The taz reported on September 12, 2026, about a legislative revision in Japan that deserves attention here as well: Tokyo is debating whether in the future clients rather than sex workers should be punished.
Background: Japan’s prostitution law dates back to 1956 and prohibits both the purchase and sale of sexual services — but in practice, only those offering them are punished. Anyone who solicits customers in public space risks up to six months in prison or a fine of around one hundred francs. The government launched a reform in November 2025; an expert commission appointed by the Justice Ministry has now presented its recommendation.
What is particularly noteworthy is what the commission does not propose. Instead of a comprehensive sex buyer ban along Nordic lines, it recommends only criminalizing public solicitation by customers — that is, recognizable approaches or accepting offers on the street. Justification: sex work between adults may only be regulated cautiously „for constitutional reasons,“ and a total ban would merely push the market underground.
The camps are familiar to us. Feminist organizations and parts of the opposition demand the Nordic model and argue that buying sex is violence against women. The self-help organization Swash counters: if clients are criminalized, incomes drop, bargaining power shifts in favor of clients, and riskier practices increase.
What This Means for Us
Switzerland is having the same debate — political initiatives for a sex buyer ban on one side, surveys on the other, in which those affected are mostly opposed. The Japanese middle path is therefore instructive: it shows that even partial criminalization has the same side effect as a full ban. The work disappears from visible space and shifts to apartments, hotels, and platforms. That is precisely where it is harder for counseling centers, health projects, and police to reach, and people work alone more often. Anyone who wants protection must therefore think about where the work is being pushed.
How do you see it — does punishing clients improve the situation for sex workers, or does it make it worse?
Source: taz, 12.09.2026