Do Japan’s criminal laws or the Entertainment Businesses Control Law (風営法) contain separate age restrictions for adult entertainment performers?

1. What the Entertainment Businesses Control Law actually governs

The Act on Control and Improvement of Amusement Business (commonly discussed as Fueiho) sets licensing, hours, categories of businesses such as nightclubs, hostess bars, striptease and adult movie theaters, and operational rules for premises and staff, and empowers prefectural public safety commissions to authorize or restrict businesses — but the texts and translations cited focus on business categories and operation standards, not on prescribing a separate performer age threshold distinct from national age-of-majority or drink/entry rules (p9_sn1; p10_s1).

2. Patron age limits, alcohol rules and venue entry — the practical limits

Reporting and practical guides emphasise that entry to many adult entertainment venues is tied to alcohol and venue rules (Japan’s legal drinking age remains 20), and operators routinely verify IDs and block entry for those under the drinking-age or other venue thresholds; these are commercial and public-safety controls enforced under the amusement business act’s operational provisions rather than a unique performer-age statute in Fueiho itself (p2_s1; p9_sn1; p11_s1).

3. Criminal law and prostitution statutes: what is and isn’t criminalized

Criminal law that is relevant to the sex industry — for example the Anti-Prostitution Act — criminalizes intercourse for payment, thereby shaping what businesses may offer; such criminal prohibitions address the form of conduct rather than creating a separate age-of-performance rule for entertainers under Fueiho or the criminal code in the sources provided .

4. Performer protections have instead emerged through AV-specific legislation

Recent legislative attention targeted the adult video (AV) sector after Japan lowered the age of majority from 20 to 18. Lawmakers passed the Law to Prevent and Assist AV Performance Victims (the “new AV law”), which obliges companies to provide contracts, disclose expectations, and grants performers the right to withdraw consent and seek remedies — protections framed as industry- and contract-focused rather than as a Fueiho-style age cap on performers .

5. The policy debate: age-of-majority change, political pressures and differing agendas

Lowering the age of majority to 18 provoked fierce debate about whether 18–19-year-olds should remain specially shielded from the porn industry; some legislators and advocacy groups pushed for exemptions or protections for late teens, while others opposed special carve-outs, producing political headlines and a law focused on consent/contract safeguards rather than a new, separate statutory performer age requirement under Fueiho or criminal law in the coverage cited . Industry sources and some reporters argue the AV-focused law overreaches and harms workers economically, while advocates frame it as necessary to prevent coercion — an explicit clash of agendas visible in reporting .

6. Bottom line and limits of the available reporting

Based on the provided sources, the Entertainment Business Act (Fueiho) and Japan’s criminal statutes do not themselves appear to set a separate, standalone minimum age specifically labelled for “adult entertainment performers”; instead, age-related restrictions arise from national age-of-majority changes, drink/entry laws, venue licensing rules, and new AV-specific consent and contract legislation that creates protections across ages rather than a distinct performer-only age cap (p9_sn1; ; p3_s1). The reporting does note ongoing debates and legislative tweaks; if there are any narrow prefectural rules or recent amendments that explicitly set a performer-only age limit under Fueiho, those were not present in the documents supplied and cannot be asserted here .