Trafficked? Migrant Filipina "Entertainers" in Tokyo's Nightlife Industry.

My presentation addresses the applicability to the situation of migrant Filipina hostesses in Japan of the top to bottom solution of "rescue, rehabilitation, and reintegration" that the U.S. universally imposes in its anti-trafficking campaign. My discussion is based on 62 in-depth interviews that I conducted with migrant hostesses in Japan as well as participant observation gathered from working for three months as a hostess in a Philippine pub in Tokyo. In my discussion, I establish that Filipina migrant contract workers in Japan are trafficked (but not for the same reason cited by the U.S. Department of State.) Then, I illustrate that the universal solution that the U.S. bullies other governments (by ranking in the Trafficking in Persons Report) and funds local organizations to implement ironically increases the likelihood of migrant Filipina hostesses of being trafficked. In my presentation, I call attention to the hegemony of the U.S. anti-trafficking campaign over trafficking as a political issue so as to reclaim the use of the term "trafficked" and rid it of its political stigma and association with the hegemonic campaign of "rescue" posed by the government of the United States. In so doing, I call attention to our need to reject the universal top to bottom solution imposed by the United States to combat all forms of trafficking and our need to develop multiple strategies and action plans to fight trafficking in the twenty-first century. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]