By SHUICHI YUTAKA/ Senior Staff Writer
July 13, 2024 at 07:00 JST
In 2015, rookie lawyer Reia Tokuda was asked to attend a free consultation event on legal rights held in the anteroom of a brothel.
She had only been registered as a lawyer in Saitama Prefecture outside Tokyo for less than a year.
The women she encountered were all isolated and living in appalling conditions with no one else to rely on. They were in desperate need of help for difficulties ranging from loans they were unable to repay to domestic violence, divorce, depression and intellectual disabilities.
The legal advisory program Futerasu took shape soon afterward with the aim of “illuminating the darkness of the sex industry with the light of justice and welfare.”
In April 2020, Futerasu was flooded with requests for assistance. The 800 or so cries for help it received that month was comparable to the annual number for other years.
The COVID-19 pandemic meant customers stayed away from sex establishments in droves, depriving the women of an income and even a place to work.
Tokuda was appointed vice chair of Futerasu in 2022 when it officially switched status to become a nonprofit organization.
Teaming with a social worker, Tokuda, 37, handles more than 100 consultations a year on the internet and elsewhere.
In her teens, Tokuda felt dispirited over the way many people single-mindedly pursue goals based on school performance, educational background and occupational history.
Tokuda aspired to engage in the life processes of people through her work, which led to her deciding to become a lawyer.
Her rationale was that whatever misfortunes her clients faced happened for a reason and that they would address the issues together.
“Putting temporarily aside the issue of whether the sex industry is good or not, I will be listening to the voices of women above all else,” said Tokuda.
It is estimated that there are more than 400,000 sex workers throughout Japan, making up upward of 1 percent of the nation’s total female workforce.
“The nightlife business cannot be separated from the daytime business,” she stated. “The problem is not about irrelevant people in a different world.”
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Lawyer Reia Tokuda (Photo by Shuichi Yutaka)
