Types of prostitution in modern Japan

Following the criminalisation of payment for sexual intercourse, the sex industry in Japan has developed into a number of varied businesses and offering services not prohibited under Japanese law.

Pink salons avoid criminalisation under Japanese law by serving food, operating without showers or private rooms, and limiting the services provided to fellatio.

[18] Soapland (ソープランド, sōpurando), or sōpu, which first developed following the criminalisation of compensated sexual intercourse with unacquainted persons in the late 1950s, began as a simple bathhouse service where women washed men's bodies.

Originally referred to as toruko-buro, meaning 'Turkish bath', the businesses were renamed following a 1984 campaign by Turkish scholar Nusret Sancaklı [ja; tr], with the name "soapland" chosen as the winning entry in a nationwide contest.

Whilst the massage takes place, the masseuse and the customer become "acquainted", resulting in any paid sexual services following this as not being viewed as prostitution as defined by the law, an interpretation that has been utilised since the 1960s.

[7] However, some soaplands have, in previous decades, been prosecuted for violating the Anti-Prostitution Law, having been deemed to be places of prostitution, resulting in the cessation of these businesses.

Well-known complexes can be found in Susukino in Sapporo, Yoshiwara and Kabukicho in Tokyo, Kawasaki, Kanazuen in Gifu, Ogoto in Shiga, Fukuhara in Kobe, Sagaminumata in Odawara, and Nakasu in Fukuoka.