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At the beginning of the 20th century Malay Street, together with contiguous Hylam and Bencoolen Streets, was notorious for its Japanese karayuki-san brothels. The area was known to its Japanese residents as Suteretsu or 'street'. The Japanese prostitution industry began to wind down after World War I under pressure from the Japanese authorities. The area comprised many dilapidated two storey shop houses, the last of which were demolished in the early 1980s. Today the old street is incorporated within Bugis Junction, a pedestrian shopping mall made up of three streets - Malabar Street, Malay Street and Hylam Street. The streets are the first in Singapore to be air-conditioned and are thus commonly refered to as 'indoor streets'.
Hailam Street (Hainan Street) was named for its majority Hainanese Chinese population, but at the beginning of the 20th century it was also notorious for its Japanese karayuki-san brothels. The area was known to its Japanese residents as Chuo Dori or 'central street'. The Japanese prostitution industry began to wind down after World War I under pressure from the Japanese authorities. The area comprised many dilapidated two storey shop houses, the last of which were demolished in the early 1980s. Today the old street is incorporated within Bugis Junction, a pedestrian shopping mall made up of three streets - Malabar Street, Malay Street and Hylam Street. The streets are the first in Singapore to be air-conditioned and are thus commonly refered to as 'indoor streets'.
Karayuki-san ('Miss Gone-overseas') were Japanese women who travelled to East Asia and Southeast Asia in the second half of the 19th century to work as prostitutes. Many of these women are said to have originated from the Amakusa Islands of Kumamoto Prefecture, which had a large and long-stigmatized Japanese Christian community. Many of the women who went overseas to work as karayuki-san were the daughters of poor agricultural or fishing families.<br/><br/> The end of the Meiji period was the golden age for karayuki-san, and the girls that would go on these overseas voyages were known fondly as the joshigun or 'army of girls'. As Japan developed, the presence of karayuki-san overseas was considered shameful. During the 1910s and 1920s, Japanese officials overseas worked hard to eliminate Japanese brothels and maintain Japanese prestige.
Karayuki-san ('Miss Gone-overseas') were Japanese women who travelled to East Asia and Southeast Asia in the second half of the 19th century to work as prostitutes. Many of these women are said to have originated from the Amakusa Islands of Kumamoto Prefecture, which had a large and long-stigmatized Japanese Christian community. Many of the women who went overseas to work as karayuki-san were the daughters of poor agricultural or fishing families.<br/><br/> The end of the Meiji period was the golden age for karayuki-san, and the girls that would go on these overseas voyages were known fondly as the joshigun or 'army of girls'. As Japan developed, the presence of karayuki-san overseas was considered shameful. During the 1910s and 1920s, Japanese officials overseas worked hard to eliminate Japanese brothels and maintain Japanese prestige.
Japanese prostitutes were commonplace across Southeast Asia at this time, some working as spies for the Japanese Imperial authorities. From 1895 to 1918, Japanese authorities turned a blind eye to the emigration of Japanese women to work in brothels in Southeast Asia. According to the Japanese consul in Singapore, almost all of the 450 to 600 Japanese residents of Singapore in 1895 were prostitutes and their pimps, or concubines; fewer than 20 were engaged in ‘respectable trades’.<br/><br/> Prostitutes – known locally as ‘karayuki’ – were the vanguard of what has been described as describes as a ‘karayuki-led economic advance into Southeast Asia.’ It was specifically seen by the authorities as a way to develop a Japanese economic base in the region; profits extracted from the prostitution trade were used to accumulate capital and diversify Japanese economic interests. The prostitutes, known as karayuki-san or 'Miss Gone-Abroad', served as both creditors and customers to other Japanese: they loaned out their earnings to other Japanese residents trying to start businesses, and patronised Japanese tailors, doctors, and grocery stores. In 1918, after World War I, the custom began to decline.