Post-War Ueno’s Pampan Women: The Rise of Kakiya, Nameya, and Tachi Asobi

How has “tachinbo,” which is said to be the most primitive of all customs, changed over time? In this “Modern History of Tachinbo,” customs journalist Akira Ikoma unravels the history of “tachinbo” from the night hawk of the Edo period to the “koin joshi” of Reiwa. In the second part of the third installment, he explains the various realities of the “pampans” who emerged after the end of the war and the boom they triggered in society.

 

Part 1: “It wasn’t because they were starving the real reason for the explosive rise of ‘panpan’ after the war.”

Ueno, the largest “Wapan” (Japanese-style Panpan) area after the war

The main earning areas for Panpan in Tokyo included places such as Bashing (Shinbashi), Rakuchou (Yurakucho), Nogami (Ueno), Juku (Shinjuku), and Bukuro (Ikebukuro). Sukiyabashi in Yurakucho became famous among American soldiers as a Panpan landmark and was called “Panpan Bridge.”

Ueno, which was the largest area for “Wapan” (Japanese-style Panpan) after the war, had various types of Panpan women, such as “Kakiya,” “Nameya,” and “Match Sellers.” “Kakiya” were women who would rub men’s genitals in dark corners of seedy adult movie theaters, and there were also male prostitutes.

“Nameya” operated around public restrooms near entertainment areas, especially in the back areas, and these were women who made their living by licking, typically older women in their 60s to 70s. There were also “Tachi Bobo-ya” (standing brothels) where the business was conducted standing up, which was a common practice because it allowed women to quickly escape if the police came. On the other hand, “Ne Asobi” (lying down sex) was riskier and avoided because it could lead to police raids, causing trouble for others. In Ueno, war widows, repatriates, and even 10-year-old girls engaged in prostitution, with payments sometimes being one rice ball or one pack of cigarettes. Ueno Park, which had around 60 male prostitutes, was referred to as the “Nogami Jungle.”

“Match Sellers” were women who would let customers watch their crotches until the match burned out under the shade of trees, and they were also known as “Exhibitionists.” There was a “Match Seller woman” at Hanazono Shrine in Shinjuku. She sold a match for 100 yen, raised her kimono, and spread her legs, with the customers staring intently at the flickering flame. Among the “Flower-selling girls in Ginza” there were also a “Girl showing her private parts with a match’s flame in a dark alley”, with some not wearing panties or pulling them down for customers.

Western-style panpan women of the military base town

Not only in urban areas like the city center but also around military bases such as Chitose in Hokkaido, Oomishawa in Aomori, Tachikawa and Fussa in Tokyo, Yokosuka in Kanagawa, Fujiyoshida in Yamanashi, and Sasebo in Nagasaki, “Western-style panpan” streetwalkers overflowed. Their workplaces were called “panpan houses.”

Western-style panpan women had the pride of not servicing Japanese men. They had experienced the pleasure of siding with the victorious nations, and the illusion of becoming victors themselves. Their interactions with soldiers, regardless of the public’s view, became a moral issue. There were even instances where school buildings were used as places for American soldiers and panpan women to have intercourse.

Children indulged in a game called “panpan play,” and girls seriously said, “When I grow up, I want to be a panpan because I can wear pretty clothes.” There were even junior high school girls who served 36 American soldiers in one night. It was not uncommon for women to become panpan immediately after graduating from middle school.

Adults were bewildered, but the amount of dollars the soldiers spent in the town through the panpan was enormous, and influential town figures welcomed the “panpan boom.” Some village heads and council members even rented accommodations to the panpan. When the U.S. military withdrew and the Self-Defense Forces replaced them, “Self-defense panpan” streetwalkers catering to the Self-Defense Forces emerged.

By 1946 (Showa 21), there were around 5,000 panpan women in Tokyo alone, and 70,000 to 80,000 nationwide. At the peak in 1952 (Showa 27), the number was said to exceed 100,000 nationwide. The money they earned amounted to 15 to 21 billion yen annually. The fees varied by location and time period, but in Tachikawa in 1946, the rate for American soldiers was 1,000 yen for a short service and 2,500 to 3,000 yen for an all-night service (the price back then was about 1/100 to 1/150 of today’s prices). In Asaka, Saitama, there was a practice of a “compatriot discount” (about a 20% discount) for Japanese customers.

It was frequently featured in the media

Although the “panpan” women were looked down upon by both the Japanese and American soldiers, in 1947 (Showa 22), various media outlets began to focus on them, leading to the first “panpan boom.” Taijiro Tamura’s novel Nikutai no Mon depicted energetic women living as street prostitutes in Tokyo under occupation, and became Japan’s first long-running bestseller after the war.

Additionally, NHK reporters interviewed “Rakucho no Oki,” a panpan from Yurakucho, with a hidden microphone, revealing the inner workings of panpan life and causing a big stir. That year, the popular song “Hoshi no Nagare” ni (sung by Akiko Kikuchi) with the famous phrase “Who made this woman like this?” became a hit and swept the nation. Nikutai no Mon was also adapted into plays and films, and among children in Tokyo’s downtown areas, a game called “Nikutai no Mon-gokko,” in which girls were lynched in imitation of the book, became a trend.

In the period around 1953 (Showa 28), as the Korean War was coming to an end, the second “panpan boom” occurred. Issues such as prostitution, children of the second generation, and the negative impact on local children’s education were widely discussed in journalism and captured national attention. Nihon no Teiso (translated as The Chastity of Japan), a controversial work thought to be written by “Japanese women who were violated by foreign soldiers,” became a hot topic, selling so well that it was reprinted 17 times within a year, with a sequel released. The title of the book carried the implication that just as the pure daughters had their chastity taken by the occupation forces, Japan, too, had its precious national body taken away by military occupation.

Disappearing with the enforcement of the Prostitution Prevention Law, along with the red-light districts

The presence of the “panpan,” which was considered an eyesore, was never tolerated by public opinion. Various ordinances were enacted across the country to crack down on street prostitution, and repeated “roundups” led to the dissolution of groups, gradually driving them out. In 1958, with the full implementation of the Prostitution Prevention Law, women from red-light and blue-light districts, who had lost their livelihoods, temporarily revived by standing on the streets. However, this law also turned street prostitutes into criminals. Thus, the panpan was eliminated. From around 1973, foreign women who came to work in Japan as part of the “JapaYuki” phenomenon began appearing, and street prostitution diversified.

In Yokohama’s Isezaki-cho, there was a legendary street prostitute named Merry-san. She stood in front of the 24-hour popular tavern “Negishi-ya,” where panpan and American soldiers gathered, in order to attract customers. After coming to Yokohama in 1961 at the age of 40, she continued standing for a long time. She became known as an old prostitute with a unique appearance dressed in a white dress with her face painted white, and was featured in weekly magazines during the 1980s. Her life, continuing to stand until the age of 74, was made into a film titled “Yokohama Merry” (directed by Takahiro Nakamura) in 2006.

The panpan was a rare existence in the history of Japanese street prostitutes, emerging during the unique period of the Allied occupation immediately after World War II. Street prostitutes have always been disliked by society, but this particular case was one of the most jealously mixed forms of contempt.

On the other hand, there were also those who quickly adapted to the new world and were seen as strong and cool, beautiful women or kind, good older sisters by some. They clearly rejected the traditional domestic role of women based on middle-class patriarchal values such as good wives and wise mothers, etiquette, and chastity. Their image was entirely new, and they could be considered the first new human beings after the war.

Next time, we will look into the situation of street prostitutes during the Heisei era, when foreign women became the majority.

[References]
“Who Are the Panpan?” by Toshimi Chano, Impact Publishing, 2014
“Women Under Occupation” by Kazuko Hirai, Iwanami Shoten, 2023
“Towards a Comparative History of War and Sexual Violence” by Chizuko Ueno, Shinzo Ran, Kazuko Hirai (editors), Iwanami Shoten, 2018
“The People Who Sell Spring” by Hiromi Makino, Shobunsha, 2024
“Street Prostitutes” edited by Mike Moraski, Koseisha, 2015
“Memories of Occupation / Occupation of Memory” by Mike Moraski, Seidosha, 2006
“Yokohama Merry” by Takahiro Nakamura, Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2017
“Sexual Culture in Showa and Heisei Japan” by Mitsuru Shirakawa, Tenbo-sha, 2007
“Sexual Culture History Series” by Keiichi Hirooka, Asahi Shuppan, 2000
“Sexual Culture History Chronology: Post-War Edition” edited by Kenji Shimochika, Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2007
“Evolutionary Theory of the Sex Industry” by Fumio Iwanaga, Heibonsha, 2009
“Sexual Culture History of Japan” by Fumio Iwanaga, Kodansha, 2011
“Illustrated History of Sex in Japan, Third Edition” by Yoshihiko Sasama, Yuzankaku, 2018
“Women in the Dark” by Goichi Matsuzawa, Shinchosha, 2016
Other books and online sources were also referenced.