Western society remembers the Victorian era in English history as one that was culturally strict, straight-laced and even suppressive on the surface when it came to matters of pleasure (and especially sexuality), but very often quite different when it came to what occurred in private. The public sense of decorum contrasted with covert debauchery has often made it a favoured back-drop for novels and period dramas.
(a)
Japan shares some similarities in that it is a polite, conscientious society that values respectability, honor and the display of the appropriate moral behaviours expected by those in one’s community. But when it comes to issues of sexuality, Japan is on something of a different wavelength to the mores of Christian-influenced Western societies.
Christians in countries like Australia and the US have frequently been alarmed by the public abandonment of Christian sexual ethics as standards that govern government policy and societal behaviours. But what happens when a society never had such ethics in place? While the history and cultural background of Japanese attitudes towards sex is not something we can go into great detail about in this format, the symptoms of what happens when a culture invents its sexual ethics independently of any biblical revelation are visible in Japanese society.
Prostitution/Sex Trafficking
(b)
Although sexual intercourse for payment is illegal in Japan, the country tragically has an incredibly active sex industry and a huge problem with both sex trafficking and citizens engaging in unlawful sexual activity while abroad.
Writing in 2007, Japan Times reporter David McNeill noted:
“Despite the recession, Japan still has Asia’s largest and most voracious sex market, one that has sucked in as many as 150,000 non-Japanese women, mainly from the Philippines and Thailand, according to the International Organization for Migration.
The sex industry likes foreign workers for the same reason every other industry likes them: they’re cheaper and willing to do jobs few others are, says Takashi Kadokura, an economist with Dai Ichi Life Research Institute, who recently set the size of Japan’s “entertainment trade” at a staggering 2.37 trillion yen (2001).”[1]
Other reports from around the same time estimated that the revenue of the Japanese sex industry was worth up to 3% of the national GDP!
HumanTrafficking.org reports:
“Japan is home to an immense sex industry that includes a wide variety of commercial sex operation models, including themed-brothels, hostess clubs, escort agencies, ‘snack’ clubs, strip theatres, and street prostitution. Many are owned, controlled, or ‘taxed’ by the Japanese organized crime network, the Yakuza, or increasingly by foreign-based groups such as Korean or Colombian crime networks.”
“Japan is recognized as having one of the most severe human trafficking problems among the major industrialized democracies. Japan is a destination country for women and children from East Asia, Southeast Asia, and to a lesser extent, Eastern Europe, Russia, and Latin America who are subjected to sexual and labor exploitation. Recruitment techniques are often based on false promises of employment as waitresses, hotel staff, entertainers, or models.”
“Japan has a significant amount of internal trafficking of women and girls who are trafficked for sexual exploitation. Recruiters actively recruit in subways, popular hangout spots for youth, at schools, and other venues, making promises of success to young women and children if they model or work at certain clubs.” [2]
Missionaries we have spoken to in the Tokyo area have personally witnessed high school students being enticed to join prostitution enterprises at train stations in their local area.
Lamentably, HumanTrafficking.org also reports:
“Japanese men continue to be a significant source of demand for child sex tourism in Southeast Asia.” [2]
Enjo-Kosai
(c)
As though young girls being recruited for prostitution wasn’t terrible enough, there is a long-established practice among Japanese female high school students of dating (and sometimes sleeping with) older men for material gain. Enjo kosai – roughly translated as “compensated dating” – describes the willingness of teenage schoolgirls to effectively be part-time girlfriends of Japanese salarymen and accompany them places or keep them company, in exchange for gifts or money. Many girls are willing to enter into this arrangement, as it is their means of acquiring otherwise unaffordable fashion accessories, such as Louis Voutton handbags. Many of the men paying for the arrangement are at least twice the age of the girl and already married – perhaps with children of their own.
Maid Cafes
While in Tokyo last year, we noticed a strange kind of cafe in one of the shopping centres we were visiting. We figured out, judging by the young lady wearing a frilly dress outside the front entrance, that this was one of the so-called “maid-cafes” that are popular in some areas of the city. These cafes feature young women dressed as French maids, in period costume or as anime characters, who pander to their guests and treat them as though they were the master or mistress of the household. Like enjo kosai, these maids are sometimes just waitresses or hostesses who entertain their paying customers. But there is also a dark-side to some of these establishments, where young women are once again being drawn into sexual exploitation for profit. Fetishes for girls teenaged and younger are prevalent enough in Japan to create a market for all kinds of disturbing sexual services.
Pornography and Hentai
Japan also has strange relationship with pornography. There are laws regulating its production and use, but they would seem strange to many people outside of Japan. We have encountered pictures of naked models being displayed quite publicly in the alleyways of Japanese cities. Child pornography has been a problem for many years with HumanTrafficking.org reporting: “Japan continues to be an international hub for the production and trafficking of child pornography…Children are also often recruited at a young age to be abused through child pornography.” [2] Until last year, loopholes in Japanese pornography law meant that many forms of child pornography were not really illegal. While the law reform has brought a welcome change, there is still legal space for manga artists and animators to produce pictures or films involving depictions of underage sex or nudity. Hentai is a Japanese term originally referring to “perverse sexual desires”, which now encapsulates much of the anime and manga industry’s erotic productions. There are many more perverse expressions of sexuality I could begin to list here, but I don’t see how it would in any way be edifying to writer or reader.
While it would be a mistake to conclude that the above sexual practices and perversions characterise the Japanese generally, it would also be a mistake to see these as small, isolated problems in the society.
Sexual darkness abounds because spiritual darkness and emptiness have prevailed in Japan for too long.
Jesus is the one who deals with the root problem behind these troubling symptoms. He is the one who washes people clean of moral corruption, straightens the crooked, satisfies the deepest longings of the heart and brings a pure enjoyment of life and relationships that far outweighs the cheap and momentary pleasures of twisted sexuality.
Please pray that we would be able to take the good news to those trapped in this darkness, that they may know the truth and the truth would set them free.
[1] http://search.japantimes.co.jp/community/2003/11/11/community/running-the-sex-trade-gantlet/
[2] http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/japan
Pictures
a) Flickr user: Noel Fields “JKelly2” CC BY-NC 2.0
b) Flickr user: Mattia Panciroli “Kabukicho” CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
c) Flickr user: Stuart “Japanese School girls 1” CC BY-NC 2.0
Japan Needs JESUS 