AUSTRALIA (TR) – A growing number of Japanese women are traveling to Australia on working holiday visas to work in the sex industry.
According to NHK (Nov. 15), they are lured by promises of high earnings that are becoming increasingly difficult to achieve in a stagnant Japanese economy.
In cities like Melbourne and Sydney, where sex work is legal, “Japanese-themed” parlors openly market the services of Japanese women. Some establishments even charge a 40 percent premium for Japanese providers, who can earn upward of 200,000 yen in a single day.
The website of one sex-industry establishment in Sydney lists the names and nationalities of the women working there, with the names of Japanese women and the Japanese flag prominently displayed.
For many of these women, the decision to leave Japan is driven by a lack of financial security. “I needed to make money to have a ‘fun’ life,” said one woman, identified as Sakura, who claimed to have saved over 10 million yen while working in the industry. “In Japan, you don’t know if you’ll find a good job. With these savings, I can do the work I actually like back home without worrying about a low salary.”
“On a whim”
A woman going by the name Saori said, “After the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible for the kyabakura (hostess club) where I worked to stay open, I figured I could still make good money in the ‘nightlife’ industry, so I started working at a ‘men’s esthetic’ salon. Since I’d grown accustomed to being alone with men in that line of work, I decided to try my luck abroad. I’d heard you could make a killing, so I just went for it on a whim.”
Saori says she sometimes manages to save over a million yen a month. Beyond the high income, she also finds the social dynamics in Australia to be much more comfortable.
“Back in Japan, people would call me ‘fat,’ she said. “That has never happened to me here in Australia. I think Japanese society is just too harsh when it comes to other people’s appearances.”
Fraught with peril
However, authorities warn that the reality behind the “easy money” narrative is fraught with peril. Yuki Onuma, a former police officer in Victoria, says the surge in Japanese women entering the country for sex work has left local law enforcement baffled.
“Australian authorities are shocked. They keep asking me, ‘What is happening in Japan? Why is this occurring?'” Onuma said.
According to the Australian Border Force, over 160 individuals were denied entry over the past two years on suspicion of traveling to work illegally in the sex trade — and nearly half of them were Japanese.
Shadowy “agents”
The pipeline is fueled by shadowy “agents” who operate on social media, coaching women on how to bypass immigration officials, handle bank transfers, and navigate the sex industry in North America, China, and the Middle East. While these agents promise fortune, they often leave women vulnerable to exploitation.
Onuma, who spent years assisting Japanese women caught in these situations, notes that the dangers go far beyond health risks. Many women are isolated in private apartments, stripped of their phones, and forced into unprotected sex or subjected to violence.
“Some have been forced to use drugs by clients or shop owners, or pressured to take medication to suppress their periods,” Onuma said. “Many are in a weak, isolated position where they cannot speak the language, have no one to trust, and cannot say no to dangerous demands.”
As the yen remains weak and wage growth in Japan stays stagnant, experts fear the trend will only continue, leading more young Japanese women into the dangerous, often unprotected shadows of the global sex trade.
