The National Police Agency will submit a bill to amend the Entertainment and Amusement Business Act, banning “romance business,” to the Diet next year.
Proposal to amend the Entertainment and Amusement Business Act to ban “romance business” to be submitted to the Diet next year National Police Agency | NHK | Diet December 19, 2024 11:36 In response to a series of cases in which female customers at host clubs are charged high fees and forced into debt, the National Police Agency has decided to ban so-called “romance business,” which exploits romantic feelings to make customers pay for expensive meals and drinks. The government plans to submit a bill to amend the Entertainment and Amusement Business Act to next year’s ordinary Diet session, which will include new regulations and tougher penalties. There have been a series of cases involving host clubs in which female customers are charged exorbitant fees, fall into debt, and are then forced into prostitution or other methods to repay the debt. As of the end of October this year, police across the country had received more than 2,300 inquiries about host clubs. The National Police Agency established a panel of experts in July this year, including legal experts and industry groups, to consider what regulations should be in place, and as a result decided to amend the law and strengthen penalties. Specifically, the plan is to prohibit so-called “romance business” that exploits customers’ romantic feelings, making them dependent and forcing them to pay expensive meals and drinks, by telling them “If you don’t become the top seller, you won’t be able to see me again,” and to subject violations to administrative sanctions such as the suspension of business. The plan also includes prohibiting and criminalizing the practice of confusing or scaring customers to solicit them into prostitution or sex work in adult entertainment establishments in order to collect unpaid food and drink bills (accounts receivable), as well as “scout backs,” whereby adult entertainment establishments pay rewards to hosts or scouts in return for introducing them to women. Furthermore, the existing penalties have been revised and the maximum fine has been significantly increased to 2 million yen (omitted) *See source for full text.
>>1 Nowadays, hostesses and hosts compete on social media and YouTube by ranking their sales, and they’re really stirring things up. Customers are also being forced to give money to them through love and romance, so I think it would be effective if this were just regulated on the surface. (Or rather, the past 10 years have been too lawless.)
It’s like a diamond sleeping in the sea from last week. For a store that receives a kickback from the sex industry, a fine is too lenient and they should be closed down.
It’s difficult to judge whether or not someone said something, and even in a local out-of-the-way bar, if a hostess tells a regular customer, “If you don’t come, we might go out of business by next month,” it’s unclear whether she’ll be punished.
Rather than focusing on romance, maybe it would be better to ban the publication of host sales rankings. Even if romance is banned, it would just lead to a tsundere sales style, so I don’t think it would be very meaningful.
When I watch host videos, the customers are just talking about how they have fat daddies. It seems like they’re not talking about mistresses, but customers who come to the brothel often. The hosts encourage them and say things like, “You’re doing a great job,” which is scary. The same goes for working away from home (in the sex industry). Even if they contribute that much to sales, they probably won’t become a real lover or wife.
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