Japanese Prostitutes in the North American West, 1887-1920

Kazuhiro Oharazeki

• Publisher: University of Washington Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780295998336
• eBook ISBN: 9780295806686
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Japanese History
• Index: Social Sciences

This compelling study of a previously overlooked vice industry explores the larger structural forces that led to the growth of prostitution in Japan, the Pacific region, and the North American West at the turn of the twentieth century. Combining very personal accounts with never before examined Japanese sources, historian Kazuhiro Oharazeki traces these women's transnational journeys from their origins in Japan to their arrival in Pacific Coast cities. He analyzes their responses to the oppression they faced from pimps and customers, as well as the opposition they faced from American social reformers and Japanese American community leaders. Despite their difficult circumstances, Oharazeki finds, some women were able to parlay their experience into better jobs and lives in America. Though that wasn't always the case, their mere presence here nonetheless paved the way for other Japanese women to come to America and enter the workforce in more acceptable ways. By focusing on this "invisible" underground economy, Japanese Prostitutes in the North American West sheds new light on Japanese American immigration and labor histories and opens a fascinating window into the development of the American West.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Note on Individual Names
• Introduction
• 1. Across the Pacific Rim: Global Dimensions of Japanese Prostitution in the North American West
• 2. Hardships at Home: Micro-level Analysis of the Social Origins of Japanese Prostitutes in the North American West
• 3. Recruitment and Passage: Transpacific Migration of Japanese Prostitutes to the North American West
• 4. Racialized, Exploited, and Excluded: The Lives of Japanese Prostitutes and Barmaids in the North American West
• 5. Breaking the Shackles of Oppression: Japanese Prostitutes’ and Barmaids’ Response to Sexual and Economic Exploitation
• 6. The Emergence of Anti–Japanese Prostitution Reforms in the North American West from a Transpacific and Comparative Perspective
• Conclusion
• List of Abbreviations
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index