US troops are stationed in Japan to protect the nation. But to sex workers in Okinawa, they bring fear, not security

Business is slow in Okinawa’s biggest red-light district. Touts stand idle beneath neon signs advertising “soap-land” brothels, where prostitutes lather male clients for money. A handful of men loiter to peer at the photos of women pasted on billboards outside, though few appear willing to part with Y15,000 (£100) to spend an hour with one inside. Desperate as some of the businesses are, however, many still decline one type of customer: US military servicemen.

“Too much trouble,” explains one tout working the Tsuji-machi district of Naha, Okinawa’s capital. 

“The only reason why some “soaps” accept American military personnel is because there are too few customers,” says a prostitute in Tsuji-machi who requested anonymity. She says she’ll have sex with older men during the day time but refuses younger troops at night.

“They get rough, grabbing you by the neck and slapping your face,” she says. “I’d prefer not to work at all than endure that. Why should we have to absorb the hatred in the world?”

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