HKT48’s Rino Sashihara supports campaign to end coercion of women into porn

TOKYO (TR) – Japan’s government on Tuesday announced the appointment of Rino Sashihara, a member of popular idol group HKT48, as spokesperson for a campaign that seeks to eliminate the coercion and recruitment of young women into illicit work, reports Jiji Press (Apr. 2).

The campaign seeks to end young women being forced to work as actresses in the adult video (AV) industry and their recruitment into businesses going by the moniker “JK,” meaning joshi kosei (or school girl).

Satsuki Katayama, the minister in charge of regional revitalization and female empowerment, announced the appointment of Sashihara at a press conference on Tuesday. “From the viewpoint of young people, she has the image of an elder sister and counselor,” said Katayama.

JK businesses nationwide promote themselves as supplying massages, but many are known to offer sexual services by allowing customers to take the female employees off the premises.

In 2017, political party Komeito formed a project team to tackle the problem of young women being coerced into appearing in AV productions after being led to believe they would become models or idols.

The month-long elimination campaign was launched that same year. “In recent years, the problem of young women being victimized has sexually has come to the forefront,” reads a message on the web site of the Cabinet Office of the Government of Japan.

In addition to video clips featuring Sashihara, the site includes a guide for what young women can do should they find themselves coerced into work as AV actresses or find themselves toiling at illicit JV businesses. The site also includes telephone numbers for women to call.