Prostitution is a crime, but is papa-katsu (compensated dating in Japan) not a crime?

Prostitution and papa-katsu (compensated dating in Japan) are not crimes if conducted in accordance with the law. Put another way, failing to follow the proper procedures can make them criminal offenses. Street prostitution can lead to arrests, while soaplands generally do not. This club avoids being classified as organized prostitution by leaving relationships between members to their own discretion after making an introduction. That is why it is not illegal. If you engage in papa-katsu (compensated dating in Japan) here in accordance with the club’s guidelines, it is neither illegal nor a crime, and you will not end up with a criminal record. However, if you do something like the recent “Itadaki Joshi” case, you will violate various laws, making it a crime and leaving you with a criminal record.

I’m not well-versed in the law, so I may be mistaken, but my understanding is a little different. As I understand it, both selling and buying sex are illegal, but since there are no penalties provided for them, they aren’t subject to punishment. However, managing prostitution is punishable, and there are specific penalties for it. Since brokering is also included under managed prostitution, the Universe Club itself would seem to be far more at risk than its members. That’s probably why Universe Club takes various measures to avoid falling into that category, though.

Thank you for your question. I’ll answer this one as well. > Prostitution is a crime, but is papa-katsu not a crime? Since prostitution is covered by the Anti-Prostitution Act, it’s easy to see that it is a crime. There is no law specifically prohibiting papa-katsu, so you have to consider whether it falls under any other offense. In other words, papa-katsu itself is not a crime as long as it does not constitute another offense. If it does, then it becomes a crime—but in that case, you would presumably be arrested for a different offense, such as prostitution or fraud, rather than for “papa-katsu.” In that sense, papa-katsu itself could be said not to be a crime. However, it may still lead to other offenses, so I think it would be best to ask a legal professional whether your actions could effectively constitute another crime. > I don’t think there’s any difference between these two. What do you think? The wording itself is different, but are you saying that there is no substantial difference? From a typically Japanese perspective, though, I think there is a difference. It’s similar to asking whether there is any difference between a happily married couple and a couple who merely pretends to be happy. Even if they look the same on the surface, I think most people would say there is a major difference. That said, I don’t see how the difference between these two things is related at all to whether something is a crime, which you mentioned at the beginning. So I’m not really sure why you brought it up here. > If you date someone while pretending to have feelings for them and take money from them, does it become a crime if they find out? The Japanese becomes a little unclear at this point, so it’s difficult to interpret, but if you receive money while dating someone and pretending to have feelings for them, I don’t think that would be a crime whether they find out or not. Perhaps you are referring to the person who was arrested recently. However, I don’t think the problem was that they pretended to have feelings. Rather, they allegedly lied by saying they were facing things like imminent debt payments and got the other person to give them money. That may have constituted fraud. “Anyone who deceives another person and causes them to hand over property” may be guilty of fraud. You might argue that pretending to have feelings is also deception, but feelings are internal, so I think it would be extremely difficult to prove. It’s also possible that the person initially did have feelings, but lost them because of something that happened. I’m not entirely sure what the question is getting at, but if you’re worried that doing papa-katsu with someone you don’t like could be a crime, I think you should be fine as long as you don’t lie about anything involving money. If all you’re doing is papa-katsu with someone you don’t like, men understand that to some extent, so I don’t think that alone would cause a problem. It simply means that if you don’t enjoy spending time together, there probably won’t be any relationship afterward. Even if I said that money was 100% of my motivation, if I enjoyed spending time with someone, I would probably want to see them again. And even if I told someone I liked them when I didn’t, if they believed me and enjoyed the time we spent together, I would still probably want to see them again.

Whether something is a crime depends on whether there’s a law prohibiting it. When it comes to prostitution, there’s the Anti-Prostitution Law. First, here’s the legal definition of prostitution: “Having sexual intercourse with an unspecified person in exchange for, or on the promise of, compensation.” That’s what the law says. The questioner seems to think it depends on whether there are romantic feelings involved, but legally speaking, that doesn’t make much difference. What matters is whether the other person is “unspecified.” “Unspecified” means not knowing who the other person is or where they’re from. So if you know their name, where they live, or where they work, it doesn’t constitute prostitution—regardless of whether there are feelings involved. That’s why I tell my dating partners my real name and the name of my company. If I remained anonymous, they would technically be engaging in prostitution, and I wouldn’t feel good about seeming to date a prostitute. Conversely, if the woman won’t tell me her real name, it would technically mean I’m buying sex. I can understand why women worry about stalkers or being identified, so I can’t really blame them. That said, I’m currently seeing around eight women, and I know all of their real names, as well as roughly where they live and work. Some people may find that surprising, but once we become close, most of them don’t keep those things hidden.

As a basic premise, it is the courts—not the respondents here—that determine whether something constitutes a crime or whether someone is guilty. Article 2 of Japan’s Anti-Prostitution Act states: “For the purposes of this Act, ‘prostitution’ means having sexual intercourse with an unspecified person in exchange for compensation or a promise of compensation.” Therefore, I believe that dating a specific man and receiving compensation does not constitute prostitution. Whether someone is considered “specified” or “unspecified” seems to be determined based on the actual nature of the relationship, including whether the parties’ individual personalities are being taken into account. So, if someone has sexual intercourse without regard for the other person as an individual, with the allowance as the objective, it might be deemed prostitution. If someone merely pretends to have feelings for the other person, it could potentially fall under Article 246 of the Penal Code rather than the Anti-Prostitution Act. Article 246 states: “A person who deceives another and causes that person to deliver property shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than ten years.” I think the legal treatment of those two situations may differ.

It’s illegal when it involves unspecified individuals, but if you know the other person’s identity, even pretending to have feelings for them isn’t a crime.