The Cultural History of Imekuras (Part 3) Part 2: The “Dense Imekura Zone” that Survived the Nationwide Destruction of the Shop Type Imekuras

In the mid-1900s, a campaign to clean up the industry led to the exposé of unregistered clubs and their disappearance from the scene nationwide. However, there was one area that survived. This is the second part of the third installment in the series “A Cultural History of the Imekura” by sex industry journalist Akira Ikoma.

Part 1: The mid-1900s, when the maniacal cosplay culture blossomed, triggered by a purification operation.

The “holy land of cosplay” in Yokohama

Although the number of unregistered store-type “imeclubs” has drastically decreased as a result of the cleanup operation, this does not mean that all box-type establishments with image rooms have disappeared from the entertainment district.

Among them, this type of ‘imekura’ was alive and well in Akebono-cho, Yokohama. The heyday of the ’90s was the dawn of Yokohama’s health clubs, and legal establishments were springing up one after another. For this reason, many of the long-established boxed helter-skelter establishments were still able to enjoy cosplay as wholeheartedly as ever after the cleansing operation.

The most representative of these are the school-style sex club “Tenshinbarenman,” the adjacent molester sex club “Rush Hour,” and the “Passive,” a sex club health club featuring women who like to be passive.

The “Tenshinbarenman” still had five image rooms: classroom, infirmary, locker room, gym warehouse, and molestation train. The rooms were lined up on either side of the corridor, and were filled with the flavor of a Showa-era school. In addition to offering all kinds of play situations, such as teacher and student, senior and junior students, and classmates, the store also focuses on increasing the number of women with no previous experience in the industry, in order to keep customers’ spirits high. The store is now called “Gakuen Tengoku” (School Heaven).

Rush Hour” is still in operation, and when you board the bus (enter the room) after selecting a woman and costume at the reception desk, a woman waits upright, holding onto a strap. The room is elaborately designed to resemble the inside of a train, complete with suspension straps, sofas, announcements, and the sound of wheels, and is truly an “adult amusement park. A questionnaire is sent out in advance, allowing the participants to specify their own settings. For M-men, there is also a “reverse molestation course” where they can be blamed by a woman.

The health club “Passive” was so famous that it was called “the holy land of cosplay in Hama. The health club “Passive” offers more than 60 kinds of costumes, from basic ones such as sailor uniforms and female teachers to those that are popular among enthusiasts, such as Bondage, idol-style, Rum-chan, and Cutie Honey. In addition, there were even seasonal costumes such as mini-skirt Santa Claus. It was called “a prestigious store where you have more trouble choosing a costume than choosing a woman at the reception.

The health center “Collection” in Kariya City, Aichi Prefecture, had a collection of about 300 sailor-fuku outfits alone. It took more than 10 years to collect them, investing more than 10 million yen through online auctions, flea markets, and buy-backs. In addition, costumes for top airlines, family restaurants, and department stores were all authentic, and cosplay fans came from all over the country to play with them. Currently, the company basically operates as a “health club fused with a men’s esthetic salon” without cosplay.

Soaps also introduced cosplay

In the past, cosplay was considered to be something that was done in health clubs. The type of unregistered storefront “imekura” that became popular in the 1990s and early 2000s was mainly health clubs, and cosplay was not a common practice in soaps.

However, the number of soaps that introduced cosplay began to increase around 1998. The reason for this was the recession in the industry. Managers who were worried about declining sales came up with the idea of using cosplay as a way to revive the industry. In order to meet the diversifying needs of customers, cosplay was becoming popular.

The most popular places were in Kobe and Fukuhara, where the geeky cosplay scene was in full bloom, including courtesans and prostitutes, office ladies in suits, female doctors, maids, and so on. The number of establishments that welcomed customers in costumes different from the dresses that were common in conventional soaps, such as high school girl style for establishments with Lolita and Gyaru type girls, maid style for establishments with M-mistresses, and nurse’s uniform for establishments that introduced an esthetic service, was on the increase.

A unique feature was the “Masked Aristocrats,” in which both women and customers wore opera-style masks like those of medieval aristocrats. Customers could leave their masks on without any problem, and even celebrities could play without being recognized.

The “Nadeshimusume” was a new version of the bus guide-style costume with a new uniform. Bath girls, not bus girls, led us into a world of pleasure on mats and beds.

The “Square” soap bar in Yukoto, Shiga Prefecture, was staffed by bubbly girls dressed in mini-skirted police costumes, miko (shrine maiden) costumes, and other costumes of their own making. This bubbly girl is so knowledgeable about trains and anime that she appeals to otaku customers so much that they come all the way from all over the country to visit her. She was called “an idol of otaku,” and was a true cosplay enthusiast.

The “Secret Garden,” where you could play with beautiful women in chimachogori, was located in Minamimachi, Kawasaki. The chimachogori were imported from Korea, where they are made, and were available in a variety of colors. According to the store staff, “The number of customers was huge during the Korean boom. I once visited the store for an interview and was struck by the glamour and beauty of authentic chimachogori made in Korea.

Some stores specialized in office worker costumes

In the ’10s, the cosplay boom in the adult entertainment industry evolved further, with an increasing number of sex stores specializing in specific types of image play, such as school, nurse, and kimono. One of the most popular types of brothels in the Kansai area was the “office worker-type brothel,” where the girls were dressed in dark suits such as black or gray. Rather than being a big boom, it has taken root as one of the standard concepts.

In Osaka’s Minami district, well-known health clubs featuring office ladies and secretaries gained popularity, and in the soap industry, the number of these types of establishments increased in Yukoto and Fukuhara. In the delicatessen and hotel-help business, the concept of office ladies, secretaries, and female teachers became quite common.

The clientele is mostly businessmen in their thirties or older who have a penchant for wearing office worker suits. Some come to the store bringing pantyhose of their own choice that they want the women to wear,” said the manager of a meet-and-greet type hotelier in Osaka at the time.

The staff at an office ladies’ soap in Fukuhara told me that “many customers prefer the line from the hips to the legs and tall, slender women rather than busty women.” The office ladies’ sex industry has a strong fetish element, and “events in which women wear net tights and garter belts” were popular at both hotel help and soap operas.

In the past, the Osaka fuzoku scene was dominated by the trend of “getting as much sex as possible for the cheapest price. However, after the popularity of cosplay, the conventional way of thinking changed. People began to view fuzoku as a place where they could fulfill their various desires and have a pseudo-experience, rather than just getting it done.

Changes that occurred after becoming a non-storefront establishment

In the early ’10s, the non-store type of imekuras began to reach maturity. While it was difficult to use elaborate playrooms and lacked a sense of realism, the play was richer with more costumes, courses, and options, and the use of props and toys made it possible to play in more extreme ways.

The reason play became more intense than it had been in the past was that the places where play took place were now hotels. In the days of unregistered box stores, it was difficult for women to clean up after themselves, making it difficult to get the sheets dirty, and it was also difficult for them to get loud and wild because the sound would leak out of the room.

After the destruction of the unregistered stores, the cosplay sex industry survived in a different form, with an increase in the number of traveling-type “imekura” (sex club) stores that incorporated cosplay, or shop-type health clubs with a strong imekura flavor, or those that offered cosplay as an optional extra. The number of cosplay clubs is comparable to that before the cleansing operation, and in fact, it could be said that the number is increasing.

References.

Ore no Tabi” (Sex and Entertainment Information Magazine), Million Publishing, 2003-2012
Illustrated Japanese Sexual Customs,” Nakamura Atsuhiko, Mediacs, 2016.
Nihon no Fuzoku Jyoshi (Japanese Sex Industry), Nakamura Atsuhiko, Shinchosha, 2014.

In addition, numerous other books and online media were referenced.