Structural Vulnerability and Sexual Exploitation in Japan

This article examines the phenomenon of sexual exploitation among young Japanese women through the analytical lens of structural vulnerability, situating it at the intersection of economic precarity, social fragmentation, and institutional insufficiency. The erosion of stable employment and the decline of familial and communal support systems have created a social environment in which vulnerability is systematically produced and exploited. Within this landscape, coercive sub-societal formations—particularly those embedded in the nightlife and entertainment industries—perpetuate exploitation through debt dependency, psychological manipulation, and emotional labor extraction. Digital platforms further amplify these dynamics by facilitating grooming and control. Existing legal and welfare mechanisms remain inadequate, as they often criminalize victims while failing to disrupt the structural conditions and intermediaries that sustain exploitation. To address these deficiencies, this study advances a three-part reform orientation: reinforcing economic security, strengthening institutional capacity to respond to coercion, and adopting a public health and rights-based regulatory approach centered on harm reduction. It concludes that addressing the systemic roots of exploitation requires a shift from punitive regulation toward integrated social protection grounded in structural equity and human rights.