This article rethinks the hegemonic “sex-work” discourses—popular sex-work discourse and radical-feminist discourse—that associate Japanese night work with prostitution and consider young women workers in this industry as victims. These discourses reinforce sex-work oppression–empowerment paradigms, which limit workers’ experiences to either oppressive/empowering, good/bad, and positive/negative. This research draws on transnational feminism and a polymorphous approach to the complex nature of sex work. In doing so, this article addresses three aspects of Japanese night work, including young Japanese women’s motivation to go into night work, their conceptualization of work they engage in, and shakai-keiken (social experience) that they gain out of doing night work. This article encourages readers to step away from dominant Western discourses and look closely at the nuanced nature of Japanese night work in its own context.

中文翻译：

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超越“性工作”：日本夜间工作和“Shakai-Keiken”

本文重新思考霸权的“性工作”话语——流行的性工作话语和激进的女权主义话语——将日本夜班与卖淫联系起来，并将该行业的年轻女工视为受害者。这些话语强化了性工作压迫-赋权范式，将工人的经历限制为压迫/赋权、好/坏和积极/消极。这项研究借鉴了跨国女权主义和对性工作复杂性质的多态方法。为此，本文探讨了日本夜间工作的三个方面，包括日本年轻女性从事夜间工作的动机、她们对所从事工作的概念化以及释经研（社会经验）他们从夜间工作中获得。本文鼓励读者远离主流的西方话语，并在其自身背景下仔细研究日本夜间工作的细微差别。