
Young girls become the target of the adult industry in Japan: The dream of becoming a celebrity turns into tragedy in the blink of an eye 4
Kurumin Aroma felt like her life ended at the age of 21. At that time, she was preparing for her final year of college and was accepted as an intern for a corporation, having to face piles of paperwork every day.
One day, a polite man approached and started a conversation with Kurumin while she was walking around Tokyo.
At that time, the young girl seemed captivated when she heard the other person talk about her modeling career, sparkling magazine photo shoots and lavish parties with the participation of many entertainment stars.
`It seemed like at that time, that man convinced me quite easily` – Kurumin said.
Only 8 years later, Kurumin had to regret his decision.
However, despite her own obsessions, this young girl, nearly 30 years old, is determined to stand up to prevent anyone from following her footsteps as well as hundreds of thousands of unwitting young Japanese women.
They have the name of a modeling agency but are actually luring people to act in porn movies.
After completing the contract signing, Kurumin worked in a place far from home.
`I really can’t refuse` – Kurumin said.
This is not Kurumin’s story alone.
There have been many young girls tricked into entering the adult industry in Japan, where people are extremely interested in the sexuality of minors while the laws protecting these young people are quite lax.
Shihoko Fujiwara, founder of Lighthouse, a non-governmental organization that helps victims of sex trafficking in Japan, said she has received 103 cases similar to Kurumin out of hundreds in the past year alone.
“The number of Japanese victims increased significantly.
The sex industry is extremely booming in Japan due to many loopholes in the laws.
Every evening in Kabukicho, the famous `red light district` located in central Tokyo, it is still filled with young girls wearing school uniforms standing and waving to men to go into bars or massage parlors.
They are called joshi kosei or high school girls.


In Japan there are up to 300 cafes, many of which cover a street in Tokyo, where men accept to spend 50 USD (more than 1.1 million VND), including beer, to
After that, these people will continue to pay fees from holding hands, walking to sleeping on the young girls’ laps.
Some cases pay extra for `outside the box` services and it is estimated that about 5,000 teenagers in Japan make money through this activity.
More surprising is the prevalence of child pornography.
Not only that, people also make profits from exchanging comic and cartoon works with content related to violence, coercion, and disorder related to children.
They don’t show girls’ genitals, breasts, or buttocks on screen, so even a 6-year-old child can legally watch chaku ero.

Japan lacks laws protecting children.
The judge said that the victim’s evidence was not convincing.
Because prostitution is considered legal, `there are about 100 prostitution brokers going out every night to recruit young girls to enter this industry,` according to Yimeno Nito, a member of an organization
Every Wednesday night, Yimeno and other volunteers drive a pink bus into downtown Tokyo, setting up the Tsubomi mobile cafe to help girls who are likely to fall into the sights of brokers.
Tsubomi provides food, water and other necessities such as condoms, toothbrushes, and feminine hygiene products to girls who want to play outside until late before going home.
`We often help young girls who are abused by their parents or do not want to go to school` – Yimeno also runs a home for young girls who have run away from home.

It’s hard to believe that a country with the third most developed economy in the world like Japan has a shortage of social services for teenagers.
Last year, the country only had about 3,250 child welfare workers while cases of child abuse reached 122,578.
The government plans to increase the number of welfare workers to 2,000, but Yimeno believes that these people also mainly serve infants and children while teenagers are completely ignored.
`The government views abused girls as runaway cases and cannot reintegrate into the community` – Yimeno shared.
Not only are they solicited on the street, brokers also lure girls on the Internet.
Then, they use this content to threaten victims, forcing them to obey them.
Many of them actively trap men online and try to make money by selling nude photos or lingerie of themselves.
`They feel stronger after being abused` – Shihoko shared.
Most photos and videos cannot be taken down once posted online.
They suffered for many years, to the point of having to quit their jobs or drop out of school.

It took Kurumin many years to remove his depraved videos from the Internet.
The company she signed with closed down, making it even more difficult for the abusive videos to be handled properly.
Shihoko believes that Japan does not have a complete system to protect teenagers from the sex industry.
Evidence is that victims of human trafficking are placed in the same shelter as victims of domestic violence.
Kurumin doesn’t have much faith in the government being able to solve the problem of sexual abuse among teenagers.
Instead, she used her YouTube page to raise awareness about sexual exploitation.
Kurumin believes that the most important thing is to educate and help young women distinguish the difference between what is sparkling on the TV screen and the harsh reality.
“When you dream of being a pop singer and then circumstances change, everything becomes tragic,” Kurumin said.