Japan weighs plan to punish sex buyers, but will it be enough?

Experts warn the sex industry will find ways to circumvent new rules and the problem needs to be tackled from various angles simultaneously

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People walk past an entrance gate of Kabukicho, Tokyo’s red-light district, in Shinjuku, Japan. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 8:00am, 5 Dec 2025

A campaigner who has been calling for changes in the law in Japan to allow the prosecution of men who pay for sex has welcomed reports that the government is finally considering the proposal.

Experts warn, however, that an industry known as “the world’s oldest profession” will always find a way to circumvent new regulations and that the problem needs to be tackled from a number of angles simultaneously.

In response to a question from independent Diet member Rintaro Ogata on November 11, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said she would instruct her justice minister to look into the possibility of changing the law to punish customers of prostitutes.

Ogata told the Asahi newspaper that the aim of the anti-prostitution law passed in 1956 was to eliminate the public nuisance of women soliciting for sex, as streetwalkers had a negative impact on social morals. The law might have targeted those who profited from the sex industry, but critics said it overlooked the men who were encouraging the sector as consumers.

Ogata said “there is a need for a fundamental discussion about what the law intends to protect” beyond the simple selling of sex.

Hidemori Gen’s organisation is set up to support the Toyoko Kids – teenagers who live on the streets of Kabukicho, Tokyo’s red-light district. Photo: EPA-EFE

Hidemori Gen, founder of the Seiboren Shinjuku Kaminokodome Temple organisation, welcomed the possibility of the law being changed.

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