings demand driven?: a multi-country pilot study Bridget Anderson and
Julia O’Connell Davidson, Save the Children Sweden, ISBN:91-7321-069-2, 2003 [Long URL]
[accessed 17
February 2022] INTRODUCTION - Part I of this report
sets out to review current debates and existing research on “the demand side
of trafficking”. Owed Justice - Thai
Women Trafficked into Debt Bondage in Japan Human Rights Watch,
ISBN 1-56432-252-1, Library of Congress Card Number: 00-107963 , September
2000 www.hrw.org/reports/2000/japan/4-profiles.htm [accessed 16
February 2011] IV. PROFILES - In this chapter,
Human Rights Watch profiles four women who were trafficked from Thailand into
servitude in Japan. Human Rights Watch interviewed numerous women who
recounted similar experiences. POT - It was a big
room and four or five other women going to work in Japan were also kept
there. I was surprised to be locked up because I was not allowed any chance
to say goodbye to my family, even over the phone. I heard the agents talking
about the price for each woman being between 150-160 bai
[1.5-1.6 million yen; US$10,000-11,000], but I couldn't really understand
what they were talking about and did not realize that we were being sold into
prostitution. KAEW - Kaew explained that she had understood there would be
some debt for the airplane ticket and other expenses, but she had never been
told how high her debt would be, and she was shocked at the amount. "The
other girls said to me, 'that's a lot of debt and you're old; you'll never
pay it off.' Then I prayed that it would only take six or seven months to pay
it off, and I went with all of the clients I could. . . . The mama said to
me, 'don't let your period come, or you'll never finish paying your
debt.'" So Kaew also took contraceptive pills
daily, though she had been sterilized at age twenty-one, so that she would
not menstruate and could work every day.(7) She got her mother to send the pills
from Thailand, so that she would not have to buy them from her mama and
increase the level of her debt. The Protection
Project - Japan The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS),
The Johns Hopkins University www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/japan.doc [accessed 2009] www.protectionproject.org/country-reports/ [accessed 22
February 2016] FORMS OF TRAFFICKING
-
Trafficking in women into the Japanese sex industry first received attention
in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when Filipino women began migrating to
Japan in large numbers, often falling victim to exploitation in the
process. In 2002, 123,322 people came
to Japan on entertainer visas, 60 percent of them Filipino women. The
majority of these women work in pubs as hostesses, sometimes prostituting
themselves. Most Filipinas trafficked
to Japan are sent by organized criminal groups. Family or friends of the
victim often initiate contact with the recruiter. Most victims are told they
will work as singers, cashiers, chambermaids, or hostesses, but in reality
they are forced to sell or administer drugs, appear in pornographic videos,
prostitute themselves, or recruit other Filipino women. The criminals
involved use a number of control mechanisms, such as confiscation of
passports, bullying tactics, threats, abuse, or withholding of salary. Some
Filipino women reported that they had contact with corrupt Japanese
officials. ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 1 Civil Liberties: 1 Status: Free 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/japan/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 29 April
2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Human trafficking is
an issue in Japan. Traffickers frequently bring foreign women into the
country for forced sex work by arranging fraudulent marriages with Japanese
men. Foreign workers enrolled in state-backed technical “internships”
sometimes face exploitative conditions and forced labor; in November 2017,
legislation was implemented to strengthen oversight of the program and punish
violations. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61610.htm [accessed 9 February
2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– Trafficking victims generally did not realize the extent of their
indebtedness, the amount of time it would take them to repay the debts, or
the conditions of employment to which they would be subjected upon arrival.
According to Human Rights Watch, the passports of women trafficked to work in
"dating" bars usually were confiscated by their employers, who also
demanded repayment for the cost of the woman's "purchase."
Typically, the women were charged $28,570 to $47,620 (3 million to 5 million
yen), their living expenses, medical care (when provided by the employer),
and other necessities, as well as "fines" for misbehavior added to
the original "debt" over time. How the debt was calculated was left
to the employers; the process was not transparent, and the employers
reportedly often used the debt to coerce additional unpaid labor from the
trafficked women. Employers also sometimes "resold," or threatened
to resell, troublesome women or women found to be HIV positive, thereby
increasing the victims' debts and possibly worsening their working conditions.
Many women
trafficked into the sex trade had their movements strictly controlled by
their employers and were threatened with reprisals, sometimes through members
of organized crime groups, to themselves or their families if they tried to
escape. Employers often isolated the women, subjected them to constant
surveillance, and used violence to punish them for disobedience. There were
reports that some brokers used drugs to subjugate victims. Many trafficked
women also knew that they were subject to arrest if found without their
passports or other identification documents. Few spoke Japanese well, making
escape even more difficult. All
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