Overview of the Start-of-Year Crackdown
Under coordination by the National Police Agency, the police forces of seven prefectures—Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Osaka, Hyogo, and Aichi—conducted joint simultaneous searches of illegal sex-industry shops and illegal scouting organizations on January 17, 2024. A total of 23 locations were searched, and 18 people were arrested or referred to prosecutors on suspicion of violating the Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Act (fuei-ho), the Employment Security Act, and the Anti-Prostitution Act (baishun boshi-ho).
Background to the Crackdown
At the end of 2023, the National Police Agency had set out "thorough crackdowns on illegal scouting, social-media-driven sexual exploitation, and violations of the new AV law" as priority issues for 2024, and this start-of-year coordinated crackdown put that policy into action.
Impact on the Industry
"A large-scale crackdown right at the start of the year is a very strong message," said an industry insider. While some legal operators say that "weeding out illegal operators will lead to a healthier industry overall," there are also signs that some unlicensed operators are going further underground to evade enforcement.
This article was compiled based on publicly available information.