By 
07-11-2025
Pauliina Majasaari
Team Asia Researcher,
Global Human Rights Defence.
On November 4th, 2025, Masayuki Hono, a 51-year old manager of a private massage parlor in Japan, was arrested on suspicion of forcing a 12-year old Thai girl to work illegally as a masseuse. The massage parlor offered traditional thai massages, however investigations revealed sexual services were included for an additional fee. The police are suspecting the case to be part of a wider human trafficking operation.
The girl and her mother arrived in Japan in late June on a short-term stay visa for a maximum of a 15-day period. According to allegations, the mother introduced the girl to the massage parlor, taught her how to perform sexual massages and told her to work there. Two weeks later after their arrival, the mother left Japan and abandoned her child in the massage parlour. The child was employed between June and July for about a month, serving 61 customers, and was forced to sleep in a kitchen corner of the parlour. The shop manager provided only a small amount of money for food to her.
As the girl could not speak Japanese, she turned to other foreign nationals for help in returning to Thailand, but she was warned of possible arrest as her visa had expired. However, in mid-September the girl visited the Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau to seek for aid, which launched the investigations into the case. The girl was taken into protective custody by the authorities, and are currently working towards returning the girl back home to her grandparents, whom she lived with back in Thailand.
Such actions by the manager of the massage parlour are contrary to international human rights law, intervening with the child’s right to be free from economic and sexual exploitation under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as labour rights setting the minimum age of employment at 18 years. Moreover, as mentioned the conduct could be classified as human trafficking, as the girl was transferred for purposes of prostitution and forced labour. The police are conducting investigations to unravel the broader network within the possible human trafficking operation, as they suspect the involvement of an intermediary organisation within the case.
While Japan has taken efforts to counter human trafficking, such as being a signatory to the U.N. Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Human Trafficking in Persons, various international actors have criticised Japan of its lack of efforts in practice to eliminate the practice. According to the UN Human Rights Committee, the penalties of trafficking-related crimes are not proportionate to the gravity of the offence. Moreover, challenges persist in the investigation of signs of trafficking within exploitation of children within the sex industry.
