In the 1967 film “Belle de Jour,” French actress Catherine Deneuve plays a beautiful housewife who works as a prostitute while her husband is at work.

If weekly tabloid Shukan Post is to be believed, women in Japan are following Deneuve’s lead.

In a special article on illicit activities undertaken during the day by married women, the magazine says that an increasing number of such women are taking up the world’s oldest profession on the sly.

For the inside scoop, the magazine turns to Akira Ikoma, the editor of a guide to the men’s entertainment called Ore no Tabi (My Journey).

“After the ‘Lehman Shock’ of 2008, it became clear that the number of housewives working in the adult-entertainment industry was on the rise,” says the editor.

“Since there has not been a recovery since, it remains difficult to find work. So women are continuing to struggle in the sex trade to pad their savings accounts.”

A 45-year-old woman in the Kansai area going by the name “Mariko” commutes to Tokyo.

“Every month, my husband, who works at a trading company, goes on a business trip,” says the woman. “So I started taking ‘business trips’ as well.”

Due to her expensive tastes, she has blown a substantial amount of her husband’s money, and now she has taken a job at a high-end soapland erotic bathhouse to make amends.

Kaorin Mizushima, a lecturer on the sex industry, explains that the number of housewives entering the sex industry due to lack of satisfaction at home is also on the upswing.

“They want to enjoy sex due to desire accumulated from being in a sexless marriage,” says the lecturer. “They have a strong need to be recognized as women. With that being the reason, they do not hold back, and the housewife genre is very popular in the sex industry.”

日本主妇卖淫：不仅为了钱

在1967年的电影《白日美人》中，凯瑟琳·德诺芙饰演的美丽妻子趁丈夫外出工作时卖淫。如果通俗杂志日本《邮报周刊》的报道可信，那么一些日本妇女正在效仿德诺芙的做法。

这篇特别的文章提到了不少已婚妇女白天做的不可告人的事情。该周刊称，越来越多的日本妇女正在暗地里从事这种世界上最古老的职业。

色情杂志《我的旅程》编辑Akira Ikoma提供了一些内线消息。

“在2008年金融危机雷曼兄弟事件后，从事成人色情行业的家庭妇女数量显著增加。”该编辑说，“到目前为止，经济还没什么起色，妇女很难找工作。不少妇女开始卖淫以补贴家用。”

一名家住关西的45岁妇女化名“真理子”前往东京。

“每个月我在贸易公司工作的丈夫都会出差，所以我也趁这个时候‘出差’。”她说。

因为喜欢奢侈品，她大手大脚花了丈夫不少钱。如今，她在一家高端的情色泡泡浴澡堂干活挣钱，权当做点补偿。

研究性产业的讲师水岛香织说，越来越多的家庭主妇因为在家得不到满足从事卖淫。

“无性的婚姻让她们渴望享受性的愉悦，”水岛说，“她们需要别人把她们当做女人对待。因此，在从事性服务时她们一点也不矜持。在性产业中，人妻属性相当受欢迎。”

    Words to Learn 相关词汇

  【暗地里】

    àndìlǐ

    on the sly

    secretly, furtively

    【补偿】

    bǔcháng

    make amends

    compensate for former misdoing