{"id":12587,"date":"2025-11-18T16:17:33","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T08:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=12587"},"modified":"2025-11-18T16:17:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T08:17:33","slug":"japan-considers-fines-for-men-who-buy-sex-in-major-policy-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=12587","title":{"rendered":"Japan considers fines for men who buy sex in major policy shift"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\"><span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Japan<\/span>\u2019s government is weighing the introduction of penalties for men who buy sex, marking a potential sea change in the country\u2019s approach to prostitution.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Lawmakers and women\u2019s advocacy groups argue that current legislation, dating back to the 1950s, fuels exploitation and risks the country being branded a sex tourism hotspot.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">The issue was thrust into centre stage last week, when a member of parliament pressed Prime Minister <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Sanae Takaichi<\/span> to address what he called the \u201casymmetric\u201d nature of the Prostitution Prevention Law 1956.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Speaking during a Budget Committee session on November 11, House of Representatives member for Fukuoka\u2019s ninth district, Rintaro Ogata, said the current law offered scant protection for women\u2019s rights or dignity, the Asahi newspaper reported.<\/p>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-fdo9lk e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-0 e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"An older man approaches a woman near a park in Tokyo\u2019s Kabukicho nightlife district. Photo: Eric Fior\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2025\/11\/18\/3469877d-65f2-4db7-b944-3b2a13f71f04_7118a6cc.jpg\" title=\"An older man approaches a woman near a park in Tokyo\u2019s Kabukicho nightlife district. Photo: Eric Fior\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1ixmelf e1gf69pb1\">An older man approaches a woman near a park in Tokyo\u2019s Kabukicho nightlife district. Photo: Eric Fior<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The 1956 statute, originally drafted to clean up red-light districts and discourage public nuisance, punishes women who solicit their services but not the men who pay them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/week-asia\/lifestyle-culture\/article\/3333237\/japan-considers-fines-men-who-buy-sex-major-policy-shift?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Japan\u2019s government is weighing the introduction of penalties for men who buy sex, marking a potential sea change in the country\u2019s approach to prostitution. Lawmakers&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4840],"tags":[788,9928,9929,2251,1406,400,3943,2395,3336],"class_list":["post-12587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-globetrotting","tag-buy","tag-considers","tag-fines","tag-japan","tag-major","tag-men","tag-policy","tag-sex","tag-shift","wpcat-4840-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}