Is Prostituion Legal?
Technically no, but the loop holes are so big that it might as well be…
The Anti-Prostitution Law of 1956 did not make practicing prostitution illegal. It did prohibit the following: soliciting for purposes of prostitution, procuring a person for prostitution, coercing a person into prostitution, receiving compensation from the prostitution of others, inducing a person to be a prostitute by paying an “advance”, concluding a contract for making a person a prostitute, furnishing a place for prostitution, engaging in the business of making a person a prostitute, and the furnishing of funds for prostitution.
However, the definition of prostitution is strictly limited to coitus (vaginal sexual intercourse). This means sale of numerous sex acts such as oral sex, anal sex, and other non-coital sex acts are all legal. The Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Law of 1948 (Fūzoku eigyō torishimari hō (風俗営業取締法), amended in 1985 and 1999, regulates these businesses.
The sex industry in Japan uses a variety of names. Soaplands are bath houses where customers are soaped up and serviced by staff. Fashion health shops and pink salons are notionally massage or esthetic (esute) treatment parlors, and image clubs are themed versions of the same. Call girls operate via delivery health services. Freelancers can get in contact with potential customers via telekura (telephone clubs), and the actual act of prostitution is legally fudged by terming it as enjo kōsai or “compensated dating.” Most of this information is from wikipedia.
