Before Deriheru: The Age of Hotel Calls and Date Clubs — When the Trade Was Entirely Illegal
The sex industry has become mainstream, but there is now an oversupply
With the cleanup of entertainment districts ahead of the Osaka–Kansai Expo, stepped-up crackdowns on shops tied to aggressive/unscrupulous scouts, and strict regulations under the Entertainment Business Act, storefront sex businesses have continued to decline in number. At the same time, the overwhelmingly dominant segment of the sex industry today is the outcall, dispatch-type businesses—so-called delivery health, commonly shortened to “deriheru.” New deriheru shops continue to open, and their presence is expected to grow even further.
The dispatch-type sex services that were once illegal were legalized by the 1998 amendment to the Entertainment Business Act (enforced in 1999). After that, deriheru proliferated and quickly became the mainstream of the sex industry, spreading to every corner of the country—from big cities to rural towns and even remote islands.
Over time the services became more specialized, producing offerings such as image clubs (imekura), “M-sensation” services, and shops catering to the elderly or to people with disabilities. In addition, a variety of formats appeared: hotel health services, outcall sex esthetics, outcall onakura (masturbation) services, meet-up delivery services, and more. Group consolidation also progressed across the price spectrum—from bargain shops to luxury establishments—giving rise to large national chains.
However, oversupply led to excessive competition for customers. Coupled with weak consumer spending during economic downturns, this drove prices down and produced the current situation.
This series will introduce the history of deriheru. It will explain, step by step, how deriheru—an invisible, non-storefront form that became the industry mainstream—has changed over time in tandem with social developments in each era.
Outcall sex services and love hotel districts are inseparably linked. (Sendai, 2002)
Let’s first look at the prehistory — the outcall sex services that existed before the rise of deriheru.
Postwar dispatch-type sex work likely began with the call girls of the red-light (akasen) and blue-light (aosen) eras. They attracted customers through word of mouth, street pimps, and referrals from taxi drivers. Among these, the use of taxis as intermediaries was especially common, and this practice was known as “takushī-uke” (literally taxi referrals, or “hire-uke” in Kansai).
In Tokyo around the mid-1960s, flyers with messages such as “Please introduce customers seeking women. We’ll pay you 2,000 yen,” and “Introduce a gentleman and receive 3,000 yen per person” were distributed to taxi drivers. As time went on, some call girls were reportedly “Japayuki-san” — women from other Asian countries working in Japan.
Around the mid-1950s, another type of business called guide clubs emerged. These were mobile prostitution operations that attracted customers through flyers and functioned in underground prostitution areas outside the officially sanctioned red- and blue-light districts. They became more active after the full enforcement of the Anti-Prostitution Law in 1958.
Flyers with suggestive lines such as “Are you free tonight? Call me,” “Let’s make memories just between you and me,”and “I want to be loved — body and soul, I’ll be yours” were left at public telephones, train station ticket booths and restrooms, and even on parked cars. This flyer-based solicitation was especially common in cities with many travelers, such as Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, and Sapporo.
Customers would pay a membership fee to obtain a member’s card before meeting women at cafés or in front of train stations. A distinctive feature of these encounters was that the meeting place and the place for the actual play were separate — officially, the service was presented as a sightseeing guide.
The 1980s: The Boom of “Mantoru” and “Hotetoru”
Around 1967–1968, the landscape began to change dramatically after “Turkish baths” (brothels disguised as bathhouses) came under regulation by the Entertainment Business Act. The guide clubs began to emphasize dating and started calling themselves date clubs. Flyers also became more direct, with messages like “Secret night meetings” and “Seeking compensated relationships.”
From around 1980, the services became increasingly specialized, and flyer battles erupted advertising features such as married women or tall women. By the mid-1980s, the flyers had become more eye-catching—moving from one or two-color cheap prints to full-color versions featuring women in sexy poses. Some even used celebrity or idol faces without permission to attract attention.
At the same time, a new trend began to dominate the dispatch-type sex industry: Hotetoru (short for “Hotel Turkey”). In this system, a woman was sent to a client waiting in a love hotel room, where sexual services were exchanged. Customers typically found the phone number from small flyers posted in public phone booths, then called from the hotel room. Apart from the fact that full sex was the norm, the system was quite similar to today’s deriheru. Advertising came not only in the form of pink flyers but also small booklets known as books. By the 1990s, women from countries such as Thailand, Colombia, and Russia began appearing as hotetoru workers.
The predecessor to hotetoru was mantoru—a contraction of mansion (apartment) and “Toruko-buro” (Turkish bath)—referring to prostitution conducted secretly in private apartments. By the mid-1980s, mantoru operations had become prime targets for police crackdowns, and by 1985, most had disappeared. Because mantoru locations were fixed and often reported by neighbors, they carried a high risk of exposure. To avoid this, operators shifted toward hotetoru, the more mobile, dispatch-based model that was harder for authorities to detect.
Amateur Operators Flood the Market, and Pink Flyers Overrun Entertainment Districts
When the new Entertainment Business Act (fūeihō) was enacted in 1985, hotetoru operations were considered clearly illegal and thus fell outside the law’s scope. However, because of increasing crackdowns by authorities, they became concentrated targets for police raids. As a result, many operators disguised their businesses as S&M clubs, claiming “no full service, so it’s not illegal.” Around that time, in love hotel districts, it became common to see women carrying black bags filled with S&M tools.
Acts such as distributing or posting flyers and booklets had previously been prosecuted under minor offense or traffic laws, but after the new Act, arrests were made under prostitution mediation and prostitution facilitation charges. Even the printing companies that produced the flyers were charged with aiding prostitution.
Newspapers and magazines—such as evening tabloids, sports papers, manga magazines, and weeklies—were also warned for publishing hotetoru advertisements. In February 1986, Tokyo authorities began an operation to eliminate the pink flyers plastered on public phone booths. With the Tokyo Summit and Princess Diana’s visit approaching, the government aimed to erase Japan’s nation of prostitution image.
Nevertheless, hotetoru did not disappear—it flourished. Entering the Heisei era (post-1989), as legally recognized sex industries declined, hotetoru, which operated outside the legal framework, increased in number. In Tokyo, they developed a symbiotic relationship with love hotel districts like Shibuya and Uguisudani. Some former soapland workers, having aged and lost clientele, switched to hotetoru work.
Because hotetoru required no storefront and little startup capital, many people with no prior sex industry experience entered the business. Some owners were even university students or newlyweds. With no physical shop, a single operator could run several different stores under the same phone number. Typical rates were around 25,000 yen for 90 minutes.
Despite the application of prostitution facilitation laws, flyer regulations were entirely ineffective. The volume of flyers was overwhelming—they covered entertainment districts, train stations, and phone booths near love hotels. This was because “hariko” (men hired to post the flyers) repeatedly replaced them every few hours. A single hotetoru reportedly put up at least 3,000 pink flyers a month—no wonder they never disappeared.
Over time, the names evolved—from hotetoru to DC (date clubs), escort clubs, and more. After the new Entertainment Business Act, authorities themselves began using date club as a general term for dispatch-type prostitution.
By the time the author began covering the sex industry in 1999, hotetoru and date club were used almost interchangeably. However, regional differences existed. In Kyoto, for instance, the two were clearly distinguished: date clubs required reservations, didn’t operate at night, and arranged meetings only on the street, with the meeting place designated by the business. This contrasted with Osaka, where the customer specified the location. While hotetoru focused solely on sexual acts, date clubs offered the experience of a date or romantic atmosphere, making them especially popular.
Despite being technically illegal businesses, hotetoru and date clubs continued to grow in presence and influence.
References:
Nihon Baishunshi Kō by Yoshida Hidehiro, Jiyūsha, 2000
Shōwa Heisei Nippon Seifūzoku-shi by Shirakawa Mitsuru, Tenbōsha, 2007
Nippon Hanzai Kyōjidai by Kitashiba Ken, Fusōsha, 2009
Fūzoku Shinkaron by Iwanaga Fumio, Heibonsha, 2009
Seifūzokushi Nenpyō: Shōwa (Postwar) Edition edited by Shimokawa Takashi, Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 2007
(Additional books and online materials were also consulted.)
Interview, text, and photographs： Akira Ikoma