Crime, Immigrants and Sham Marriage: The Framing of Foreign Female Sex Workers in Japanese Newspapers

Abstract

The thesis studies the framing of foreign women engaged in selling of sexual services, legally or illegally, in two of the Japan’s largest national newspapers, the more government critical Asahi Shimbun and generally pro-government Yomiuri Shimbun. The stances of these newspapers are different enough, that they were considered to provide varied enough view on the type of news about the topic. Regardless, there were a large number of similarities on the content of these two newspapers.

The aim of this study was to analyze not only the different frames present in the newspaper articles, but how the framing might have developed or changed from the presumed “negative” frame of foreign female sex workers in Japan being presented in media as human trafficking victims or as criminals violating Prostitution Prevention Law, Entertainment Business Act or Immigration Law. While these frames definitely exist, the content of many of the articles was more nuanced. Particularly in the way non-profit organizations have tried to extend the frame on human trafficking to encompass native Japanese women. This extension also shows on the articles concerning Japanese government’s reports on human trafficking. More minor discovery made was a connection of Japan’s International Traineeship Program to foreigners in sex industry present in Asahi.

In this work a total of 31 articles, 15 from Asahi and 16 from Yomiuri Shimbun, both national newspapers, were thoroughly translated and analyzed. The topic of is fairly popular, as much more related articles came up in searches. There would be ample opportunities for conducting more studies related to topic, and even more so in case publications other than major national papers are included in analysis.

With the results and the variance within in mind, as well as the fact that there is much that the national newspapers fail to focus on in their portrayal of foreign female sex workers in Japan, there are openings for more detailed research. This could for instance be done by analyzing local newspapers, which often frame issues differently than large national papers. Another possibility would be to research printed publications of Japanese non-profit organizations or their websites and other media, in order to examine the different perspectives and focuses.