THE GOVERNMENT OF Japan does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. These efforts included identifying more victims than the previous year; funding a service provider organization to implement an innovative and highly effective online outreach program; and increasing on-site inspections of businesses employing migrant workers. However, these efforts were not serious and sustained compared to those during die previous reporting period. Officials investigated, prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned fewer traffickers than m previous years. Authorities again failed to identify a single trafficking case m the Technical Intern Training Program (TITP) despite persistent reports of forced labor among labor migrants working m Japan under its auspices. The government did not fully implement legally mandated screening procedures aimed at blocking foreign-based labor recruitment agencies from charging excessive fees — a key driver of debt-based coercion among TITP participants. Authorities continued to prosecute and convict traffickers under laws carrying lesser sentences, which courts in most cases suspended m lieu of incarceration. Additionally, some traffickers received only fines, interagency stakeholders relied on disparate, ineffective identification and referral procedures, leading to issues with proper screening and protection of victims. Law enforcement bodies continued to identify children exploited m commercial sex without formally designating them as trafficking victims, in some cases hindering their access to protection services and judicial recourse. Therefore Japan was downgraded to Tier 2.

PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS:

Vigorously investigate and prosecute sex and labor trafficking cases, and hold convicted traffickers accountable by imposing strong sentences. • Amend anti-trafficking laws to remove sentencing provisions that allow fines in lieu of imprisonment, and to increase the penalties for trafficking crimes to include a maximum of no less than four years’ imprisonment. • Develop, systematize, and implement standard interagency procedures for the identification of, and referral to protective services for, victims of forced labor among migrant workers, including those in Japan under the auspices of the TITP and other visa-conferring statuses, and among those in immigration detention. • Increase efforts to identify male victims of sex trafficking and forced labor. • Increase resources to provide specialized care and assistance to trafficking victims, including designated shelters for trafficking victims, and ensure these services are also available to both foreign and male victims.