One of the pleasures of Gabriele Koch¡¯s new book ¡°Healing Labor: Japanese Sex Work in the Gendered Economy¡± is how its erudition is mixed with an anthropologist¡¯s ear on the ground. Alongside interviews with adult women workers in Tokyo¡¯s sex industry, it starts with an excerpt from a Japanese TV show recorded in 2006 that may leave you scratching your head.
On the show, a young female office worker asks candidates for the prime ministership of Japan ¡ª including then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe ¡ª if they think it immoral to work in the sex industry. Impeded from realizing her intended career goals at a monthly salary of ?140,000, the woman says she is drawn to the autonomy and the possible earnings the sex industry offers.
Healing Labor: Japanese Sex Work in the Gendered Economy, by Gabriele Koch248 pagesSTANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
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