ABSTRACT
Introduction It was not until the late 1980s and early 1990s that the phenomenon of human trafficking in Japan became visible. Incidents of human rights being trampled were frequent during this period, with foreign women-such as Filipinos and Thaisbeing forced into prostitution and serving customers against their will. They were beaten if they refused, exploited, and constantly kept under control. This was also a period when a formerly unknown number of women, after risking their lives to escape the control and violence of the criminals, sought help from embassies. According to the embassies, assistance was sought mainly from two private shelters in the Tokyo area that provided protection and shelter for the women until they could be sent home.1 The largest group taken in by the shelters in the early 1990s were Thai.
