Summary of 2025
On December 10, 2025, the National Police Agency released its summary of the year's trends in adult-entertainment-related crime, together with its outlook for 2026.
Key statistics for 2025 - Violations of the Employment Security Act (scouting): record-high levels continued - Crackdowns on human-trafficking cases: up 23% from the previous year, a result of international cooperation in investigations - Host-club-related crackdowns: up 42% from the previous year (boosted by the legal groundwork for "conspiracy cases") - AV-law-related matters: administrative guidance and criminal complaints rose steadily
Acceleration of the move toward organized crime A shift from crime by individuals and small groups to large-scale organized crime of the franchise type and network type is conspicuous. To respond, active use of the Act on Punishment of Organized Crime and continued wide-area simultaneous crackdowns are indispensable.
Outlook for 2026
2026 is expected to be an important turning point in the following respects. - The possibility of Diet deliberation and enactment of a digital sexual-transactions regulation law (tentative name) - The taking effect of the revised Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Act (fuei-ho) (online customer-acquisition rules) - Improvements in the operation of the AV law and stronger support for victims
In addition, verdicts in several major cases—including the trial of "Natural" leader defendant Obata—are scheduled for 2026, and important judicial decisions are expected to come one after another.
This article is compiled from publicly available information.