Earlier this week we reported that the Japanese government planned to reconsider making bar hostesses and sex workers eligible to receive benefits for parents unable to work due to the spread of the coronavirus. Now, Health and Labor Minister Kazunobu Kato has officially announced the policy reversal: those working legally in Japan‘s sex industry will indeed be able to access assistance in the government’s economic relief package.
The government will provide a subsidy of 8,330 yen ($76) per day to businesses that allow employees to take leave to care for children out of school.
That marks a reversal of the government’s original plan, which excluded restaurants and bars in the adult entertainment industry.
The government’s original plan was criticized as “occupational discrimination” by government opposition members, and the Cabakura Union, which represents workers in Japan’s adult entertainment industry, and its parent organization, the Part-Timer, Arbeiter, Freeter & Foreign Worker Union, challenged the decision.
