A street in the downtown region of Umeda in Osaka was recently painted in a garish yellow color with aquarium-themed artwork dotted along the pavement. The reason for brightening up the place is not to attract more tourists to the area, but rather to discourage prostitutes from loitering on the street. It might seem like an unusual idea, but it appears to be working. According to officials, there were usually around 10 tachinbo — a slang term for women who stand and wait on the street until a man speaks to them — hanging around on a typical night before the repainting. Now there are almost none.
“I think we have realized our goal of making this street a different place,” said Ryu Kitagawa, Chief of the Community Safety Section of the Sonezaki Police Station. “We want to make this entertainment district a place where anyone can visit with peace of mind by conducting crackdowns and monitoring activities to completely clean up the area.”
Prostitution in Japan
According to Japan’s Prostitution Prevention Law, “No person may either do prostitution or become a customer of it.” Despite this, there is no penalty for the buyer. Prostitutes, on the other hand, face the possibility of a ¥100,000 fine and up to six months in prison.
There are loopholes to the law, though, which defines prostitution as “intercourse with an unspecified person in exchange for payment.” This means non-coital services are legal. Also, paid sex between “specified persons” (acquaintances) is not prohibited. Soaplands (adult-orientated bathhouses) use this to their advantage, as the prostitute and the client become “acquainted” during the massage stage.
It is safer to work at a sex service store, such as a soapland, than out on the street, but it appears that more women are turning to the latter in Japan. The reason is money, as they can set their own terms. Earlier this month, the Metropolitan Police Department announced that 88 women and girls were arrested between January and November of this year for soliciting prostitution near Okubo Park in Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward. Some were as young as 16.
