Social media platforms help fuel growing sex tourism in Japan

Awareness abroad driven by proliferation of video clips on likes of TikTok and Bilibili

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TOKYO - Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo's west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists.

With their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flip side to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district.

There is no official data but anecdotal evidence suggests that increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media.

One of the women said the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a "real tourist attraction", and that around half her customers are foreigners.

"Since they can't communicate in Japanese, they write 'How much is it?' on their phones," using an automatic translator, said Ria, who did not use her real name.

The men going to Okubo Park are mostly from South Korea, China or Taiwan but also from North America and Europe.

Awareness abroad has grown partly because of videos on social media platforms such as TikTok or the Chinese Bilibili.