The Japanese Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry has identified approximately 330 unlicensed massage parlours in Tokyo and 38 other prefectures, plus 110 qualified spas, that are responsible for injuring customers.

The nation’s consumer affairs agency (NCAC, an independent administrative institution) received 1,304 such claims in the fiscal year 2013 – nearly double the number received in the fiscal year of 2007. Among the 2013 complaints are 232 cases of broken bones, dislocations, sprains and even a spinal cord injury, according to the national newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun.

The injury verification process has been difficult for the health ministry as many of the victims cannot be contacted and government officials are therefore not able to hear details including types of injury, degrees of pain or when exactly the injury occurred.

Thus the ministry is considering setting up a system in which consumer affairs centres nationwide, or other bodies, can ask for a victim’s name, contact number and a detailed description of the injury to enable local health centres to investigate the complaint more effectively.

The official definition of massage remains unclear in Japan which means there are many unqualified parlours doing business – for which they cannot be punished unless they risk harming consumers’ health.

Self-declared “relaxation providers” have not passed the national exam required to open a massage parlour. Subjects such as anatomy must be studied at designated institutions for several years before the student can open a qualified massage parlour in Japan.