Regarding the Sept. 29 article "Putting the red light on human trafficking": I once had a student who worked in a Tokyo ward office dealing with alien registration who used to tell me stories of young ladies from the Philippines and other Asian countries coming to her desk and pleading with her to be deported. She said if their visas were in order, there was nothing that she could do for them. The lucky ones were those whose "owners" were too lazy or stupid to keep the visas up to date.
I guess the unlucky ones suffered a fate mentioned by the (U.S.-based) Polaris Project. These people are being viciously exploited and frankly being slowly murdered through disease and mental anguish.
While on the one hand it is clear that there are many in Japan who look down on foreigners, especially Asians, it is not only foreign ladies suffering this fate. Just go into any convenience store and you don't even have to look at the top shelf to see the exploitation of Japanese children. Let's not even get into the flyers that are put in my door box advertising prostitutes and pornography. In a country that prides itself on its safety and high morals, people need to open their eyes.
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