Attempted Fire in Susukino - Susukino in March 2020

Attempted Fire in Susukino - Susukino in March 2020

In March 2020, an attempted fire was reported in Sapporo Susukino, where a sex worker attempted to set fire to the restroom where she worked. The spread of the new strain of corona had just begun, and the entertainment district was rapidly losing customers, with employees facing hardship as their income was cut off. Behind the incident was not only economic hardship, but also a strong sense of social prejudice and isolation.

At the time, the image of "nightlife district = source of infection" was spreading nationwide, and Susukino was no exception. The city of Sapporo called for measures to prevent the spread of infection, but concrete support for the women who were deprived of their livelihood was scarce, exposing the composition of the socially vulnerable and trapped. Rather than taking measures to protect workplaces, the city was branded as a "dangerous city," and the community's gaze was cold.

Furthermore, the position of the adult entertainment industry in the wake of the Corona disaster was institutionally weak. Excluded from government benefit programs and inadequately protected by social security, the sex industry workers were placed in a double or triple predicament. The extreme action of attempting to start a fire is an expression of such trapped feelings and symbolizes the depth of psychological damage inflicted on women workers by the Corona disaster.

The Susukino incident was a tragic symbol that, apart from the attention concentrated in Tokyo's Kabukicho district, discrimination and isolation were similarly widespread in the entertainment districts of local cities, where people were in a predicament without a voice.