In Plain Sight - Pornography in Japan
- Emba Allison
- Jun 19
- 3 min read
When a ZOE volunteer arrived from America on a first time visit to Japan as a tourist back in autumn 2012, she was shocked to see magazines with pornographic front covers at the local convenience store. The magazines were displayed not on higher shelves or in an out of the way corner of the store, but easily visible to all, including children stopping by the store for a bottle of water or ice cream to beat the heat outside. It was a sharp wake up call to the fact that pornography is a ubiquitous and easily accessible part of Japanese culture.
The Japanese porn industry is estimated to be worth over 55 billion yen (about $380 million) producing 4,500 pornographic videos per month. Adult pornographic images are circulated widely on the internet, including the distribution of child sexual abuse material which has rapidly been on the increase in Japan.
Sexual exploitation is a big part of the pornography industry in Japan. Both the perpetrators and victims can often be seen in plain sight, if we take a closer look at the crowds milling around us. At major train stations in Tokyo young men (and sometimes women), who are scouts or recruiters for the porn industry accost young girls with compliments on their beauty along with job offers to stardom in the modeling and acting world. Even though many of the girls approached reject the offers of the scouts, the persistence of the scouts lead some of these young girls to check out the touted ‘modeling agency’ or ‘acting studio.’
ZOE Japan, as well as another Tokyo based NPO which provide support to pornography and sexual exploitation survivors, hear survivor testimonies that when a girl arrives at the so called modeling agency or acting studio, she is forced to sign a contract to work for the agency, which in reality turns out to be a porn producing business. Or worse, the girl is raped on the premises and the rape filmed for online distribution, and as blackmail for further pornographic images or videos from the girl.
Victims of pornography and sexual exploitation often find it difficult to speak out, and this even more so for minors. The reasons are numerous and include not knowing where to seek out help, feelings of shame and being rejected by family and friends once the issue is reported, even though it is not the victim's fault. And in Japanese culture, the notion of ‘meiwaku kakeru,’ - to cause trouble or be a nuisance - is ingrained in daily life so that even victims of the porn industry shy away from reporting sexual abuse and exploitation because they do not want to cause trouble to their family, or even the business they are forced to work in.
Another survivor of pornography exploitation highlights that the industry is based on violation of human rights. The producers of porn in Japan do not take into account the physical, mental health or legal rights of the exploited child, woman or man. Moreover, these issues do not cross the porn consumer’s mind, including whether the pornography material was produced without the consent of those appearing in the images or videos. This is a serious issue in Japan and around the world since Japan is a considerable exporter of pornography.
What can we do to fight against pornography and exploitation of minors, women and men who are also victims of the industry?
ZOE Japan has useful educational resources to raise awareness on this challenging issue. We can also be alert to minors in our communities, for example, in our neighborhoods or schools if we work in the education sector, for signs of sexual exploitation. Suspicious incidents should be reported to the local authorities, or via ZOE Japan for children under 18 years old.
ZOE Japan also offers free consultation to teenagers who are the victims of child sexual abuse material.
Arming ourselves with awareness of the issues surrounding pornography and sexual exploitation, and resources on where to get help, is a powerful step to helping victims to help and healing.
Listen to our podcast on how children are targeted for Child Sexual Abuse Material.
Sources:
‘The dark side of Japan’s porn industry’ (The Japan Reporter, August 2021)
‘Japan’s porn industry comes out of the shadows’ (The Economist, August 2023)
Fight the new drug
East Asia’s pornography trade and abuse of human rights (July 2016)
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