Slavery in Japan

In this episode, we examine the long history of slavery and unfree labor in Japan, from early legal systems that treated certain people as chattel for household and agricultural labor to the upheavals of the medieval era, when warfare and piracy drove a growing trade in captives. We explore how this system expanded in the 16th century through contact with Portuguese merchants, prompting official bans under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, yet continued in new forms during the Edo period through indentured servitude and penal bondage. The episode then turns to the 20th century, when the Japanese Empire mobilized millions of forced laborers and prisoners of war during World War II, including the military’s system of sexual slavery involving “comfort women” taken from across occupied Asia. Finally, we consider how these histories still shape modern diplomatic tensions, public memory, and present-day concerns about trafficking and coercive labor.