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Japan Says Committing Adultery Is Okay If It’s For Business Reasons

Japan Says Committing Adultery Is Okay If It’s For Business Reasons


According to Japan Times, cheating on your spouse is alright — if they were done for business purposes. In the Tokyo District Court, a wife sued for compensation after she caught her spouse having a sexual relationship with a nightclub hostess. Similar lawsuits have been done in the past and awarded damages — these suits were done as a measure to support marriages. In this case however, the wife lost.

In the lawsuit, the wife demanded 4 million yen for psychological distress. The affair is said to have gone for over seven years. The court rejected compensation under ‘makura eigyo’, which roughly translates to ‘pillow sales tactic’. The court suggests that the extramarital affair is acceptable, as the hostess was engaging in a sexual affair purely for business reasons; to retain a good customer.

Katsuyuki Aoshima, the lawyer who represented the wife, was dismayed and called the decision a ‘vicious precedent’. “The judge didn’t need to introduce a new standard of allowing a sexual relationship outside marriage, introducing the word ‘makura eigyo’ out of nowhere,” Aoshima concurred. He fears that the case may weaken future lawsuits against adultery.

The ruling was handed down on April 2014. The wife didn’t appeal the ruling and the case was finalized.