THE GOVERNMENT OF Japan fully meets the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The government made key achievements to do so during the reporting period; therefore Japan was upgraded to Tier 1. These achievements included establishing a new interagency taskforce to combat child sex trafficking in Joshi kosei or “JK” businesses — dating services connecting adult men with underage girls — and in forced pornography; operationalizing regulations and a new oversight mechanism for its Technical Intern Training Program (TITP); and acceding to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and the 2000 UN TIP Protocol. Although the government meets the minimum standards, authorities continued to prosecute traffickers under laws carrying lesser sentences, which courts often suspended in lieu of incarceration. Many suspected cases of child sex trafficking and forced labor were addressed with administrative penalties or loss of business licenses rather than through criminal investigations and proceedings. The government was unable to fully enforce TITP reform law provisions aimed at blocking foreign-based recruitment agencies from charging excessive fees — a key driver of debt bondage among TITP participants. Authorities detained, charged, and in some cases deported TITP interns who absconded from exploitative conditions in their contracted agencies, rather than screening them and referring them to protective services.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR JAPAN

Vigorously investigate and prosecute sex and labor trafficking cases, and hold convicted traffickers accountable by imposing strong sentences; amend anti-trafficking laws to remove sentencing provisions that allow fines in lieu of imprisonment and to increase the penalties prescribed for trafficking crimes to include a maximum of no less than four years imprisonment; increase resources to provide specialized care and assistance to trafficking victims, including designated shelters for trafficking victims, and ensure these services are also available to both foreign and male victims; continue to implement the TITP reform law's oversight and enforcement measures, including by increasing employer inspections and terminating contracts with foreign recruitment agencies charging excessive commissions or fees; increase enforcement of bans on “punishment” agreements, passport withholding, and other practices by organizations and employers that contribute to forced labor; enhance victim screening to ensure victims, including migrant workers under the TITP program and children, are properly identified and referred to services, and not detained or forcibly deported for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being subjected to trafficking; and aggressively investigate, prosecute, convict, and punish Japanese citizens who engage in child sex tourism overseas.