A Liberal Democratic Party panel has proposed making entertainer visas more difficult to get in order to curb the problem of human trafficking.
The panel said Wednesday it will ask the government to abolish a Justice Ministry provision that allows foreigners officially certified as musicians, singers and dancers in their home countries to automatically obtain entertainer visas to enter Japan.
The panel said that many Asian women who enter under entertainer visas are not actually trained or qualified as musicians, singers or dancers, and that the visas are used to disguise the fact that they have been trafficked into Japan, where many end up working in the lucrative sex trade, they said.