VZCZCXRO6859
OO RUEHFK RUEHKSO RUEHNAG RUEHNH
DE RUEHC #0443/01 1622034
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 112007Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO IMMEDIATE 9351
INFO RUEHFK/AMCONSUL FUKUOKA IMMEDIATE 0950
RUEHNAG/AMCONSUL NAGOYA IMMEDIATE 0426
RUEHNH/AMCONSUL NAHA IMMEDIATE 1138
RUEHOK/AMCONSUL OSAKA KOBE IMMEDIATE 3642
RUEHKSO/AMCONSUL SAPPORO IMMEDIATE 0838

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 STATE 060443 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG JA
SUBJECT: JAPAN -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND 
DEMARCHE 
 
REF: A. (A) STATE 59732 
     ¶B. (B) STATE 005577 
 
¶1. This is an action cable; see paras 5 through 7 and 10. 
 
¶2. On June 16, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. EDT, the Secretary will 
release the 2009 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report at a 
press conference in the Department's press briefing room. 
This release will receive substantial coverage in domestic 
and foreign news outlets.  Until the time of the Secretary's 
June 16 press conference, any public release of the Report or 
country narratives contained therein is prohibited. 
 
¶3. The Department is hereby providing Post with advance press 
guidance to be used on June 16 or thereafter.  Also provided 
is demarche language to be used in informing the Government 
of Japan of its tier ranking and the TIP Report's imminent 
release.  The text of the TIP Report country narrative is 
provided, both for use in informing the Government of Japan 
and in any local media release by Post's public affairs 
section on June 16 or thereafter.  Drawing on information 
provided below in paras 8 and 9, Post may provide the host 
government with the text of the TIP Report narrative no 
earlier than 1200 noon local time Monday June 15 for WHA, AF, 
EUR, and NEA countries and OOB local time Tuesday June 16 for 
SCA and EAP posts.  Please note, however, that any public 
release of the Report's information should not/not precede 
the Secretary's release at 10:00 am EDT on June 16. 
 
¶4. The entire TIP Report will be available on-line at 
www.state.gov/g/tip shortly after the Secretary's June 16 
release.  Hard copies of the Report will be pouched to posts 
in all countries appearing on the Report.  The Secretary's 
statement at the June 16 press event, and the statement of 
and fielding of media questions by G/TIP,s Director and 
Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Ambassador-at-Large Luis 
CdeBaca, will be available on the Department's website 
shortly after the June 16 event.  Ambassador de Baca will 
also hold a general briefing for officials of foreign 
embassies in Washington DC on June 17 at 3:30 pm EDT. 
 
¶5. Action Request: No earlier than 12 noon local time on 
Monday June 15 for WHA, AF, EUR, and NEA posts and OOB local 
time on Tuesday June 16 for SCA and EAP posts, please inform 
the appropriate official in the Government of Japan of the 
June 16 release of the 2009 TIP Report, drawing on the points 
in para 9 (at Post's discretion) and including the text of 
the country narrative provided in para 8.  For countries 
where the State Department has lowered the tier ranking, it 
is particularly important to advise governments prior to the 
Report being released in Washington on June 16. 
 
¶6. Action Request continued:  Please note that, for those 
countries which will not receive an "action plan" with 
specific recommendations for improvement, posts should draw 
host governments' attention to the areas for improvement 
identified in the 2009 Report, especially highlighted in the 
"Recommendations" section of the second paragraph of the 
narrative text.  This engagement is important to establishing 
the framework in which the government's performance will be 
judged for the 2010 Report.  If posts have questions about 
which governments will receive an action plan, or how they 
may follow up on the recommendations in the 2009 Report, 
please contact G/TIP and the appropriate regional bureau. 
 
¶7. Action Request continued: On June 16, please be prepared 
to answer media inquiries on the Report's release using the 
press guidance provided in para 11.  If Post wishes, a local 
press statement may be released on or after 10:30 am EDT June 
16, drawing on the press guidance and the text of the TIP 
Report's country narrative provided in para 8. 
 
¶8. Begin Final Text of Japan,s country narrative in the 2009 
TIP Report: 
 
-------------------------------- 
JAPAN (TIER 2) 
-------------------------------- 
Japan is one of several destinations and transit countries to 
which men, women, and children are trafficked for the 
purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. 
Women and children from East Asia, Southeast Asia, Eastern 
Europe, Russia, South America, and Latin America are 
 
STATE 00060443  002 OF 006 
 
 
trafficked to Japan for commercial sexual exploitation and 
male and female migrant workers from China, Indonesia, the 
Philippines, Vietnam, and other Asian countries are sometimes 
subject to conditions of forced labor.  Most officially 
identified trafficking victims are foreign women who migrate 
willingly to Japan seeking work, but are later subjected to 
debts of up to $50,000 that make them vulnerable to 
trafficking for sexual exploitation or labor exploitation.  A 
significant number of Japanese women and girls have also been 
reported as sex trafficking victims.  During the last year, a 
number of Paraguayan children were trafficked to Japan for 
the purpose of forced labor. Traffickers occasionally use 
debts to coerce migrants into prostitution in Japan,s large 
sex trade.  Many foreign and Japanese women initially enter 
the sex industry voluntarily, only to find themselves victims 
of involuntary servitude.  In addition to severe economic 
coercion, trafficked women are sometimes subjected to 
coercive or violent physical and psychological methods to 
prevent them from seeking assistance or escaping.  Most 
independent observers and organized crime experts believe 
that organized crime syndicates (the Yakuza) continue to play 
a significant role in trafficking, both directly and 
indirectly.  Traffickers are increasingly targeting Japanese 
women and girls for coerced exploitation in pornography and 
the sex industry.  Female victims, both foreign and Japanese, 
are often reluctant to seek help from authorities for fear of 
shame or of reprisals by their traffickers.  Japan is also a 
transit country for persons trafficked from East Asia to 
North America.  Japanese men continue to be a significant 
source of demand for child sex tourism in Southeast Asia. 
 
The Government of Japan does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so.  The 
government increased the number of sex trafficking 
prosecutions initiated in 2008, yet most convicted offenders 
of trafficking were given suspended sentences.  Japan has not 
yet effectively addressed the problem of trafficking for 
labor exploitation.  The government,s efforts to identify 
victims of trafficking remained inadequate. 
 
Recommendations for Japan:  Expand proactive law enforcement 
efforts to investigate trafficking in commercial sex 
businesses, especially in rural areas and including call-girl 
services(&delivery health8), &enjo-kosai8; (compensated 
dating) sites, and social networking sites; establish and 
implement formal victim identification procedures and train 
personnel who have contact with individuals arrested for 
prostitution, foreign trainees, or other migrants on the use 
of these procedures to identify a greater number of 
trafficking victims; ensure that victims are not punished for 
crimes committed as a direct result of being trafficked; 
increase prosecutions for labor trafficking; send periodic 
formal instructions to the National Police Agency and to 
Japanese embassies and consulates instructing officials to 
cooperate with foreign authorities in investigating Japanese 
nationals involved in possible child sexual exploitation; 
continue to increase the availability and use of translation 
services and psychological counselors with native language 
ability at shelters for victims; and inform all identified 
victims of the availability of free legal assistance and 
options for immigration relief. 
 
Prosecution 
----------- 
The Government of Japan demonstrated some law enforcement 
efforts to combat trafficking in the last year, but did not 
impose adequate sentences for most convicted trafficking 
offenders.  The government did not adequately address the 
problem of trafficking for labor exploitation during the 
reporting period.  The government reported 29 prosecutions 
and 13 convictions in 2008, all of which were for sex 
trafficking offenses.  This is compared to 11 prosecutions 
and 12 convictions in 2007.  Offenders received sentences 
ranging from six months to four years, imprisonment with 
labor.  Eleven of the 13 convicted offenders received 
suspended sentences, however, and were not punished with 
imprisonment.  The government did not sufficiently pursue 
investigations, prosecutions, and convictions of organized 
crime groups engaged both directly and indirectly in 
trafficking.  Arrests tend to be limited to street level 
operators.  Japan,s 2005 amendment to its criminal code and 
a variety of other criminal code articles and laws, including 
the Labor Standards Law, the Prostitution Prevention Law, the 
Child Welfare Law, and the Law for Punishing Acts Related to 
Child Prostitution and Child Pornography criminalize 
trafficking and a wide range of related activities.  However, 
it is unclear if the existing legal framework is sufficiently 
 
STATE 00060443  003 OF 006 
 
 
comprehensive to criminalize all severe forms of trafficking 
in persons.  The 2005 criminal code amendment prescribes 
penalties of up to seven years, imprisonment, which is 
sufficiently stringent.  Application of these statutes, 
however, has been hindered by the difficulty of establishing 
the level of documentary evidence required for proving a 
trafficking crime.  Labor exploitation, including forced 
labor, continues to be widely reported by labor unions, NGOs, 
shelters, and the media.  Based on calls to 
government-sponsored assistance hotlines, NGOs estimate that 
approximately five percent, or over 3,400 foreign workers 
recruited as &trainees8 in 2008, were potential victims of 
labor trafficking.  The Immigration Bureau and Labor Standard 
Inspection Bodies continued to report hundreds of abuses by 
companies involved in the Industrial Trainee and Technical 
Internship Program (the &foreign trainee program8).  Some 
reported abuses included fraudulent terms of employment, 
restrictions on movement, withholding of salary payments, and 
debt bondage.  According to labor rights groups trainees 
sometimes had their travel documents taken from them and 
their movement controlled to prevent escape.  In a few 
companies, trainees were reportedly forced to work unpaid 
overtime, and wages were automatically deposited into company 
controlled accounts, despite the illegality of such forced 
deposits.  There were no convictions for labor trafficking 
during the reporting period.   The government is beginning to 
exhibit efforts to monitor and regulate its foreign trainee 
program, though it has not yet taken steps to investigate, 
prosecute, and convict any potential offenders of labor 
trafficking in the program.  NGOs working with illegal 
workers in Japan reported the government,s reluctance to 
consider any illegal workers as trafficking victims, defining 
them instead as victims of contract fraud.  During the 
reporting period, there was a media report of an 
ex-government official accepting a $54,000 bribe to use 
government connections to facilitate the granting of 
entertainment visas to 280 Filipina women who were to perform 
in charity concerts but ended up working as hostesses in 
bars.  Officials in the Department of Justice and the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs granted the visas.  The 
government has not investigated or prosecuted any individuals 
allegedly involved in this possible trafficking-related 
corruption case, citing a lack of evidence. 
 
Protection 
---------- 
Victim protection remained inadequate during the reporting 
period.  The number of trafficking victims identified by the 
Japanese government declined for the third consecutive year. 
Law enforcement authorities identified 36 victims in 2008, 
down from 43 victims in 2007, 58 in 2006, and 116 in 2005. 
This number is thought to be disproportionately low relative 
to the suspected magnitude of Japan,s trafficking problem. 
Despite reports by both official and private entities of 
labor exploitation, the government only identified one victim 
of labor trafficking in 2008, which was associated with a sex 
trafficking case.  NGOs working with trafficking victims 
continue to express concerns based on interaction with 
trafficking victims that the government is not sufficiently 
proactive in searching for victims among vulnerable 
populations such as foreign workers and foreign women in the 
sex trade.  Expanded government collaboration with NGOs is 
likely one of the most effective tools the government has 
available in its efforts to combat trafficking.  The 
government repatriated 18 of 36 identified trafficking 
victims without referring them to IOM for risk assessment and 
formal repatriation processing in 2008.  According to the 
government, these early repatriations were at the request of 
the victim.  Japan does not have formal victim identification 
procedures, nor does it dedicate government law enforcement 
or social services personnel solely to the human trafficking 
issue.   During the reporting period, the Immigration Bureau 
created a database of trafficking cases.  NGOs familiar with 
regular training courses given to police, judges, and 
prosecutors, expressed the desire that such courses be 
further improved, as some potential victims appear to have 
been punished for crimes committed as a direct result of 
being trafficked, including for immigration violations.  The 
government does not appear to consistently recognize victims 
who initially enter into the commercial sex industry 
willingly, but later find themselves to be victims of 
trafficking.  In October 2008, police conducted a raid on a 
commercial sex establishment and identified 12 Thai 
trafficking victims.  Three women who may also have been 
trafficking victims were not taken into custody because they 
were not considered illegal immigrants. These three have 
since overstayed their visas and are missing, indicating the 
need for greater law enforcement training on victim 
 
STATE 00060443  004 OF 006 
 
 
identification, quick access to trained, native language 
trafficking counselors to overcome the distrust of police 
commonly found in potential victims, and better incentives 
offered by the Government of Japan to potential victims in 
terms of retraining and the possibility of legal avenues of 
employment. 
 
Thirty of the 33 identified trafficking victims in 2008 were 
housed in government shelters ) Women,s Consulting Centers 
(WCCs).  The victims had access to subsidized medical care 
and some victims received psychological care while in the 
WCCs.  While in shelters or assisting in trials, victims have 
never been permitted to obtain employment or otherwise 
generate income.  This lack of opportunity to generate 
income, coupled with the trauma of being a victim of 
trafficking, is a  likely factor leading most victims to 
agree to repatriation to their home country.  NGOs report 
that, although the government encouraged victims to assist in 
the investigation and prosecution of trafficking crimes, the 
government did not provide victims with an environment 
conducive to cooperation.  While the government can legally 
provide incentives for cooperation, such as the opportunity 
to work, there were no victims who were provided this type of 
assistance in 2008.  To date there have been no reported 
cases where the government provided legal assistance to a 
trafficking victim.  The government has the capacity to 
provide long-term residency visas for trafficking victims, 
but no foreign trafficking victim has been granted such a 
visa as yet.  Japan continued to provide the IOM $300,000 a 
year for repatriation and reintegration assistance. 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
The Government of Japan continued to improve its efforts to 
increase awareness of trafficking during the reporting 
period.  The government continued distribution of 
approximately 30,000 posters and 50,000 leaflets to local 
governments, embassies, airports, harbors, and NGOs.  The 
Immigration Bureau continued to distribute trafficking 
awareness leaflets in five languages.   The National Police 
University began to teach classes and seminars on trafficking 
during the reporting period.  In order to reduce Japanese 
demand for child sex tourism, the government displayed 
posters on child sex tourism in airports and at harbor 
facilities.  A significant number of Japanese men continue to 
travel to other Asian countries, particularly the 
Philippines, Cambodia, and Thailand, to engage in sex with 
children.  Despite Japanese courts, extraterritorial 
jurisdiction over Japanese nationals who have sexually 
exploited children in a foreign country, the government did 
not prosecute any Japanese nationals for child sex tourism 
during the reporting period.  This also is an area that is 
cause for concern.  The government conducted periodic police 
raids of prostitution establishments, including some raids on 
Internet-based forms of commercial sex, but did not make any 
other efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. 
During the reporting period, the government began funding a 
$5 million project to protect victims of trafficking in 
Southeast Asia, and continued to fund a number of other 
anti-trafficking projects around the world.  Japan has not 
ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol. 
 
¶9. Post may wish to deliver the following points, which offer 
technical and legal background on the TIP Report process, to 
the host government as a non-paper with the above TIP Report 
country narrative: 
 
(begin non-paper) 
 
-- The U.S. Congress, through its passage of the 2000 
Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as amended (TVPA), 
requires the Secretary of State to submit an annual Report to 
Congress.  The goal of this Report is to stimulate action and 
create partnerships around the world in the fight against 
modern-day slavery.  The USG approach to combating human 
trafficking follows the TVPA and the standards set forth in 
the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in 
Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the 
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized 
Crime (commonly known as the "Palermo Protocol").  The TVPA 
and the Palermo Protocol recognize that this is a crime in 
which the victims, labor or services (including in the "sex 
industry") are obtained or maintained through force, fraud, 
or coercion, whether overt or through psychological 
manipulation.  While much attention has focused on 
international flows, both the TVPA and the Palermo Protocol 
focus on the exploitation of the victim, and do not require a 
showing that the victim was moved. 
 
STATE 00060443  005 OF 006 
 
 
-- Recent amendments to the TVPA removed the requirement that 
only countries with a "significant number" of trafficking 
victims be included in the Report. Beginning with the 2009 
TIP Report, countries determined to be a country of origin, 
transit, or destination for victims of severe forms of 
trafficking are included in the Report and assigned to one of 
three tiers.  Countries assessed as meeting the "minimum 
standards for the elimination of severe forms of trafficking" 
set forth in the TVPA are classified as Tier 1.  Countries 
assessed as not fully complying with the minimum standards, 
but making significant efforts to meet those minimum 
standards are classified as Tier 2.  Countries assessed as 
neither complying with the minimum standards nor making 
significant efforts to do so are classified as Tier 3. 
 
-- The TVPA also requires the Secretary of State to provide a 
"Special Watch List" to Congress later in the year. 
Anti-trafficking efforts of the countries on this list are to 
be evaluated again in an Interim Assessment that the 
Secretary of State must provide to Congress by February 1 of 
each year.  Countries are included on the "Special Watch 
List" if they move up in "tier" rankings in the annual TIP 
Report -- from 3 to 2 or from 2 to 1 ) or if they have been 
placed on the Tier 2 Watch List. 
 
-- Tier 2 Watch List consists of Tier 2 countries determined: 
(1) not to have made "increasing efforts" to combat human 
trafficking over the past year; (2) to be making significant 
efforts based on commitments of anti-trafficking reforms over 
the next year, or (3) to have a very significant number of 
trafficking victims or a significantly increasing victim 
population.  As indicated in reftel B, the TVPRA of 2008 
contains a provision requiring that a country that has been 
included on Tier 2 Watch List for two consecutive years after 
the date of enactment of the TVPRA of 2008 be ranked as Tier 
¶3.  Thus, any automatic downgrade to Tier 3 pursuant to this 
provision would take place, at the earliest, in the 2011 TIP 
Report (i.e., a country would have to be ranked Tier 2 Watch 
List in the 2009 and 2010 Reports before being subject to 
Tier 3 in the 2011 Report).  The new law allows for a waiver 
of this provision for up to two additional years upon a 
determination by the President that the country has developed 
and devoted sufficient resources to a written plan to make 
significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the 
minimum standards. 
 
-- Countries classified as Tier 3 may be subject to statutory 
restrictions for the subsequent fiscal year on 
non-humanitarian and non-trade-related foreign assistance 
and, in some circumstances, withholding of funding for 
participation by government officials or employees in 
educational and cultural exchange programs.   In addition, 
the President could instruct the U.S. executive directors to 
international financial institutions to oppose loans or other 
utilization of funds (other than for humanitarian, 
trade-related or certain types of development assistance) 
with respect to countries on Tier 3.  Countries classified as 
Tier 3 that take strong action within 90 days of the Report's 
release to show significant efforts against trafficking in 
persons, and thereby warrant a reassessment of their Tier 
classification, would avoid such sanctions.  Guidelines for 
such actions are in the DOS-crafted action plans to be shared 
by Posts with host governments. 
 
-- The 2009 TIP Report, issuing as it does in the midst of 
the global financial crisis, highlights high levels of 
trafficking for forced labor in many parts of the world and 
systemic contributing factors to this phenomenon:  fraudulent 
recruitment practices and excessive recruiting fees in 
workers, home countries; the lack of adequate labor 
protections in both sending and receiving countries; and the 
flawed design of some destination countries, "sponsorship 
systems" that do not give foreign workers adequate legal 
recourse when faced with conditions of forced labor.  As the 
May 2009 ILO Global Report on Forced Labor concluded, forced 
labor victims suffer approximately $20 billion in losses, and 
traffickers, profits are estimated at $31 billion.  The 
current global financial crisis threatens to increase the 
number of victims of forced labor and increase the associated 
"cost of coercion. " 
 
-- The text of the TVPA and amendments can be found on 
website www.state.gov/g/tip. 
 
-- On June 16, 2009, the Secretary of State will release the 
ninth annual TIP Report in a public event at the State 
Department.  We are providing you an advance copy of your 
 
STATE 00060443  006 OF 006 
 
 
country's narrative in that report.  Please keep this 
information embargoed until 10:00 am Washington DC time June 
¶16.  The State Department will also hold a general briefing 
for officials of foreign embassies in Washington DC on June 
17 at 3:30 pm EDT. 
 
(end non-paper) 
 
¶10. Posts should make sure that the relevant country 
narrative is readily available on or though the Mission's web 
page in English and appropriate local language(s) as soon as 
possible after the TIP Report is released.  Funding for 
translation costs will be handled as it was for the Human 
Rights Report.  Posts needing financial assistance for 
translation costs should contact their regional bureau,s EX 
office. 
 
¶11. The following is press guidance provided for Post to use 
with local media. 
 
Q1: Why was Japan again given a ranking of Tier 2? 
A: The Government of Japan does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so.  The 
government increased the number of sex trafficking 
prosecutions initiated in 2008, yet most convicted offenders 
of trafficking were given suspended sentences.  Japan has not 
yet effectively addressed the problem of trafficking for 
labor exploitation.  The government,s efforts to identify 
victims of trafficking remained inadequate. 
 
Q2: What progress has Japan made in the past year? 
 
A: The government reported 29 prosecutions and 13 convictions 
in 2008, all of which were for sex trafficking offenses. 
This is an increase from 11 prosecutions and 12 convictions 
in 2007.  The government continued distribution of 
approximately 30,000 posters and 50,000 leaflets to local 
governments, embassies, airports, harbors, and NGOs.  The 
Immigration Bureau continued to distribute trafficking 
awareness leaflets in five languages.   The National Police 
University began to teach classes and seminars on trafficking 
during the reporting period.  In order to reduce Japanese 
demand for child sex tourism, the government displayed 
posters on child sex tourism in airports and at harbor 
facilities.  During the reporting period, the government 
began funding a $5 million project to protect victims of 
trafficking in Southeast Asia, and continued to fund a number 
of other anti-trafficking projects around the world. 
 
Q3: What efforts could Japan make to improve its fight 
against trafficking in persons? 
 
A: The Government of Japan could:  expand proactive law 
enforcement efforts to investigate trafficking in commercial 
sex businesses, especially in rural areas and including 
call-girl services(&delivery health8), &enjo-kosai8 ; 
(compensated dating) sites, and social networking sites; 
establish e and implement formal victim identification 
procedures and train personnel who have contact with 
individuals arrested for prostitution, foreign trainees, or 
other migrants on the use of these procedures to identify a 
greater number of trafficking victims; ensure that victims 
are not punished for crimes committed as a direct result of 
being trafficked; increase prosecutions for labor 
trafficking; send periodic formal instructions to the 
National Police Agency and to Japanese Embassies and 
Consulates instructing officials to cooperate with foreign 
authorities in investigating Japanese nationals involved in 
possible child sexual exploitation; continue to increase the 
availability and use of translation services and 
psychological counselors with native language ability at 
shelters for victims; and inform all identified victims of 
the availability of free legal assistance, and options for 
immigration relief. 
 
¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON