A woman from China who loves Japanese architecture became interested in the dilapidated houses and bought them to open them to the public. These houses are symbols of a dark history for the community, so local people are cautious about turning them into tourist attractions, even while saying the truth should be passed on.
From the 16th century on, red-light districts β yukaku in Japanese β began to be created in various places across the country, including Kyoto , Osaka and Edo , now Tokyo. During the Tokugawa period, yukaku paid large sums of money to the shogunate. In , the central government banned forced prostitution and human trafficking, but to no avail because it did not present any aid to the women who would otherwise have lost their livelihood.
That was why yukaku continued to exist in Japan until when the anti-prostitution law was enacted to punish prostitution agencies and protect women. Half a century after this law went into force, townscapes with brothels continue to disappear. Hashimoto Yukaku in Yawata , Kyoto Prefecture, had 86 brothels in , according to a historic document. In , Rika Masakura, a year-old woman originally from China, bought one of the former brothel houses that had not found a buyer. The two-story wooden structure, which was constructed before World War II, was richly decorated with elegant stained glass and tiles.
When she bought it, however, the garden was in disrepair, the walls were crumbling and the ceiling was leaking. Masakura renovated it and opened it as an inn the following year. She then bought another former brothel nearby and turned it into a coffee shop. She got the funds for this by selling her condominium in Osaka Prefecture and her house in China, as well as through crowdfunding. Born and raised in northeastern China, where many Japanese used to live before and during the war, Masakura admired the Japanese architecture that remained there.
Unlike the concrete housing complexes where Chinese people were living, the stylish wooden houses had indoor staircases. Since Masakura began giving tours of her renovated buildings, more than tourists and researchers each month have visited the houses. Mixed sentiments In the Hashimoto Yukaku district, the townscape of the red-light district is being replaced by ordinary houses and parking lots. There is little momentum among locals to preserve the old buildings. The opposite is true.
