Barrapunto

In 1998, Japan was the world's biggest producer of child pornography and Parliament recently refused to pass a law banning the production of child pornography, citing "business reasons." (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes, Poona Antaseeda, "Expert urges global law to end child pornography on the Internet," Bangkok Post, 3 June 1998)

There is no law prohibiting child pornography in Japan. 5000 pornographic films are approved each year by an ethics commission composed of major representatives of studios. Japan's obscenity laws require pornographers to blur out pubic hair and genitals. 1,000 illegal pornographic, that do not blur the genital regional, are produced in Japan each month - 35 new titles a day. Media Jack Productions makes 500 approved pornographic videos a year and makes US$31.7 million ("An industry seen through the eyes of one pornographer," Christian Science Monitor, Cameron W. Barr, 2 April 1997) & (Director Mitsuhiro Shimamura, "Pornography Easy To Find in Japan," Joseph Coleman, Associated Press, October 1997)

Japanese men constitute the largest number of sex tourists in Asia. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Japanese sex tourists frequent Bangkok and other parts of Thailand to buy women and children as young as 12 and 13. ("Japan's UNICEF ambassador rails against child sex abuse," Kyodo, 17 June 1998)

About a quarter of female students aged from 12 to 15 have taken part in telephone chat clubs. Male clients of telephone clubs pay to enter booths, and wait for private calls from women and girls, who dial a free telephone number from outside the club, often from their own home or a public telephone. The phone conversations usually fix a date to meet and are often a straightforward agreement on the details and price of the particular sexual act to be performed. (government survey, "Tokyo cracks down on teenage prostitution 'clubs'," Reuters, 13 August 1997)

One third of all reported cases of prostitution are teenagers. (1996 National Police Agency survey, "Tokyo cracks down on teenage prostitution 'clubs'," Reuters, 13 August 1997)