#TEENAGE MODELING IN JAPAN FREE#

An estimated 170,000 junior high and high school girls are engaged in prostitution. Often, they are coaxed or coerced into sending nude or compromising photos of themselves to predators, whom then use that material to extort more sordid contacts, beginning a worsening spiral of abuse. Other then being approached on the street, young people are commonly groomed online. “The government looks at abused girls as lost causes, who can’t join normal society again,” she says. Despite the government’s intention to add another 2,000 welfare professionals, Nito says most resources are spent on services for infants and the very young, meaning teenagers slip through the cracks. Last year, Japan had only 3,250 child welfare workers on the books, but 122,578 reported cases of child abuse. It’s an unfortunate fact that the world’s third largest economy struggles to provide adequate social services for young people. Read more: A Japanese tabloid apologized for ranking universities by how easily women are coaxed into sex “We are mainly helping teenage girls who are abused by their parents or don’t fit in at school,” says Nito, who also runs a shelter for runaway youngsters. It offers food, coffee and counseling, as well as condoms, toothbrushes and feminine hygiene products, to girls who would rather hang out on the street than go home. It’s also legal for a man to solicit customers for a female sex worker.Įvery Wednesday, Nito and her volunteers drive a big pink bus to hotspots in central Toyko and set up their mobile Tsubomi Café to help at-risk girls.

#TEENAGE MODELING IN JAPAN FREE#

In April, protests erupted in Tokyo after a father walked free after raping his own teenage daughter because she did not put up what the court considered “sufficient resistance.” And while it is illegal for a woman to be paid for sex, “Around 100 pimps are out on the street every night trying to recruit young girls,” says Yumeno Nito, of Tokyo’s Colabo NGO. Sexually suggestive videos known as chaku ero, which don’t show naked genitals, buttocks or breasts, but can feature children as young as six-years-old, remain legal. There is also a booming and perfectly legal trade in “Lolicon”-Lolita themed manga and anime-featuring extreme violence, rape and incest involving children. An extensive study found 15% of the male population have viewed child pornography while 10% own it. Most shockingly, child pornography, only made illegal in 2014, remains rife.

An estimated 5,000 teenagers earn cash this way. Some then arrange “dates” away from the café. Men pay to hold hands, go for a walk or even snooze on a girl’s lap. Japan has some 300 cafes-the ones in Tokyo fill a whole street-where teenage girls in school uniform chat to older men for about $50 per hour (including all the beer you can drink). On any night, the streets of Kabukicho, central’s Tokyo’s infamous red light district, teem with girls dressed in school uniforms beckoning bleary-eyed salary men into dingy bars and massage parlors known as joshi kosei, or “high school girl,” businesses.

Read more: Japanese court says adultery is OK if it’s for business purposesĪlthough officially illegal, Japan has a booming sex industry due to numerous loopholes.

Teenage modeling in japan