International Emancipation Movements for Japanese Prostitutes Around 1900

This presentation will analyze international emancipation movements for Japanese prostitutes that took place around 1900. In the late 19^th century Japan, although movements against licensed prostitution had begun, there was a lack of concrete methods on how to rescue licensed prostitutes being treated like sex slaves. American Christian missionary, U. G. Murphy, devised new ideas for emancipation of Japanese prostitutes in 1899; then from 1900 the British Salvation Army and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union supported realization of the method and spread the movement nationwide. This allowed prostitutes to leave red-light districts and also established rescue homes for their rehabilitation into society.

     There is no prior research concerning international cooperation for the emancipation of Japanese prostitutes around 1900. This presentation is based on the following historical materials: books by U. G. Murphy, Japanese and British periodicals of the Salvation Army, Japanese periodicals of Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, and Japanese newspapers. This will introduce types of international efforts made for these movements, and how the situation of Japanese prostitutes changed.

     The above-mentioned emancipation movements rescued many Japanese prostitutes and also reports in newspapers assisted in the wide-spread understanding of red-light districts issues. However, because it was not an abolishment movement, Japanese licensed prostitution systems remained. This became the foundation of “comfort women” system for the military and many women in Japanese colonies became victims.

     The aim of this presentation is to analyze the definition and limitations of these movements and to further the current discussions regarding the history of sex-slavery issues.