Sex TraffickingArchive 2008–2016

Sex Trafficking in Tokyo (2011)

A sex trafficking case from 2011 in Tokyo, Japan.

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Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). We don’t have a verifiable source on file yet. Know one?

What happened

“Ahn recruited heavily indebted women and, through a loan shark, all their debts were repaid. Afterwards, they were sent to Japan, believing that they were to work at ‘massage parlors.’ Instead, the victims were locked up and forced to sell their bodies. “Their passports were also taken away from them and were under 24-hour surveillance. Most of the money they made was taken away.” A warrant for the trafficker’s arrest was issued on suspicion on of brokering Korean women into prostitution in Japan.

Response and intervention

The trafficker was arrested after a warrant was issued on suspicion of brokering Korean women into prostitution in Japan. “Investigators have booked the loan shark while putting the other partners on wanted list in Japan with the help of Interpol.” No information available

Nearby cases

All 7 in Japan →

Sex Trafficking2005

Tokyo, Japan, 2005

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See above. In 2005, this was the first arrest under a new law which Japan introduced in June to combat human trafficking. The Metropolitan Police Department stated this case was only the tip of the iceburg and planned to use recent amendments to the Penal Code, which criminalized human trafficking, to tighten its crackdown on such brokers. At the time the MPD determined that at least 77 foreign women found in 2004 to have been forced into prostitution were victims of trafficking, 48 of whom were from Thailand. Police were only able to take action on 23 brokers who introduced girls to pimps.

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Bonded Labor2006

Tokyo, Japan, 2006

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Takashi Mori, 58, Koji Akagawa, 48, and two accomplices from Osaka sent false documents to the Japanese consulate in Khabarovsk, in Russia's Far East, with a request that visas be issued to a group of specialists for a period of training at one of the city's professional schools. A group of young Russian women entered Japan shortly after April 7. Investigation established that this and other groups, totaling 40 women, rather than taking courses were employed as hostesses at local restaurants and nightclubs.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016

Forced Labor2023

Tokyo, Japan, 2023

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Vietnamese workers in Technical Intern Training Program placed in seafood processing instead of promised training. Excessive hours garnished wages confiscated passports Accused: Japanese company and Vietnamese broker.

1 source