This project will examine the complex, historical tensions that have arisen between Tokyo-based NGOs (specifically sex-workers’ rights organizations which advocate for the decriminalization of sex work) and human-trafficking organizations (aiming for the abolition of sex work). Joshua will focus on concrete policy changes that the Japanese government has made in response to the global popularization of anti-trafficking discourse, and will determine how, and to what extent, these narratives have affected the increase in public surveillance and the crackdown on sex work as a means of ‘securing’ Tokyo for the 2020 Olympic Games.