„Japan hat das sexuelle Verlangen von Männern seit Hunderten von Jahren als selbstverständlich angesehen“ – Experten erklären, warum das Rechtssystem des Landes Prostituierte bestraft, nicht aber die Männer, die für sie bezahlen

Well, taking human sexual desire for granted isn’t exactly a wrong take. Obviously we also now know that asexuals exist, but even so, a default understanding that most people occasionally want to have sex is reasonable for a society to maintain.

The way you implement laws regarding that desire for sex is not to punish the people who have those natural desires or even the people who are making a business out of it, though. It’s to regulate that business to make it as safe and responsible as possible. Give people a relatively safe outlet for their desires when their normal lifestyles don’t provide that outlet. You can control, to an extent, the sex industry; you can’t control the desire itself.

What other basic desire or need do people feel the impulse to punish this way? Going to a professional when you’re hungry for food is the basis for a trillion-yen industry. Going to a pro for sexual gratification, when done with regulations for public safety and the protection of everyone involved, is just as valid. The alternative, stifling people’s sexual wants and needs, leads to worse outcomes down the road, anyway, and the industry will persist, just in a more hidden (i.e. dangerous) form.

As is Nordic model is any better. Punishing only men and letting women off Scott free.

I think both should be let to pay or sell, as long as there is no abuse.