When Sayaka Murata visited Cambodia while in university, she was shocked to see a little girl around 5 or 6 years old among those who had been rescued after being tortured by electric shock and forced into the sex trade.
Murata, 34, founder of a Tokyo-based nonprofit organization working to end human trafficking, said the encounter sparked her determination to protect young girls facing the same fate.
"In Japan, the problem of trafficking children for sex is not spoken of or widely covered by the media," Murata lamented in a recent interview with The Japan Times. "Japanese tend to avoid speaking openly about children being subject to sexual abuse . . . but around 1.8 million children are still exploited worldwide," Murata said.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.