In the Okubo Park area near Kabukicho district, Tokyo - famous for the Godzilla statue spraying smoke on the roof of a cinema, more and more foreign tourists gather not only for sightseeing purposes.
Along with the excitement of nightlife, this place is witnessing the rapid development of sex tourism, largely driven by social networks, France24 reported.
There are no official figures, but according to AFP, the number of foreign male tourists traveling to the area has increased after watching videos spread on TikTok or the Chinese platform Bilibili.
Many of these videos were filmed or broadcast live without the consent of the women appearing in them, some of which attracted hundreds of thousands of views.
A woman named Ria said that half of her "customers" are foreigners. They often do not know Japanese and use automatic translation software to ask for prices. The average price for each meeting is from 15,000 to 30,000 yen (VND 2.7-5.4 million), but more and more domestic customers want to wear it because of high living costs and reduced purchasing power. Meanwhile, foreign visitors rarely even wear them.
Many women said they work independently, have no brokers, and often take guests to nearby love hotels. Azu, a 19-year-old girl, shared that the best price she had ever received was 20,000 yen (3.6 million VND) per hour.
Economic pressure is the main reason why many young women fall into this path, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Arata Sakamoto, head of the nonprofit organization Rescue Hub, the trend of Japanese women practicing prostitution on the streets, which was rare before, is now becoming more popular. Rescue Hub is currently a temporary shelter for many women, providing food and a place to charge their phones.
However, according to Sakamoto, the risks they face are huge: from physical and mental abuse, risk of sexually transmitting diseases, pregnancy unintentionally, to secret filming, not being paid or having their income stolen.
Tokyo police said they have increased patrols since December 2024. Ria shared that she currently prioritizes choosing foreign guests because they are unlikely to be undercover police.
According to Japanese Law, only prostitutes are fined or imprisoned, not customers. Sakamoto believes that legal consequences should be imposed on customers, including foreigners, while increasing propaganda at airports, hotels and tourist areas in many different languages.
