Sri is from a village in the province of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya. In 1985, Sri was a twenty-one-year-old sex worker in a massage parlor in Bangkok, when a client invited her to go to work at a massage parlor in Macau. Sri agreed, and the client introduced her to an agent. The agent said he liked Sri and would send her to Japan where she could make more money. After Sri agreed, the agent brought her to an apartment in Bangkok. "The agent wouldn't let me out of the apartment at all. I was kept there with five other girls." The women were held for three days before beginning their trip to Japan.⁽⁵⁷⁾

Escorts

Women were accompanied on their flights to Japan by escorts who were responsible for delivering the women to brokers, or the brokers' associates, in Japan. Most of the interviewees reported that their escorts were Thai men, though others were escorted by women and/or non-Thais, and in some cases the escorts changed as the women traveled through other countries on their way to Japan. Most of the women we talked to met the escort for the first time in the airport or as they were boarding the airplane; none of the women we interviewed saw their escorts again after they were delivered to brokers in Japan. The escorts facilitated the women's departures from Thailand and entry into Japan, often via third countries, such as Malaysia, Singapore, or South Korea. In some instances, escorts contacted agents in transiting countries to change passports or to collect or deliver other women. The escorts held the women's travel documents, tickets, and money during the trip. None of the women interviewed by Human Rights Watch were allowed to carry their own passports except briefly when passing through immigration, after which they were immediately taken from them again by the escort. And those women who stopped in other countries along the way reported that they were strictly guarded at all times.

Janya was twenty years old in August 1991 when she was sent by an agent in Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur to meet a Malaysian woman who escorted her to Japan. "I entered Japan through Narita airport. I was carrying a Singaporean passport with a Malaysian-Chinese name on it and my photograph. I came with the Malaysian woman and her five year old daughter. I was a little worried because the passport was fake, but the Malaysian woman told me I didn't have to say anything. She told me to just practice writing my new name and said that she would take care of everything at customs. Nothing happened at customs; I got through easily."⁽⁵⁸⁾

Nat did not even realize she would end up in Japan when she left Thailand at age twenty and traveled with a friend and two escorts to Malaysia. When she and her friend arrived in Malaysia, they were taken to Kuala Lumpur and placed in a large apartment with about one or two hundred other Thai women. Nat was confined to that apartment for a month while agents prepared a Malaysian passport for her. As she recalled, "They gave us meals, but the only things to do were watch television and sleep. We were not allowed to go out." When the passport was ready, she flew to Narita airport in Japan.⁽⁵⁹⁾

Thip flew to Japan via Singapore in 1999. "I began the trip to Japan on my own passport. I didn't have a visa for Japan--I didn't know that I needed one. I flew from Bangkok to Singapore on my passport, but on the flight from Singapore to Japan, about thirty minutes before arrival, the Japanese man who was escorting me gave me a Japanese passport and told me to use it with the immigration officers in Japan. I was very surprised, and I asked why. He answered, 'a Japanese passport will make it easier for you to enter Japan,' and I didn't know what else to do, so I did as he said."⁽⁶⁰⁾

Several women explained that they were able to pass through customs despite patently false stories and/or documentation, and, based on the suspicious behavior they observed, at least two of the women concluded that airport immigration officials had collaborated with their traffickers:

Khai entered Japan in December 1991 with five other people who were posing as her "family": three other girls who were to be her "sisters," another woman who was the "mother," and a man who was the "father." But, she explained, "none of us were related, or looked like it for that matter. All the women were actually going to work, and the man was the agent." Khai was also traveling on a false passport with a description that did not match her physical characteristics. "I knew in my fake passport the woman was 162 centimeters and I was not even 150 centimeters. But I memorized all the details and passed [through airport immigration] with no problems."⁽⁶¹⁾

Sri traveled to Japan from Hat Yai airport in 1985 with five other Thai women. "At the Thai immigration in Hat Yai, they asked me what I was going to do in Japan. The officer was laughing and I believe he knew exactly what we were going to do. Then the [escort] arranged all of our passports with the immigration officer and we passed through without any other questions asked."⁽⁶²⁾

Pot flew to Japan via South Korea in 1992. She was put on a flight to South Korea with four other Thai women and one Thai man nicknamed Dee. "Dee told me and the other four women the specific Thai immigration officer to go to . . . In hindsight I believe that the immigration officer at Don Muang airport in Bangkok knew what I was going to do in Japan better than I did at the time of my departure. Because the officer was buddy-buddy with Dee and just kept smiling at us [the Thai women] as he stamped our passports."⁽⁶³⁾

Nuch said that when she arrived in Japan in 1993, her escort "told me to go in a specific line and she went in another line at Narita immigration. She went through first and then came to help me. She spoke Japanese and got me through."⁽⁶⁴⁾

We found that those traveling on false passports often traveled through Hat Yai, a Thai city in Songkhla province near the Malaysian border.⁽⁶⁵⁾ Nid , who went to Japan in 1991, explained to Human Rights Watch that "most women who use false passports go through Hat Yai [airport] because it is easier to pass immigration."⁽⁶⁶⁾ Sean confirmed that, when she went to Japan in 1992, she had to fly through Hat Yai because "I had a fake passport and Hat Yai could arrange my departure without any problems."⁽⁶⁷⁾ There are also agents in Hat Yai who can arrange for women to travel to Malaysia by boat. Nat, whose experiences in Malaysia are described above, traveled from Hat Yai to the Thai coast, where, she explained, "Two men were waiting and they took me and my friend on a small boat. Both were policemen. On the boat, my friend and I were told not to tell anyone that the two men were police. . . . After about two hours, the boat arrived at a pier with fishing nets everywhere. The border police seemed to have been informed about our arrival and immediately opened the lock for the wire fence." Nat and her friend had arrived in Malaysia; a month later, Nat flew to Japan on a Malaysian passport.⁽⁶⁸⁾

Allegations that corrupt officials are involved in facilitating trafficking operations have been supported by a number of sources, including Thai officials. A Thai Labor Affairs Officer stationed in Tokyo told Human Rights Watch about a case in which a twenty-year-old Thai woman entered Japan with the passport of a fifty-year-old woman; only the photo had been replaced. The Thai woman had explained to the officer that she used a password, as she had been instructed, and passed through immigration at Narita airport without any questions asked.⁽⁶⁹⁾ There have also been reports in the Thai press of collaboration by both Thai and Japanese officials in such scams. During the investigation of the murder of two Thai agents in March 1995, the Northern Bangkok Metropolitan Division Deputy Commander, Kongdej Chusri, told reporters that he believed that for there to be trafficking in women, both Thai and Japanese officials had to be involved in the trafficking of women. He explained, "It is difficult to leave Thailand and enter Japan with a fake passport. Without assistance from the immigration authorities, it would be almost impossible for them to slip through the tight control [of immigration]."⁽⁷⁰⁾ And a study published by Chulalongkorn University of Thailand in 1998 noted that agents who exploit Thai labor migrants, facilitating their travel arrangements and then subjecting them to indentured labor, are "aided by corrupt police and other government officials in the immigration office, the airport authority, and other offices."⁽⁷¹⁾

Brokers

After the women passed through immigration and customs in Japan, they were typically handed over to a broker, who either went to the airport to meet the women, or sent someone to pick them up. According to our interviews, most of the brokers were either Japanese men or Thai women, but some women also reported that certain Thai and Taiwanese men had acted as brokers. The brokers provided the connection between the agents in Thailand and the employers in Japan, and they held the women while making arrangements for their "procurement." In a few cases, the escorts served as brokers, delivering the women directly to procurers. While a woman's placement was being arranged, she was confined and denied access to the outside world. Women were also deprived of their passports, which were held by the brokers and then given directly to the procurers.

Descriptions of the brokers' "job placement" activities indicated that the women were treated as property, rather than as job applicants. The women consistently referred to being "sold," and they had no opportunity to negotiate their "contract" nor any ability to select or refuse their placement. In the majority of the cases documented by Human Rights Watch, women were placed into work in the sex industry, usually as "hostesses" in "dating" snack bars.⁽⁷²⁾ This was true regardless of the type of job promised by recruiters and agents in Thailand. Interviews with NGO staff, Thai Embassy officials, and others in Japan who work with women from Thailand, as well as with women returning from Japan to Thailand, confirmed this. The women's shelter Saalaa reported that out of the 170 Thai women who stayed in the shelter from 1992 to 1995, 158 (eighty-five percent) were "sold to small bars called snacks."⁽⁷³⁾

The following cases provide examples of recruits' first few days in Japan. Here and below we focus on women who were placed into employment in snack bars:

Phan arrived at Narita airport in Japan in early 1991. She and three other Thai women were then taken by their escort to an apartment where they were handed over to a Taiwanese broker. All of the women were told to shower, after which they drove through the night to Kofu city in Yamanashi prefecture. There they were given some winter clothes and told to shower again and change. According to Phan, the women "were sold by the Taiwanese broker for 150 bai [1.5 million yen; US$11,000] each. The broker explained that our debt would actually be 380 bai [3.8 million yen; US$28,000] to cover all our travel and other expenses. Then we were taken to different snacks. I was taken to a snack bar run by a Taiwanese mama. I was given another 20 bai [200,000 yen; US$1,500] to pay for clothes and told my total debt was 400 bai [4 million yen; US$30,000]."⁽⁷⁴⁾

Pong told us that when she and her sister arrived in Japan, "we were handed over to a Thai man who lived in Japan. He took us to a Thai woman, the broker, where I stayed for two nights. Then this woman sold me and my sister. I saw the money changing hands and didn't know at first what it was about, but then realized I was being sold. . . . We were told at the time of purchase that we were six months in debt. This was the first I had heard about the debt."⁽⁷⁵⁾

Rei was escorted to Japan by a wealthy woman whom she knew from her village in Thailand. When they arrived at Narita airport, the escort handed Rei a passport and money to show to the immigration officials. After Rei passed smoothly through immigration control, the escort took back the passport and money and brought Rei to a hotel in Tokyo by train. Rei recalled, "I stayed at the hotel with my escort for two nights. On the third day, I was bought by a Taiwanese mama and taken to Ibaraki prefecture by car. I didn't find out where I was until about a week later when I asked a woman I was working with."⁽⁷⁶⁾

When Pot arrived at Narita airport in 1990, she was handed over to a Thai woman named Chan and put into a van with several other women. Chan spent the next five days taking the women around to different locations in Tokyo. "She was trying to sell us like cattle. Then on the fifth day a Thai woman bought me and took me to another woman named 'Chan' in Ibaraki prefecture, who paid 380 bai [3.8 million yen; US$26,000] for me. When I got to the snack I learned that the 380 bai that I was bought for was to be my debt."⁽⁷⁷⁾

Procurers/Employers

Once the women were "sold" to snack bar owners or managers, their procurers demanded that they work to repay their purchase price--plus other fees and expenses. As one women recalled, "When I refused [to work as a snack bar hostess], I was told, 'we bought you so we want you to give us back that amount of money.'"⁽⁷⁸⁾ According to interviewees, the bar owners were typically Japanese men with close ties to the Yakuza, often referred to as "boss," while managers, referred to as "mama" or "mama-san," were almost always foreign women, typically the wife or girlfriend of the owner. Most of the women interviewed by Human Rights Watch worked under Thai or Taiwanese mamas, and a few interviewees pointed out that the mama herself was often living and working in Japan in violation of immigration law, like the women who work for her. For example, one woman we interviewed explained that she became a "mama" when a client paid off her debt in one snack bar and then forced her to repay another debt by working as the mama in a snack bar he owned.⁽⁷⁹⁾ The mama operated the bar for the owner and managed both the working and living arrangements of the women who worked there. She was also the one who kept track of women's "debts," and she exercised strict control over those whose debt had not yet been paid off, as is discussed further below. In some cases, women were procured by mamas who were not directly employed by one snack, but instead had connections to several different snacks, where they brought the women to work each day. This arrangement was particularly common in the Kabuki-cho district of the Shinjuku ward in Tokyo, an entertainment district with numerous small snack bars and other sex venues.

VII. SERVITUDE IN THE "SNACK BARS"

While I was in Japan, I worked like a slave to pay off my debt. It took almost one year.⁽⁸⁰⁾

Women recruited and transported into Japan for sex work typically were subjected to a period of servitude in the sex industry when they arrived, and forced to work without pay until they repaid exorbitant "debts," equivalent to around US$25,000 to US$40,000.⁽⁸¹⁾ In most cases, the conditions under which such "debts" were imposed, calculated, and repaid clearly constituted debt bondage, a slavery-like practice outlawed by international law.⁽⁸²⁾ The women involved also reported a range of other coercive tactics which were used to ensure their obedience while they were "in debt," such as the imposition of "fines" for misbehavior, the confiscation of their passports and other identification documentation, threats of "resale" into renewed debts and/or worse conditions, strict controls on the women's freedom of movement and communication, and threats and use of physical force. In some cases, the conditions women described amounted to forced labor. Furthermore, "indebted" women were compelled to work under highly abusive labor conditions, subjected to excessive work hours, abuse by clients, and significant risks to their physical and mental health.

This chapter describes women's experiences after they were trafficked from Thailand and "sold" in Japan. It begins with a brief description of the type of snack bar in which most of the women who were interviewed by Human Rights Watch had worked, and then describes the methods which were used to coerce women to work in these establishments for months--or longer--effectively without pay or recompense, and often at serious risk to their physical and mental health. Escape from these conditions was difficult and dangerous, and most of the women we interviewed stayed in debt bondage until their employers determined that their debts were "finished." Other women, however, did manage to escape, and their compelling stories are also recounted below.

Snack bars

Though debt bondage and other slavery-like practices occur in a variety of work places, the discussion below focuses on the conditions in Japanese snack bars where the vast majority of our interviewees worked. Snack bars, often referred to simply as "snacks," are a common venue where many Japanese go for relaxation and conversation. The many different types of snack bars are not necessarily distinguishable to outsiders but are well known to the locals in the area. A baishun--or prostitution--snack bar is one which involves sexual exchanges and is almost exclusively patronized by men. The women interviewed by Human Rights Watch distinguished between different types of baishun snacks by the arrangements of sexual exchanges. As noted in the previous chapter, most of the women we interviewed were placed in "dating" snack bars, in which clients may take women out of the bar for sexual services. Of the forty-eight interviewees who were placed in snack bars when they arrived in Japan, all but one of the women described going out with customers to provide sexual services as their primary responsibility.⁽⁸³⁾ All discussion of snack bars below refers to "dating" snacks.

"Dating" snack bars typically employ anywhere from five to twenty women as "hostesses"⁽⁸⁴⁾ and a female manager, who is called "mama" or "mama-san." Both the hostesses and the mamas are most commonly from Thailand, the Philippines, or Korea, although there are also women from other countries, including Japan. When a man enters the bar, he is immediately greeted by the mama, who comes to his table and asks what he wants to drink and what kind of woman he would like. If the customer is a regular, the mama will know without having to ask. Clients can choose a hostess for either two hours or a whole night, and they may take her out of the snack if they wish. Typically, a hostess is taken by her client to a nearby hotel, and the client is then responsible for paying for the hotel room and for returning the woman to the snack or the apartment where she lives, depending on the time. According to the women we interviewed, average fees were 20,000 to 30,000 yen (US$170-250⁽⁸⁵⁾) for two hours and 30,000 to 40,000 yen (US$250-340) for the night, and the money was given directly to the mama. The women explained that once paid for, a woman was expected to satisfy all of the client's demands.

The operation of baishun snack bars is closely tied to the Yakuza.⁽⁸⁶⁾ The owners are often Yakuza members (or former members) themselves, or else are linked to Yakuza gangs to which they pay regular protection money. The Yakuza are powerful and dangerous groups with connections to police and other government officials. According to our interviews with women who worked as hostesses, as well as with advocates and researchers in this field, the Yakuza's involvement in snack bar operations has important implications for women's ability to challenge the terms or conditions of their employment and to seek redress for violations. Women spoke of their fear of Yakuza retaliation for disobedience or escape attempts, and several advocates pointed to Yakuza involvement in the snack bar industry as a key reason behind the lack of adequate police response to abuses.⁽⁸⁷⁾ Sri, who worked as a mama in Kofu from 1985 to 1992, told Human Rights Watch that she paid the Yakuza 8 bai (80,000 yen; US$630⁽⁸⁸⁾) per month to protect her snack bar, follow clients who did not pay, and follow girls who tried to run away.⁽⁸⁹⁾

Many women also alleged that corrupt police officers--together with Yakuza--helped to protect snack bar operations. Several women explained to Human Rights Watch that police or immigration officials either exempted their snack bars from raids, or else gave their owners advance warning, in return for bribes:

Pot explained that the owners of her snack bar and others paid a "tax" to the police so that their hostesses would not be arrested in raids. "When there are raids on snack bars everyone agrees it is because the owner didn't pay the necessary tax."⁽⁹⁰⁾

According to Chan, "immigration came once, but there was a telephone call which notified the snack just before and so almost all of the women ran out. Those who didn't get out were arrested."⁽⁹¹⁾

Janya said that "the bar owners were not afraid of the police because the police warn them in advance of inspections by immigration officials. I never saw this, but I heard about it often."⁽⁹²⁾

Nung recalled that while she was afraid of immigration and police officers, the "boss" at the snack bar was not. "Boss easily got information about immigration crackdowns. So during immigration crackdowns, the Thai people stayed at the apartment and the snack was closed."⁽⁹³⁾

Debt Bondage

All of the women whose cases Human Rights Watch documented--either through directly conducting in-depth interviews or drawing upon detailed interview transcripts from other researchers--and who were placed into employment as snack bar hostesses upon their arrival in Japan, reported having to repay a substantial debt to their employers.⁽⁹⁴⁾ The amount of the women's debts varied, but most of the women were told they owed between 3 million and 5 million yen (US$25,000 - 42,000⁽⁹⁵⁾) when their work began. Our findings have been corroborated by researchers, advocates, and government officials in Japan and Thailand.⁽⁹⁶⁾ The women's shelter Saalaa, for example, found that of the Thai women who worked in Japanese snack bars, more than ninety-five percent arrived in debt. Moreover, in ninety-five percent of those cases, the women "owed" more than 3 million yen (US$24,000⁽⁹⁷⁾), which they were forced to reimburse through sex work under highly coercive conditions. Saalaa published a report on these findings which points out that although this amount is called a "debt," this is a misnomer, as the women have not actually borrowed the money.⁽⁹⁸⁾

Human Rights Watch found that while the crime of debt bondage was closely linked to the crime of trafficking--as women were placed into debt bondage by the same networks that arranged their travel to Japan--women also could be "sold" into debt bondage in snack bars by persons unconnected to their travel into the country. Human Rights Watch interviewed two women who accepted job offers while they were already in Japan in 1995 and then found themselves in debt bondage, with debts of 300 bai (3 million yen; US$32,000):

Korn came to Japan in 1993. Her first debt was 380 bai (3.8 million yen; US$34,000), which she paid off in three months, working as a sex worker at a snack bar. Then Korn and her friend Gaew, another sex worker from Thailand, met a Thai woman who told them they could earn a lot of money at another snack bar in Chiba prefecture. So, as Korn explained, "we both came to work the snack on March 23, 1995. But, upon arrival at the snack, we realized we had been sold for 300 bai [3 million yen; US$32,000] each and were in debt again for this amount. As soon as we realized we had been tricked we tried to escape."⁽⁹⁹⁾

The actual time it took women to repay their debt, and the work they had to perform while in debt, often differed greatly from the promises made at the time of recruitment. Mamas used arbitrary and non-transparent methods of account-keeping, and women had no control over the initial level or on-going calculation of their debt. Not surprisingly, abuses were rampant. In virtually every case Human Rights Watch documented, debts were increased at employers' discretion as fees were levied for housing, food, clothing, medication, fines, and other expenses. Some women were never told how much their debt was to begin with, and in any case, the details of the debt repayment calculations were never fully explained:

Unable to find a job that paid a good salary, Chan left Thailand for Japan in 1993, when she was twenty-three years old. Chan told Human Rights Watch, "I was charged 100,000 yen [US$900] a month for all my expenses, and this amount was added to my debt. All I knew was that this included 30,000 yen [US$270] per month for housing. I didn't know how the rest of the money was divided."⁽¹⁰⁰⁾

Before going to Japan, Sean worked in a market. Sean was twenty-eight years old when she arrived at Narita airport in December 1992, and was sent to work at a snack bar in Kofu. "I worked in a 'dating snack' and had to 'date clients' in order to pay off my debt of 120 bai [1.2 million yen; US$11,000⁽¹⁰¹⁾]. Each month, another 3 bai [30,000 yen; US$270] was added to the debt for the apartment and all other expenses, such as food and clothing. The Japanese owner also added 3 bai per month to my debt for having given me the job. My agent had told me I could pay off my debt in three to four months, but it took me nine months to pay off my debt."⁽¹⁰²⁾

Phan's mama paid for her apartment and food, but Phan said she had to cover all of her other expenses, including birth control pills: "I tried to buy all the extra things I needed with my tip money so it wouldn't be added to my debt."⁽¹⁰³⁾

When Miew arrived in Japan in early 1999, she was told that each month she had to pay 50,000 yen (US$430⁽¹⁰⁴⁾) protection money, 50,000 yen (US$430) for housing, and 30,000 yen (US$260) for food. These expenses, totaling 130,000 yen (US$1,100) a month, were added to her debt.⁽¹⁰⁵⁾

Sri, a Thai woman working as a mama at a snack bar in Kofu, told Human Rights Watch in 1995 that, though an abortion at a private hospital costs about 6-7 bai (60,000-70,000 yen; US$640-740), if a hostess becomes pregnant while in debt, snack bar employers may charge her up to 30 bai (300,000 yen; US$3,200) for an abortion and then add this amount to her debt.⁽¹⁰⁶⁾

With fees and other expenses imposed at their mama's discretion, women often found it impossible to keep track of their debt repayment calculations. And, even when they tried, they found that their efforts were fruitless, as they were forced to defer to their mamas when calculations differed:

Faa was told she owed 120 bai (1.2 million yen; US$9,000⁽¹⁰⁷⁾). "I paid off this debt in five months. I served at least one client a night and at most three. The snack paid for room and board, but I had to pay for my birth control and my own health care and personal needs.  But I didn't really know exactly how the debt worked or what I owed for what. I just waited to be told my debt was paid."⁽¹⁰⁸⁾

Pot recalled, "In all, I worked for eight months to pay back my debt and I had calculated that I must have paid it back long ago, but the mama kept lying to me and said she didn't have the same records as I did. . . .  I tried to keep track of my own records quietly, but I didn't know all the additional expenses that the mama was adding to my debt. And I did not want the mama to know I was keeping track for fear that she would get angry."⁽¹⁰⁹⁾

Even in cases where women were released from debt within the promised time frame, the discretion that their employers exercised over the conditions of their employment, as well as over the debt repayment calculations, often qualified the arrangement as debt bondage. While in "debt," women had no power to negotiate the nature or conditions of their work and could not take sick days or rest days without permission. They could not refuse clients or clients' demands, making them highly vulnerable to violence and other abusive treatment. They furthermore received no compensation for their labor, and while the women we interviewed were typically allowed to keep tips from clients, in some cases even that was not allowed. An advocate who worked on a hotline for foreign women told Human Rights Watch about a Thai woman whose mama demanded that hostesses hand over their tips: "So she rolled the tips in saran wrap and put them in her vagina to escape detection by her mama. Then she mailed the money home, but it was stolen along the way and never got there, so it was all for nothing."⁽¹¹⁰⁾ And a Thai woman who had been arrested for murdering her mama wrote the following in a letter composed from prison in 1993:

The mama took all the money I got by engaging in sex with dirty-minded men, but she did not pay anything to me. . . . Moreover, she charged us food, rent, and other things as well, and our debt to her went up--although we never really borrowed from her. . . . When [the other hostesses] saw me get tipped, they threatened that they were going to tell the mama that I got a tip unless I gave them some. So I gave them some. I thought that giving some to them was better than having it all taken away by the mama.⁽¹¹¹⁾

Interviewees explained that their indebtedness was consistently used as a justification for the strict control that mamas exercised over all aspects of their lives, which included the confiscation of their passports, strict isolation, constant surveillance, and the threat and use of violent punishments for disobedience. The debt itself also provided a strong incentive for hard work and obedience. Women came to Japan with the primary objective of sending money back to Thailand, so when they learned that they had to repay a debt before they could keep their earnings, their top priority became repaying their debt (or having it repaid) as quickly as possible. This meant staying on good terms with the mama, who had ultimate control over calculating debt repayment and even reserved the right to "resell" women into higher levels of debt and/or worse working conditions. Finally, the lack of wages obstructed women's access to outside assistance and increased their dependency on their employers for food, medical care, housing, and other necessities.

Dr. Suriya Samutkupt, a Professor of Anthropology at the Suranaree University of Technology, in Thailand, spent several months in Japan in the mid to late 1990s, interviewing Thai women who were working as sex workers in Ibaraki prefecture. These women had arrived in Japan in debt bondage, but had successfully paid off their debts and were now sending money home to Thailand each month. Samutkupt recalled their descriptions of the period of debt bondage, emphasizing that "these were women who had 'made it' in Japan, so their experiences were not as bad as many others":

They didn't really understand the finances or the accounting, but they knew that cooperation and obedience would get them through. If they cooperated with the boss and the clients, their chances of getting tips and getting free were much, much better. They prayed to be bought out of their contracts [by clients] and they tried to stay away from drugs and drink. They said that the younger women would get into trouble by getting involved in drugs and alcohol and by disobeying. Then they would be beaten or resold. But they explained that "as long as you do your job, the gangsters aren't too bad and will take care of you when you're sick." They also explained that if you're young and pretty you have a better chance.⁽¹¹²⁾

Fines

The system of debt bondage provided snack bar managers with punishments that could be used to exact strict obedience from women without resorting to the explicit threat or use of physical force. Strict rules were imposed regarding matters such as punctuality, weight gain, and failure to fully satisfy clients, and mamas fined women for minor infractions, thus prolonging their period of indebtedness. Women also reported facing fines if any of their customers complained, thus encouraging them to yield to all customer demands.

At Kaew's snack bar, "women were fined for coming back late, fighting with each other, or not agreeing to sit with a client, so," Kaew explained, "I did what I was told."⁽¹¹³⁾

Chan explained, "I could eat anything I wanted, but I was penalized if I ever weighed more than 54 kilograms [119 pounds]."⁽¹¹⁴⁾

Lee, who had left her two-year-old twins with her family in Samut Sakhon Province to come to Japan in 1991, when she was twenty-three years old, explained that her mama added a 10,000 yen (US$75) fine to the debt of a woman who gained even one kilogram.⁽¹¹⁵⁾

Noi was twenty-one when she arrived in Japan. She described her mama as nervous, and sometimes cruel, and said women were "fined if they were fat or gave bad service to clients."⁽¹¹⁶⁾

Miew was fined 500,000 yen (US$4,300⁽¹¹⁷⁾) for giving the snack bar's telephone number to her parents. She explained that "Women also got fines for asking customers to help them escape [if the customer told on them] or for not satisfying the customer."⁽¹¹⁸⁾

"Resale"

Many women reported being faced with the threat or actuality of having their debt renewed by being "resold" to another snack bar. In a clear demonstration of the slave-like status of indebted women, procurers considered it their right to "sell" a woman, this time acting as her broker, or to return her to her original broker. Many women were resold, or threatened with resale, into higher levels of debt and worse working conditions as a punishment for disobedience or "causing trouble." Women also explained that being found HIV positive was considered grounds for "resale":

Chan said that she served three to four clients every night and explained that she and the other hostesses "weren't exactly forced to take clients but we were pressured, and if we didn't cooperate our lives could be made very difficult. So everyone learned to do as we were instructed. I had to take clients from the first day. I had never done this type of work before, and I had to serve about three or four clients every night. The mama said we had to work hard to pay off our debt within five months, or she would sell us again."⁽¹¹⁹⁾

Kaew said she "saw lots of women who tried to run away from their debt, but were caught and resold, even caught back in Thailand."⁽¹²⁰⁾

According to Miew, she had to be careful in asking clients to help her escape, because "if I asked a customer to help me escape and he told my mama, I would be sold to another place with double debt."⁽¹²¹⁾

Janya was resold after more than a year of working to repay her debt because her boss, a Thai woman, owed heavy gambling debts and wanted to return home to Thailand. It then took her another year to repay her debt to the second snack bar.⁽¹²²⁾

Samutkupt's discussions with Thai sex workers in Japan confirmed that "indebted women could be resold, because they were under contract. They might be resold for misbehavior, or for some other reason, such as because their boss was in debt, or because the club owners changed."⁽¹²³⁾

Tactics to prevent escape

Passport Deprivation

One of the ways in which brokers and employers prevented women from attempting escape was by confiscating their passports and other documentation. None of the women Human Rights Watch interviewed were allowed access to their passports while in debt, and in some cases women could not get their passports back even after their debt was paid. Khai's mama kept her (fake) passport while she was in debt, and then, when Khai finished paying off her debt in 1992, demanded a fee for its return. Khai was told to pay 50 bai (500,000 yen; US$4,000) and, since she didn't have the money, she never saw her passport again.⁽¹²⁴⁾ Without their passports and other papers, women were left without any proof of their identity, making it difficult for them to arrange transportation back to Thailand. A Japanese man who has helped many Thai and Filipina women escape from debt bondage in snack bars explained that, when he attempts to rescue women, most of them are very concerned about their passports. Their employers have told them that they cannot go home without a passport or identification, and the women believe them.⁽¹²⁵⁾ Furthermore, foreigners in Japan are required to carry their passports with them at all times. Failure to produce a passport upon demand by a police or immigration official is punishable by a fine and often leads to detention as a suspected illegal immigrant. Thus, if a woman leaves the snack bar without her passport, she faces the risk of being placed into detention by police or immigration officials. Pot explained that "the mama had my passport so I never dared to run away or even consider running to the police. Without my documents I was sure I would be arrested and jailed. I never got my passport back from the mama even after my debt was paid."⁽¹²⁶⁾

Restrictions on movement and communication

Snack bar employers also used strict supervision and restrictions on women's freedom of movement and communication to limit opportunities for successful escapes. Virtually all of the women interviewed by Human Rights Watch complained that every aspect of their lives, during both working and non-working hours, was controlled by the mama while they were in debt. They were housed in apartments with other snack bar hostesses under the supervision of the mama, and they could not go out of the apartment without an escort, if at all. Communication was also tightly controlled. Women were often forbidden to speak in Thai, and one woman reported that though she could send and receive letters, both incoming and outgoing mail was opened and read.

Nat worked in a bar with a Singaporean mama. "The mama had lived in Japan for twenty-four years and had been employing Thai women. Because she often traveled to Thailand, she spoke fluent Thai and knew well how to scold in Thai. The mama managed the women very strictly. She watched our every move from her house. Video cameras were set up for this purpose at the snack bar and in the room on the second floor where we lived. All doors made a sound when opened or closed and we could not go anywhere.⁽¹²⁷⁾

Miew lived next door to the snack bar and was watched all the time. "There was a motion sensitive light that went on if anyone went up or down the stairs to the apartment. I don't know who was watching us, but someone was."⁽¹²⁸⁾

Rei called home about once a month for thirty minutes and was also able to send and receive letters. But she explained that none of the women were allowed to go out alone.⁽¹²⁹⁾

Pong worked at a snack bar with eight other Thai women. "I lived with the mama in the same apartment, and I had no freedom to go out. I was watched and controlled all the time. When somebody went out to buy food, another woman had to go with her. Mama ordered the Yakuza to watch the women to prevent escape. Mama told us that if anybody escaped from here, she would be killed." Pong's communication with family members in Thailand was also strictly limited. "I could send letters to my family in Thailand, but I could not receive any letters from my family because I was prohibited from telling our address to anybody."⁽¹³⁰⁾

The extreme isolation many women are subjected to was described in wrenching words in a letter written by one Thai woman, who has since disappeared, to her father:

I live without hope. What I do everyday is just have customers. I cannot go out. There are more than ten Yakuza here. This letter must be hidden from them. If they find it, I will be beaten. If I try to run away from here, I will be killed, and my body will be thrown to the sea. . . . I do not know where I am now. All of us do not speak. There are lots of Thais and Filipinas. I am prohibited to talk to them. . . . The Yakuza are always watching me carefully. I am forced to stay at the place where Yakuza live. The restaurant where I work is located on an island. The Yakuza are threatening me. . . . Living here is like living in hell. Yakuza sometimes take us somewhere in order for us to get customers. They pack us into a truck without windows. I cannot look outside.⁽¹³¹⁾

Violence/Intimidation

Finally, many women reported that brokers and employers used physical violence and threats of violence to frighten women into submission. Women were beaten for failing to please their clients, for failing to prevent a coworker's escape, or for other acts of disobedience.

Khai complained that the clients would not use condoms, and "if I tried to get a client to use one and he told the mama, I would get in trouble. If I did anything that did not please the client and he complained I would get beaten." She also said that the mama beat the women at the snack bar if they asked clients for any tips or favors.⁽¹³²⁾

Jaem explained that she was beaten often by her employers because "I wouldn't say I was wrong when I hadn't done anything wrong."⁽¹³³⁾

Phon arrived in Japan in 1993 at age eighteen and was "sold" to a snack bar owner named Yoko. When two of her coworkers escaped from the snack bar, the boss "beat and kicked me and another woman, asking if we knew something about the two women's escape."⁽¹³⁴⁾

Threats and intimidation were commonly used to prevent women from trying to escape, and women often heard stories of others who were severely punished, and even killed, for fleeing before they were released from their debt. Rei told Human Rights Watch about an eighteen-year-old woman who was caught trying to escape: "they took the girl back and the mama sold her to the Yakuza. Now she has to work for them in a Yakuza brothel, or 'black jail,' indefinitely with no pay. . . . Some women who try to escape are killed."⁽¹³⁵⁾ Another woman, Miew, explained that "a friend of mine working at the same snack told me about a woman who had tried to escape. The first time she was caught and returned to the snack and then, when she tried again, she was killed and found dead in the forest. My friend said that if a woman escapes, she is killed and thrown away in the forest or the ocean."⁽¹³⁶⁾ Suriya Samutkupt told Human Rights Watch that in his conversations with Thai women who had been released from debt bondage in snack bars in Japan, he also "heard of many others who had disappeared, either resold or killed by the Yakuza. . . . The women had heard stories of women being thrown into the sea or into the forest for disobeying their bosses." He went on to explain, "I don't know if these stories were true or if they were just threats used as a control tactic," but regardless of their accuracy, they were effective in eliciting obedience. Despite the terrible conditions that they described, none of the women Samutkupt met had ever tried to escape.⁽¹³⁷⁾

Some employers also told women that if they left the snack bar before their "debts" were repaid, their family members would face violent retaliation back in Thailand. Korn, for example, whose successful escape from debt bondage is described below, told Human Rights Watch, "even though we [Korn and one of her coworkers] escaped, we will not return to our families in Thailand because our agents know where we are from and might seek revenge. My mama threatened to kill my mother and older sister if I ever ran away."⁽¹³⁸⁾ Human Rights Watch was unable to determine whether such retaliation was commonly carried out in practice, but according to shelter staff and other advocates whom we interviewed in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Bangkok, these threats are credible, and the fear generated by such threats serves as a significant deterrent against escape attempts and other acts of disobedience.⁽¹³⁹⁾

Excessive hours

Nearly every woman Human Rights Watch interviewed was forced to work seven days a week while in debt, without days off for rest or, in some cases, even for illness.⁽¹⁴⁰⁾ Typically, the women were taken to the snack bar at 6:00 or 7:00 p.m and worked until at least 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. They provided sexual services for two to four clients each night and often performed other tasks as well, including cleaning, washing dishes, serving food and drinks, and entertaining clients by singing or playing games with them at their tables:

Rei explained that she tried to work hard to pay off her debt as fast as possible. "If I was sick I could rest for two or three days and mama gave me medicine (the cost of which was added to my debt). But I rarely stopped, even when sick, and the mama pushed me to work." Rei said her mama insisted that she serve at least two clients a night, and most nights she served three.⁽¹⁴¹⁾

In one of the snack bars where Nuch worked, she was woken up every morning at 9:00 a.m. to clean the house and the snack bar before lunch. After lunch, she and the other women from the snack bar had to work in a field behind the bar where the owners grew vegetables and rice. They worked there until dinner-time, and they were closely supervised to make sure they did not steal any produce; anything they wanted to eat from the fields had to be purchased with their tip money. After dinner Nuch went to work in the snack bar, serving clients from 6:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. as she struggled to repay her debt.⁽¹⁴²⁾

Lai was twenty-three when a friend in southern Thailand recruited her to go to Japan in 1993. Once there, she was forced to work every day from 7:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., without any compensation or days off. Her clients paid 20,000 yen (US$180) for two hours or 30,000 yen (US$270) for an overnight stay, but the money went straight to the snack bar owner.⁽¹⁴³⁾

Several women reported taking contraceptive pills without any days off (to allow for menstruation), so that they could go out with customers every day of the month. Some women said their mamas "forced" them to take pills daily; in other cases, they felt compelled by the urgent need to pay back their debt as quickly as possible:

Khai told us that her mama made her pay for her own birth control and take it without any days for menstruation: "I bought the birth control pills on the black market for 2,500 yen [US$20⁽¹⁴⁴⁾] per month. I didn't have my period for one and a half years. Then when I stopped taking birth control I bled every day for one and a half months."⁽¹⁴⁵⁾

Kaew had been sterilized so she did not need to take birth control pills for contraceptive purposes. But, she said, I took the pill daily so that I wouldn't get my period and could work every day. The mama said to me, 'don't let your period come, or you'll never finish paying your debt.'"⁽¹⁴⁶⁾

One woman we interviewed was able to avoid taking birth control pills without regular breaks by sitting on ice to clot her blood when she was menstruating, so that she could still serve clients.⁽¹⁴⁷⁾

Abuse by clients

Women's inability to turn down customers meant that they were often forced to tolerate even the most abusive clients. Many of the women we interviewed explained that some of their clients were sadistic and violent:

Khai told us, "I was beaten by clients several times. One client even burnt me many times with a cigarette." But Khai was never allowed to refuse clients. "The clients could do whatever they wanted to me. There were times when I was bruised all over by the clients and still the mama made me go with them for as long as the client was willing to pay. . . . One Thai woman who worked with me was beaten by a client and when she returned to the snack bleeding the mama stilled yelled at her and blamed her for not pleasing the client. The mama kept saying it was her fault for not pleasing him."⁽¹⁴⁸⁾

Rei also reported having to accept every client and fulfill all of their requests. "The client could do anything they wanted with me and could ask me to do anything and I couldn't refuse. The only thing the mama said to the clients was 'these women belong to the Yakuza so be careful with them.'"⁽¹⁴⁹⁾

According to Jo, "Some clients were violent with us. Once we went out with a client, we had to follow his instructions and satisfy him."⁽¹⁵⁰⁾

A volunteer staff member at a Japanese women's shelter told Human Rights Watch that, during the year and a half that she worked there, from early 1998 to mid-1999, nine Thai women escaped to the shelter from snack bars and two escaped from brothels. Several women reported traumatic experiences with clients, including one woman who was forced to have sex in the snow, and was then left in the snow by her client when she fainted. She was rescued by her mama, who went to find her when the client returned with only the woman's clothing.⁽¹⁵¹⁾

Risks to physical and mental health

Women working in debt bondage in Japan's sex industry face serious risks to their physical and mental health. These include the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)--including HIV/AIDS--from their clients. Several women interviewed by Human Rights Watch explained that they were unable to negotiate or insist on condom use, especially while they were still in debt. Kaew said she tried to use condoms during oral sex "but some of the clients refused to use the condoms."⁽¹⁵²⁾ Nam explained, "I could not refuse clients, and very few clients used condoms."⁽¹⁵³⁾ We also spoke to a Thai mama, Sri, who told us that while she tried to convince clients to use condoms with the women who worked for her, she did not insist on it; if clients refused to use a condom, the women had to follow their clients' wishes or it would be bad for the snack bar.⁽¹⁵⁴⁾ A staff worker at MsLA, a women's shelter and hotline and counseling center in Yokohama, corroborated the testimony of Human Rights Watch interviewees regarding condom use: "Thai women are very concerned about STDs. They ask for condoms but ten out of ten customers refuse. Condoms are a common form of birth control in Japan, but it is something to be used with wives. Men feel that since they have paid for the services of a prostitute, they should be able to do whatever they want."⁽¹⁵⁵⁾

Women's limited access to medical testing and treatment exacerbated the health risks they faced from sexually transmitted diseases. Restrictions on women's freedom of movement meant that they could not visit a doctor without their mama's approval, and, typically, her accompaniment. Language barriers--coupled with a lack of interpreters in Japanese hospitals and clinics--compounded the problem, making it impossible for women to communicate directly with health care providers. Indebted women also lacked the funds to pay for exams and medication, and their undocumented immigration status served to exclude them from nearly all government health care subsidies, including government-subsidized HIV/AIDS treatment. Not only did this mean that women's access to medical care depended on their mamas' decision to pay for it, it also meant that visits to the doctor could prolong their period of indebtedness, as all health care costs were added to their debt.

The result was that, while in debt, women's access to testing and medication for STDs and other illnesses was strictly controlled by their mamas. Some women were never tested. Pong, for example, explained that she was never checked for STDs, even though very few clients used condoms.⁽¹⁵⁶⁾ Other women were given blood tests, but the results were provided to their mamas--in violation of their right to privacy--while being withheld from the women themselves. Providing medical test results to the women's managers constitutes a serious breach of the principle of doctor-patient confidentiality. Still other women were given the results, but could not afford to pay for the medication they needed. And those who did receive treatment saw their debts increase as a result:

Rei told Human Rights Watch that while she was working as an indebted snack shop hostess, she and her coworkers went to the hospital once a month for blood tests to check for STDs and HIV/AIDS. The cost of the health visits were added to the women's debt, and the test results were given to the mama. Rei knows that she had syphilis twice, but she does not know whether she has HIV/AIDS because her mama never told her.⁽¹⁵⁷⁾

Soi worked at a snack bar in Chiba prefecture for two months and then was transferred with her mama to a snack bar in Mie prefecture. During the four months that she worked without compensation, from October 1990 to January 1991, she and the other hostesses were taken to the doctor for blood tests twice a week, but the doctor discussed the results only with their mama. In Soi's words, "The doctor checked us for diseases by taking out blood and listening to our chests with a stethoscope. The mama paid the doctor. The doctor never told us our diagnosis. He would tell the mama. . . . The mama said she would tell us if we were sick."⁽¹⁵⁸⁾

When Khai had her blood checked, the health center told her that she "had too many white cells"--meaning she was HIV-positive--but her mama refused to give her money for medication.⁽¹⁵⁹⁾

Ooi saw a doctor once while she was at the snack bar. "The doctor took my blood and examined my vagina. It took a week for me to find out my results. I was told I did not have syphilis. But I was not told anything else. The mama made me see the doctor. One of the clients asked the owner to bring the women for medical check-ups because some diseases can be transmitted. So the owner told the mama to take the girls to the doctor because if the client got a disease, then he might take back his money. The mama paid the doctor's fee. After I got back to the apartment, the mama told me that my debt would be increased. . . . One month before I was arrested, I was taken to a hospital for a check-up. The doctor gave me a month's supply of medicine. I did not know what the medicine was for."⁽¹⁶⁰⁾

Based on her conversations with Thai women, a staff member at MsLA observed, "Half the women get regular checkups and the medical fees are added to their debt. The other half have no way of knowing if they have any disease."⁽¹⁶¹⁾

There is also some evidence that women trafficked from Thailand into the Japanese sex industry are at risk of developing serious mental health problems as a result of the abuses they suffer. Though there are no statistics estimating the extent of mental disorders among undocumented female migrants from Thailand in Japan, such problems have been identified by physicians who treat foreign patients in Japan as one of the major medical problems facing Thai women. Takashi Sawada, a physician at the Minatomachi Medical Clinic, told Human Rights Watch that, in his experience, acute psychosis and substance abuse are prevalent among Thai women working as entertainers or sex workers in Japan.⁽¹⁶²⁾ Human Rights Watch spoke to several women who appeared to be suffering from addictions and/or serious mental health problems after working in debt bondage in Japanese snack bars. A few of their stories are related below, though we do not have sufficient information or expertise to reach definitive conclusions about how or why their problems developed:

When we met Khai, she had escaped from debt bondage in a snack bar and was working on the streets in Osaka. She was living with a Japanese boyfriend, and explained that she was trying to stop working, but without the work she gets bored and has no money of her own. "I am still addicted to the drug 'U' and so I need some money. I get angry with myself sometimes and beat myself by sticking needles in my arms and banging my head against the wall hard. If I am drunk or on drugs I feel better. I often have severe headaches."⁽¹⁶³⁾

Bee was working at a bar in Bangkok that served primarily Japanese clients when a friend of hers asked her to go to Japan. Bee agreed, but when she got to Japan and was sold to a snack bar in Ibaraki prefecture, the conditions proved unbearable. She began consuming large amounts of cough syrup and drugs, and then had problems with her nerves. "I became crazy and then the neighbors reported me." It is not clear whether her neighbors called the police or the hospital, but Bee was taken to a mental hospital, where she was treated and then turned over to the police.⁽¹⁶⁴⁾

Four months after her baby was born, Faa began having temper tantrums. She was eventually sent to a psychiatric hospital in Japan and then transferred to Thailand. When we spoke to Faa at the psychiatric hospital in Thailand, she did not remember her temper tantrums or know why she had been committed to hospitals in Japan and Thailand. The hospital staff believed that her mental disorders were probably a result of her addiction to medicated cough syrup during the nearly four years she was in Japan.⁽¹⁶⁵⁾

Japan's public health system provides for free treatment to undocumented migrants whose cases are so severe that they are considered at risk of physically harming themselves or others and are in need of emergency intervention. But for women with less extreme problems, the high cost of treatment can deter them from seeking assistance. The fact that there are few Thai-speaking psychiatrists in Japan means that effective care is often unavailable even in emergency cases.⁽¹⁶⁶⁾

Snack bar hostesses may also suffer from a range of illnesses or injuries, particularly given the excessive work hours and the prevalence of physically abusive clients and/or employers. Again, Human Rights Watch found that the risk to their health was heightened by their dependence on their employers for access to medical care and medication: they needed permission from their mama to see a doctor, as well as a "loan" to pay for the visit and any necessary medication. And again, the cost of any medical care that women did receive was added to their debts and thus could prolong their period of debt bondage. Joy reported, "We had to work even if we were ill or menstruating. And as long as we were in debt, we were not allowed to go to the doctor, even if we were sick."⁽¹⁶⁷⁾ Wanna described her mama as a "cold-hearted woman," and complained that "when I was ill I had to take clients."⁽¹⁶⁸⁾ Nuch said that when she developed a rash and fever, her mama bought her medicine, but did not take her to see a doctor and the cost of her medicine was added to her debt.⁽¹⁶⁹⁾

Women continue to face problems in obtaining affordable health care after being released from debt. Excluded from government health benefits on the basis of their immigration status, the high cost of medical care could prevent women from even seeking treatment. Rei told Human Rights Watch that, while she was working as a sex worker on the streets, after paying off her debt in a snack bar, a client took her to an apartment and threw her down a flight of steps. Despite her resultant injuries, she did not go to a doctor: "I had no health care insurance and no money." Instead, she simply stayed at home for a month without working.⁽¹⁷⁰⁾ Women who successfully obtain medical care find themselves saddled with expensive medical bills. Most found the money to cover their bills, but those without the resources to pay could be forced into excruciating choices. Nid explained that, when she was pregnant in 1995, her inability to pay her medical expenses, which totaled 800,000 yen (US$8500), nearly led her to give up her unborn children to a woman who offered to cover her hospital bills in return.⁽¹⁷¹⁾ Fortunately, staff members from the Japanese NGO Saalaa intervened and assisted Nid in arranging both child care and a hospital payment plan.⁽¹⁷²⁾

In 1994, a staff worker from OASIS, a Japanese women's association that was set up in 1983 to help foreign workers in Japan, noted that "Japanese authorities reported that twenty Thai girls died in 1993 after working in the snack bars or brothels because of various 'illnesses.' The illnesses were caused by the fact that they were forced to work too hard and because they had no time to rest and no money to see a doctor."⁽¹⁷³⁾ In interviews with Human Rights Watch in 1999, Thai officials, including the First Secretary of the Royal Thai Embassy in Japan and the Japan Desk Officer at the Consular Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, cited similar mortality rates for Thai women in Japan, stating that about fifty Thai nationals die in Japan each year, and the majority of the deceased are women. They did not, however, provide any information about the causes of death.⁽¹⁷⁴⁾

Release from debt

"Dat tact"

In some cases, a woman's release from debt bondage was expedited by a client who paid off her outstanding debt. Women referred to this as "dat tact"⁽¹⁷⁵⁾:

Soi had spent two months working in a snack bar without compensation, when one of her clients, Mr. Takashi,⁽¹⁷⁶⁾ paid her boss to release her. "He came to the snack for the first time in December 1990. He met me there, bought me [for the night], and then bought me about ten times after that. Then he proposed to me. I did not understand what he was saying so the mama interpreted for me. He asked me to stop working at the snack and to live with him. He paid 1.5 million yen [US$11,000] to my boss to set me free. I left the snack in January 1991 and started living with Mr. Takashi and his eighty-two-year-old ailing mother. I got a job and worked illegally at a button producing factory. I worked there for a year and a half. In November 1993, Mr. Takashi and I went to the ward office to get married. I went to the office with my real passport, which I had brought to Japan with me [though she entered Japan on a Malaysian passport]. It had no 'entry' stamp for Japan, but the ward office said I could get married if I had my real passport." When she spoke to Human Rights Watch in March 1994, Soi had applied for a visa as a spouse of Japanese national and hoped to receive it within the year.⁽¹⁷⁷⁾

While Kaew was working to repay her debt at a snack bar in Nagano prefecture in 1992, she met a man who was a friend of the owner. "He came to the snack bar often, but he never took women out, he just talked to them. I had to talk to him, and at first I was upset because I knew he wasn't going to pay to take me out, but then he gave me tips just to sit and talk. He told the owner that he liked me and asked to buy out my contract, and the owner agreed since it was his friend. Usually, they didn't allow men to buy women out. So he paid the 130 bai [1.3 million yen; US$10,000] that I owed [she had already repaid 250 bai (2.5 million yen; US$20,000)] and set me up in an apartment. He gave me money, and I also continued to work at the same snack bar, but I wasn't in debt so I earned money."⁽¹⁷⁸⁾

Samutkupt found that it was common practice for clients to "buy" women out of debt in the snack bars and then take them as mistresses. The women he met with in Ibaraki prefecture explained that while they were in "debt," "they dreamt of getting out of their contract, and their goal was to be bought out of debt." Many of the women he interviewed had been "bought out" by Japanese men, who then rented apartments for the women, gave them spending money, and visited them once or twice a week.⁽¹⁷⁹⁾

Women preferred "dat tact" to remaining in debt bondage, but they were also vulnerable to being exploited by the person who had purchased their "release" and thus felt entitled to demand services and obedience. Furthermore, the women continued to live in fear of deportation and became dependant on their "boyfriend" for protection against the authorities and access to housing, medical care, and other necessities. We interviewed one woman who was "released" from debt by her "boyfriend" while she was working at a snack bar in 1985, only to be told that she owed him a debt of 80 bai (800,000 yen; US$3300):

Sri had been working in Japan for five months when her Japanese 'boyfriend' paid off the rest of her debt--she never found out how much that was -- and took her to live with him. Then he brought her to Kofu, where he had just opened a snack bar of his own. "He told me I was to work there and pay off another debt of 80 bai [800,000 yen; US$3300]. He then bought another ten Thai girls for 180 bai [1.8 million yen; US$7500] each, and each of these girls had to work off a debt of 300-350 bai [3-3.5 million yen; US$12,400-14,500]. The girls' debt varied according to their age and beauty, the younger and more beautiful they were, the higher their debt. I was told that my debt was less because I was to be the mama in that snack."⁽¹⁸⁰⁾

"Finishing" the debt

Most women worked until they were told that their debt was "finished." While the amount of time it took women to repay their debts varied greatly, most of the women whose cases Human Rights Watch documented were released within a year:⁽¹⁸¹⁾

Joy was "sold" to a snack bar in Gumma prefecture in 1991, where she was held in debt bondage and forced to work every day to repay a debt of 350 bai (3.5 million yen; US$26,000). She described her mama as "mean and malicious." "If we [Joy and her coworkers] didn't listen to the mama, she reported us to the Yakuza. We had to work even if we were ill or menstruating. And as long as we were in debt, we were not allowed to go to the doctor, even if we were sick." But after two and a half months, Joy had repaid her debt, and she went to work at a factory, earning about 130,000 yen (US$1000) a month after taxes.⁽¹⁸²⁾

When Pat went to Japan in 1990 at age twenty-four, she said, "I understood that I owed a debt of 2.3 million yen [US$16,000] and what type of work I would do. But I didn't know how long I had to work, and in the end I spent more than a year finishing my debt because I was resold to other snack bars several times." After her debt was "finished," she moved in with her forty-three-year-old Japanese boyfriend, whom she later married.⁽¹⁸³⁾

Lee agreed to come to Japan in 1991. "The agent told me I would work serving drinks in Japan. I did not know until after I arrived that I had to pay off my debt of 400 bai [4 million yen; US$30,000] through prostitution. That time was very difficult. I was sent to a snack bar, and it took me seven months to pay off my debt. I had one regular customer who came every other night which helped, but besides him I had to serve any client who wanted me and I couldn't refuse." Lee stayed at the snack for several months after repaying her debt, until she had saved enough money to move. Then she got a job at a snack bar near Narita airport in Chiba prefecture, and worked there for more than a year.⁽¹⁸⁴⁾

After they were released, most of the women continued to work in Japan, either in sex work or other types of employment. These women were finally able to collect wages for their work, and many women sent significant amounts of money home to their families in Thailand. Non-indebted hostesses in the snack bars had more choices about where they worked, when they worked, the types of services they performed, and the clients they accepted. However, some women reported that their mamas continued to exercise abusive levels of control, even after their debt was repaid. In some cases, women found themselves with no choice but to continue working at the same snack bar, because they did not have enough money to leave:

Phan spent five months paying off a debt of 400 bai (4 million yen; US$30,000) after she arrived in Japan in January 1991. Then she agreed to enter into a second debt. "The mama asked me if I wanted another contract. I was not allowed to earn the money I made and save it along the way--the mama explained that according to her system, you had to take the advance and then worked it off. So I agreed to extend my contract by 100 bai [1 million yen; US$7,500], which I sent home to my family. The mama said that for 100 bai I would have to pay off a debt of 200 bai [2 million yen; US$15,000], and I agreed. During the second debt, a client offered to 'dat tact' [pay off the rest of Phan's debt to have her 'released'], but the mama wouldn't allow it. I never went out of the apartment or snack because I was afraid of the mama's temper and also because I knew I was illegal and could be arrested. Then after I paid off the second 'tact' [contract], I took 150 bai [1.5 million yen; US$11,000] advance to send to my family and worked off a third debt of 300 bai [3 million yen; US$22,000]. In all I worked in this snack for the Taiwanese mama for more than a year. Once I paid off my third debt [in early 1992], I worked to get an extra 20 bai [200,000 yen; US$1,600] to leave. . . . The mama warned me that once a woman leaves her snack she has to leave the town of Kofu.  This is because the mama is afraid that if the woman goes to work at another snack, her clients will follow her and take the mama's business away. So I went to work in an 'awk kaek' snack in Shinjuku, Tokyo." Two months later, however, Phan decided to return to Kofu because her friends and regular customers were there. "When the mama from the snack I had worked at found out I was back in town, she threatened me, telling me to either work for her or to leave town. I refused. Then the mama with her older sister, a friend and two Yakuza members (who were also taxi drivers) took me out of town and beat me up." Phan left again, and this time stayed away for almost a year, until her Japanese boyfriend in Kofu offered to pay off the Yakuza to allow her to return.⁽¹⁸⁵⁾

Khai said that while she was in debt in 1992, her mama yelled at her, telling her that if she did not work harder to please the clients it would take at least a couple years for her to pay off her debt of 340 bai [3.4 million yen; US$27,000]. "But, I worked hard and actually paid off my debt in six months. I paid off my debt faster than any other woman in that snack. Then the mama told me I had to work for an additional two months at the snack, but I didn't have to take clients if I didn't want to. I still had to go with clients in order to get some money to leave the snack with, but I did not have to take as many clients as before. After these two months, I didn't have enough money saved to leave, and I didn't know where to go. But the mama told me I had to pay her 50 bai [500,000 yen; US$4,000] a month to continue working there. She also told me she would give me the (fake) passport that I traveled to Japan with, if I gave her 50 bai. I told her I had already paid off my debt and had the right to get my passport back. However, the mama insisted on the 50 bai and so I said 'forget it.' Soon after that, the mama sold me to another snack. I left with very few clothes or possessions. This snack was run directly by the Yakuza. I was told I was again in debt; this time for 200 bai [2 million yen; US$16,000]."⁽¹⁸⁶⁾

Escape

The testimonies of women who escaped from debt bondage provide important insights into the difficulties and dangers of such attempts. Unfamiliar with Japan and far from their friends and family, women did not know where to go or who to turn to for help. Many resisted turning to Japanese authorities. Unable to communicate in Japanese, aware of their illegal status, and believing--in at least some cases correctly--that their employers had connections to the police, they feared being arrested and punished as illegal aliens or returned to their employers. Moreover, while all of the women Human Rights Watch interviewed about their escape attempts were successful, there is evidence that others are not so fortunate. As related above, Human Rights Watch heard stories of women being caught and killed or otherwise punished for trying to escape before their "debts" were repaid. We were not able to verify these accounts, but the fear they instilled in trafficked women was potent and real.

Human Rights Watch spoke to one woman who was returned to her snack bar owner by the police after she voluntarily surrendered to them in an attempt to get home. Sri recalled,

When I arrived in Japan [in 1985] I was first sent to a snack bar in Ibaraki prefecture. I worked there for only one month. Then there was a fire at the snack, and the police came to the snack and asked who wanted to go home. I said I wanted to go home and asked to be arrested. The police took me and two other Thai women who also wanted to go home to the police station. We were separated at the police station and questioned by the police, but only about the fire. When the questioning was done the police released us the same day to our snack bar owner. The owner sold us to another snack in Ibaraki for 80 bai each [800,000 yen; US$3300].⁽¹⁸⁷⁾

In a widely reported incident in the early 1990's, two police officers were forced to resign after releasing two Thai women in their custody to a former Yakuza member. An advocate who later assisted these women provided some of the details of the case to Human Rights Watch:

On May 24, 1991, in Suzuka city, Mie prefecture, three Thai women were arrested. One Japanese man was with the women. There was some trouble and the police hit the man, and the man later said he would sue the police. He had gott