- 14 Mar 2002
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From soaplands to streetwalkers: Japan's sex industry sells dreams, desperation
[...] For more women, Japan's red-light underworld is increasingly a last resort, not an opportunistic break. Record unemployment, soaring bankruptcies and stagnant growth are forcing more into the flesh trade 窶 at cheaper rates and in more desperate conditions. For Hitomi, a 24-year-old Thai streetwalker, it's about survival, not spending sprees. She was laid off from a refrigerator factory, stripped of her work visa and company housing. Now, a good night for her means recouping the 8,000 yen (US$66) in protection money she shells out to gangsters on her street 窶 and not having to work until dawn.
[...] Smut has been a near recession-proof industry in Japan, despite the country's decade-long economic slump. All told, the nation spends an estimated 1.7 trillion yen (US$13.9 billion) a year on sex. But hard times are putting the squeeze on the sleaze. Pricey soaplands, where hourly stints soar to 100,000 yen (US$820), are giving way to the fast-growing sectors of low-end "pink salons" and cut-rate foreign prostitutes. Cheap thrills there go for as low as 8,000 yen (US$66).
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From soaplands to streetwalkers: Japan's sex industry sells dreams, desperation
[...] For more women, Japan's red-light underworld is increasingly a last resort, not an opportunistic break. Record unemployment, soaring bankruptcies and stagnant growth are forcing more into the flesh trade 窶 at cheaper rates and in more desperate conditions. For Hitomi, a 24-year-old Thai streetwalker, it's about survival, not spending sprees. She was laid off from a refrigerator factory, stripped of her work visa and company housing. Now, a good night for her means recouping the 8,000 yen (US$66) in protection money she shells out to gangsters on her street 窶 and not having to work until dawn.
[...] Smut has been a near recession-proof industry in Japan, despite the country's decade-long economic slump. All told, the nation spends an estimated 1.7 trillion yen (US$13.9 billion) a year on sex. But hard times are putting the squeeze on the sleaze. Pricey soaplands, where hourly stints soar to 100,000 yen (US$820), are giving way to the fast-growing sectors of low-end "pink salons" and cut-rate foreign prostitutes. Cheap thrills there go for as low as 8,000 yen (US$66).
=> Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines