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The Prostitution Prevention Law (売春防止法, Baishun bōshi hō) (Law no. 118, May 24, 1956)[1][2] is a law in Japan that aims to prevent prostitution, punish third parties involved in the trade and to protect and rehabilitate women involved in prostitution. It is also known as the "Anti-Prostitution Law".[3] The law came into force on April 1, 1957, and all provisions were fully effective on April 1 of the following year.[4] As the law does not punish prostitution per se (client and prostitute), it is viewed as a preventive law rather than a prohibition law.[3][5][6]

History

Japan has a history of supervised prostitution dating back to the Kamakura period (1185–1333). In 1618, during the Edo period, Yūkaku areas were set up and prostitution regulated. From the late 1880s onwards, various groups, including the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and Purity Society lobbied for the end of legalised prostitution. The Japanese government resisted these demands on the grounds that they provided effective control of STIs and that without them men's sexual desires would lead to increased cases of rape and sex crimes. Under pressure from the abolitionists, in May 1934 the Home Ministry announced that licensed prostitution would be abolished in the near future, but no action was taken.[3]

During the American occupation of Japan following WW2, prostitution boomed. In January 1946 the General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (GHQ/SCAP), issued an order to abolish licensed prostitution.[6] This led to the Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Act being passed in 1948. A bill prohibiting prostitution was put before the Diet (parliament) in 1947 but was defeated.

Female Diet members attempted to introduce various anti-prostitution measures until in May 1956 they succeeded with the Prostitution Prevention Law.[3] Prime Minister Ichirō Hatoyama had established a Council on Prostitution Policy which was chaired by anti-prostitution crusader Tsûsai Sugawara, and the resulting law criminalized solicitation, procurement, and contracts for prostitution, though not the act of prostitution itself. Sugawara admitted that the compromise legislation contained loopholes but at least made it illegal to sell daughters into prostitution, and he suggested that if prostitution could not be eradicated, official regulation may become necessary.[7]

Main articles

The main articles of the legislation are as follows:[4]

References

  1. ^ Hōmushō 1957.
  2. ^ Eibun Hōreisha 2003.
  3. ^ a b c d Peterfreund, Tenica (2010). "Japan's Prostitution Prevention Law: The Case of the Missing Geisha". Seton Hall University. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  4. ^ a b "売春防止法" [Prostitution prevention law]. law.e-gov.go.jp. 24 May 1961. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  5. ^ West 2010, p. 153.
  6. ^ a b c d McLelland & Mackie 2014, p. 282.
  7. ^ Hastings, Sally (2013). "Chapter 2: Disputing Rights: The Debate over Anti-Prostitution Legislation in 1950s Japan". In Burns, Susan & Brooks, Barbara (eds.). Gender and Law in the Japanese Imperium. University of Hawai'i Press. pp. 70–71. ISBN 978-0824839192.
  8. ^ Tadashi 2011, p. 250.
  9. ^ a b "平成 ６年版 犯罪白書 第2編/第3章/第1節/5" [5. Treatment at the Women's Guidance Institute] (in Japanese). Heisei era white paper, 2nd edition,Chapter 3, Section 11. Archived from the original on 5 February 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2018.

Bibliography

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