Sexual Exploitation of Young Girls in Japan

Global News Blog Post #1

Time Magazine covered several stories in relation to young girls being coerced into sex trafficking. Victims have stated that they are promised modeling contracts, but once led far outside of their hometowns and finished signing the contract. The employer or pimp threatens them to do sexual acts including pornography. They condition the victim to believe they have no other choice but to comply. Once the victim follows orders they are beaten before pornography filming. Other victims are forced to dress in school girl costumes and stand outside of massage bars or cafes to bring in businessmen.

TIME Magazine also said that adolescence porn is unnervingly popular and not uncommon to be fetishized. Most victims are runaway teenagers and can be as young as 13 years old. There was a case in which a father raped his own teenage daughter. But, the court ruled not in favor of the daughter because they said she did not resist hard enough. Even though adolescence pornography has been ruled illegal since 2014, it is still on the rise. TIME stated that Japan has the third largest economy in the world and yet has very few and lax laws to protect young citizens. A survey was done and revealed 15% of citizens have viewed child pornography at least once and 10% admitted to owning it. It is also estimated that about 170,000 middle and high school students are engaged in prostitution. As of now, there are several shelters trying to help and save these teens from a life of human trafficking.

Campbell, Charles. “The Sexual Exploitation of Young Girls in Japan Is ‘On the Increase,’ an Expert Says.” TIME MAGAZINE, 29 October 2019.

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