For over five years I have reported fairly extensively on the commercial sex industry in Japan. Although I have done my best to cover a wide variety of the different kinds of unique adult entertainment venues in the land of the rising sun to good response I have noticed that more than a few readers have commented on what they see as a lack of options for full service in Tokyo.
It may seem odd to some that there are so many shops offering blowjobs or handjobs in a country that in some ways is famous for its widespread sexuality. The same could be said of the contradictions apparently in many other places however. For example in the Unites States guys are free to pay dancers to boogie down in the buff or pay a masseuse to rub their bodies but giving money for a nude massage with a handjob finale is against the law. Then there is Thailand where pornography and even nude dancing is apparently not permitted despite the country’s large commercial sex industry.
A land of contradictions
So such contradictions aren’t out of the ordinary at all especially in a country like Japan that has a massive adult video industry. It that has filmed countless thousands of cum shots for the world to see but doesn’t allow a vagina or penis to be shown.
In any event full service in Tokyo is actually available and it is not all that difficult for customers to find. Some of the newer outfits are incredibly straightforward.
I am no legal expert especially when it comes to Japan. But from what I can tell the rise of creative shops offering all kinds of services other than vaginal sex came about as a direct response to a prohibition on the sale of vaginal intercourse. Of course that prohibition isn’t full and total.
Full service soaplands
Soaplands are the most obvious case of places that skirt any rules against shop offering vaginal sex. That includes places like the previously reviewed Darling Harbour in Tokyo and Paradise nearby. While a select few soaplands like Darling Harbour and Don Juan will accept foreign customers Paradise is the only soapland that was specifically designed for foreigners.
There are different explanations as to why soaplands are able to offer such services. Again I am no expert but I can tell you what I’ve heard. Some say soaplands are simply grandfathered in. Others say the places only really charge customers for use of the facilities with anything that goes on between the service providers and customers in the private rooms being their own business. Who knows?
A few other places also offer full service in Japan but for the most part it all seems to be semi secretive and quite possibly illegal. Since the sale of any sexual services is illegal in many jurisdictions that may not sound like a big deal. But searching out prohibited activities in a country where they are full legal in different circumstances could appear to be quite foolhardy.
When full service is offered outside of soaplands it is usually done secretively or in some cases without the knowledge of the management. There are also cases of people getting into serious trouble for asking women who don’t provide full service to go all the way when their job only entails things like oral.
That sort of thing may be one of the reasons that many adult service in Japan don’t accept foreign customers. Since they run into locals asking for more than is actually offered sometimes they may think foreigners who don’t understand the language or sometimes complicated systems would be even more likely to go over the line even if only unintentionally. At least that is one of the most commonly given reasons for the more or less blanket ban on gaijin.
On the other hand that has created an opening for places like Paradise and a few others who have spotted a clear opportunity in the market and decided to cater to foreigners themselves.