The Japan Embassy at Laos and its Foreign Ministry issued an unusual warning directly, warning the Japanese men against “purchase of sex from children”. It was a change of course in the public recognition of the involvement of Japanese men in children’s sex tourism.
The change of course was triggered by Ayako Iwatakeowner of a restaurant in Ventiane, who allegedly saw publications on the social networks of Japanese men bragging about child prostitution. In response, he launched a petition appealing to government action.
The Japanese language bulletin clarifies that this type of conduct is subject to lawsuit, both under Laos legislation and the Japanese law on prostitution and child pornography, which applies extraterritorially.
This diplomatic declaration was not just a legal warning. It was a rare Public recognition of the alleged involvement of Japanese men In transnational sex tourism of children, particularly in Southeast Asia.
It is also a moment that requires that one looks beyond individual criminal acts or any nation and considering historical, racial and structural inequalities that make this mobility and exploitation possible.
A Mutation Exploration Map
Selling and buying sex in Asia is not new. The contours have changed over time, but the underlying feeling remained constant: some lives are cheap and commodified and some wallets are deep and buy them.
As reported by an article, the involvement of Japan in prostitution abroad dates back to the period Meiji (1868-1912).
As young people from impoverished rural regions (known as karayuki-san) emigrated abroad – often to Southeast Asia – to work in the sex industryfrom the port cities of Malaysia to the brothels of China and the Pacific Islands.
If poverty once pushed Japanese women abroad to sell their bodies in the second half of the twentieth century – fueled by boom Postwar Japan economic-were the rich Japanese men who started traveling abroad to buy sex.
By the 2000s, dynamics reversed again. In South Koreacurrently developed economy, men have traveled to Southeast Asia – and later to countries such as Russia and Uzbekistan – following routes once traveled by Japanese men.
Later, in the same period, the flow took an even darker course.
Japanese and South Korean men began to emerge as the main buyers of child sex abroad, namely in Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands and even in Mongolia.
According to the US State Department, Japanese men continued to be “a significant source of sexual tourism search,” while South Korean men continued to be “a source of demand for children’s sex tourism.”
The United Nations Office against Drug and Crime and other organizations also marked the two countries as the main taxpayers for the sexual exploitation of children in the region.
Japan’s role in sexual trade
A more recent and worrying change seems to be unfolding in Japan.
In a context of economic stagnation and devaluation of yen, Tokyo became a destination for sex tourism. Young people protection organizations have observed a remarkable increase in foreign male customers, especially Chinese, who frequent areas where adolescents and young women practice survival sex.
What unites these movements are not just culturally specific beliefs, such as the fetishization of virginity or the superstition that sex with young girls brings good luck in business, but power.
The battle to protect children
The global campaign to end children’s sex tourism began seriously with the founding of Ecpat (A global network of organizations seeking to end the sexual exploitation of children) in 1990 to meet the growing exploitation of children in Southeast Asia.
Buyers, especially foreigners, can often escape the consequences.
However, in early 2025, the Japan National Police Agency arrested 111 people – including secondary school teachers and tutors – in a national repression action against sexual exploitation of inline children, conducted in coordination with international partners.
The importance of the new battle
The shock around the revelations about Laos and the unavoidly direct response to the Japanese authorities offer a rare opportunity to confront the deepest systems in operation.
Sex tourism does not happen in a vacuum. It is made possible by unequal development, transnational mobility, weak regulation and social silence. But this moment also shows that popular activism can force institutional action.
O Official Japan Notice It was not faded by a government audit or a diplomatic scandal.
It came up because Ayako Iwatake saw on social networks publications of Japanese men who boasted from buying sex to children and refused to look away.
When he handed the petition to the embassy, he answered quickly. Less than ten days later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a public notice, clearly describing the legal consequences of sexual crimes against children committed abroad.
Iwatake’s action is a reminder: No government is needed to expose a system. Someone must speak – even when it is annoying.
It is commendable that Japan acted quickly. But Just a warning is not enough. Japan should reinforce and extend its international cooperation to combat these heinous crimes.
A more decisive model can be seen in a recent case in Vietnam, where US authorities first infiltrated a network of sexual abuse of children broadcast in that country. Working undercover for months, they coordinated with Vietnamese authorities to arrest a mother who sexually abused her daughter at the request of paying spectators abroad.
The rescue of the nine -year -old victim showed what is a serious transfrontic intervention.
But for every headline scandal, there are hundreds of stories to tell.
The case of Laos should be the beginning of a broader reflection on how sex, money and power cross borders – and who pays the price.
