Karayuki-san (Japanese Prostitutes) in Thailand: 1885–1920

Abstract

In Bangkok, there have been brothels with karayuki-san (Japanese prostitutes) since around 1885. This was before the signing of the Declaration of Amity and Commerce between Japan and Siam on September 26, 1887. This declaration opened diplomatic relations between Japan and Thailand, and since then, Japanese merchants, Buddhist monks, and others have been visiting Thailand. Karayuki-san were the first group of Japanese to settle in modern Thailand. For 30 years from the 1890s to the 1910s, there were roughly four Japanese hotels (brothels) in Bangkok that also served as Western-style bars, and there were 20 to 30 Karayuki-san altogether. Their main customers were Westerners.

In addition to Bangkok, karayuki-san also existed in Chanthaburi, which was occupied by the French from 1893 to 1904, and in Phuket during the boom years from 1916 to around 1917. 

The long-running Bangkok hotels (brothels) include the Fuji Hotel, which was run by a Japanese woman known as Grandma Shanghai (Old Lady from Shanghai), as well as the Asahi Hotel and the Bangkok Hotel. Grandma Shanghai run the Fuji Hotel for 30 years, from around 1890 to 1920.

The Thai government enforced the Venereal Disease Prevention Law in 1908 to control whorehouses and prostitutes; during one year, 172 Thai whorehouses (950 prostitutes), 134 Chinese whorehouses (1441 Cantonese prostitutes), 6 Vietnamese whorehouses (58 prostitutes), and 7 Lao whorehouses (50 prostitutes) were registered, but Japanese and Westerners avoided registration as both prostitutes and whorehouses. Compared to the scale of Thai and Chinese whorehouses and prostitutes, the Japanese figures of four whorehouses and around 20 prostitutes were incomparably smaller.