Female Diet members attempted to introduce various anti-prostitution measures until in May 1956 they succeeded with the Prostitution Prevention Law. Prime Minister Ichirō Hatoyama had established a Council on Prostitution Policy which was chaired by anti-prostitution crusader Tsûsai Sugawara, and the resulting law criminalized solicitation, procurement, and contracts for prostitution, though not the act of prostitution itself. Sugawara admitted that the compromise legislation contained loopholes but at least made it illegal to sell daughters into prostitution, and he suggested that if prostitution could not be eradicated, official regulation may become necessary.
