Berabou Drama Highlights Media Evolution from Print to Digital

Tsutaya Shigesaburo’s Yoshiwara Saiken was the pioneer of adult media.

The 2025 NHK Taiga drama “Berabou” is quite interesting. The protagonist, Tsutaya Shigesaburo, is renowned for publishing a guidebook of Yoshiwara called “Yoshiwara Hosomi”, which was an early form of adult information media. “Yoshiwara Hosomi” was a guidebook that introduced the names of the courtesans and maps of the brothel district in a pictorial style and was published in the early Edo period.

In 1774, Tsutaya Shigesaburo became the editor of “Yoshiwara Hosomi”. He introduced various innovations, such as inviting prominent cultural figures to write prefaces and changing the format from a horizontal to a vertical layout to include detailed information on brothels. This helped Tsutaya’s edition of “Yoshiwara Hosomi” become popular. Tsutaya Shigesaburo eventually became independent and fully entered the publishing business, monopolizing the sale of “Yoshiwara Hosomi” by 1783.

To succeed in the entertainment industry, gathering information beforehand is essential. The bestseller success of “Yoshiwara Hosomi” created by Tsutaya Shigesaburo proves this point. The famous saying, “In a gold mine, sell shovels,” applies here—during the American Gold Rush, the people who truly made money weren’t the ones digging for gold but the ones selling shovels to those digging for gold. This principle also applies to the adult entertainment industry. During the boom years of the ’80s and ’90s, the ones who succeeded were those involved in adult media.

Adult information magazines appeared around the early ’80s. The first issue is said to be “Kabukicho Times”, a flyer filled with hotel advertisements, which debuted in 1978. The idea of charging adult establishments for advertisements that were handed out on the streets was groundbreaking. “Kabukicho Times” was later revamped into the tabloid “Weekly Night Times”, which became widely known as “Nightly”, the first adult newspaper in Japan. Later, the editors of “Nightly” branched off and created the adult magazine “MAN-ZOKU”, which grew into a major player in the industry.

Before this, adult advertisements were primarily found in sports newspapers. A turning point came in 1984 when the revision of the Adult Entertainment Law led to regulations on newspaper advertisements, sparking a surge in the publication of adult information magazines across Japan. As demand for advertisements grew, “Nightly” flourished and became known as the “Dentsu of the adult entertainment industry.”