Old photos show Japanese sex workers caged like in prison

Dated 100 years ago, prostitutes during the Meiji period were held in cages to attract customers in Yoshiwara, a center of brothels at that time. Girls as young as seven years old were sold to the brothels as sex workers to repay family debts.

The photos were taken between 1890 and 1900. The prostitutes were mainly from the countryside. Some lucky ones would be given training in etiquette such as Tea Art classes. However most had to stay in the brothels until some wealthy men paid off their debts and kept them as concubines, or they had enough money to buy back their own freedom.

The Nobel Prize Nominee Hideyo Noguchi, whose face is on the current 1000 yen banknote, was a big fan of brothels in Yoshiwara. He was reported to have spent a big sum of money for a night of pleasure. Men with different backgrounds were welcomed, while samurais had to remove their swords before getting in.

These brothels were called ‘harimise’, where prostitutes had to sit behind the bars and faced the main streets to let customers choose. Since 1903, sex workers were picked and chosen from their photos. And later in 1916, ‘harimise’ brothels were banned.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s exports soared 14.8% in April from the same month a year earlier, according to Finance Ministry data released Thursday, showing that its trade remained robust despite worries over supplies of oil and gas due to the war in Iran.

Exports were stronger than expected, rising for the eighth straight month as shipments of semiconductors surged nearly 42% by value from the previous year. Booming demand for computer chips and other infrastructure needed to power artificial intelligence has yielded a windfall for many high-tech Asian manufacturers.

Imports rose 9.7% from a year earlier.

The trade balance shifted to a surplus of 301.9 billion yen ($1.9 ‌billion) from a deficit in the same month the year before. Japan recorded a surplus of nearly 643 billion yen in March.

Higher exports of medical products, paper goods and electrical machinery also contributed to the stronger export performance in April.

Exports to China rose 15.5% and exports to the U.S. rose 9.5%. Imports from China climbed 15% while those from the U.S. jumped 23%, the data show.

While overall imports rose, Japan's oil imports fell nearly 50% by value from a year earlier, while imports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, dropped 20%. Supplies have been crimped by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the main transport route for exports from the Persian Gulf, due to the war in Iran.

Japan imports almost all of its oil, and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has sought to to offset lower supplies by ordering the release of some national oil reserves. However, shortfalls have pushed prices higher and also impacted the production of oil-related products such as naphtha. ,

The price of Brent crude, trading at $70 a barrel before the war in Iran, has shot above $100 and a weakening yen has made imports of oil denominated in dollars still more costly for Japan.

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

Containers are stacked at a port in Tokyo Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (Michi Ono/Kyodo News via AP)