What is Soapland?

While in Japan last year we hit up two large cities, Tokyo and Sapporo. While in these cities I brought back many fond memories of the land in which my wife was born. However I saw some other things that were quite a shock to me being an American. One of which was Soapland. I noticed a building in a section of Sapporo called Susukino which is where most of if not all the hostess bars are located in the city. I asked my wife what the particular place was and she told me about the deal with Soapland. Of course I had to look it up for myself later to find more about what it was. Basically Soapland is a generalized term for a type of establishment in Japan where a man would go to get soaped up by a lovely lady in the nude. From what I understand in reading some forums with mens descriptions and experiences, yes they are out there just do a Google search, is that you have a private room and bath with a woman and anything goes. Sounds like one hell of an experience however I get to have Soapland with my Japanese wife whenever I want for free, well almost free. Oh and the costs at these places seems to vary on the quality of girls and duration and I am guessing what ever else is agreed upon.

In Japan prostitution is illegal. However from what I understand that law is very vague in it’s wording. Basically if you go into an establishment be it a strip club, hostess bar, Soapland (I keep capitalizing the S for some reason) or whatever else and you have an agreement with the hostess for sexual intercourse in some manner, it’s completely acceptable and left go as that. As long as it’s behind closed doors, don’t ask and don’t tell. I can see the benefit in that on one side of it but it also has it’s drawbacks. In America of course prostitution is completely illegal and almost all of the states. Nevada is the only place where it is legal. However not all of the counties in Nevada have legal prostitution, however that works. I know I’ve seen some news in the past about ranches in certain parts of Nevada where this is the norm.

I am personally not against legalized prostitution at all. I think it’s one of those things you tell people they can’t do and they’ll find a reason and way to do it. I also believe at their core, men and probably the male species in general, is sexually charged by nature and would put their thing in anything that moved. If you just take a brief look here in America about how men and women are sold in advertisements and on TV and in music and just about every other form of mass media you can see sex is in your face daily. I find that disturbing in a way but it works here because that’s how the mass media works. To tease people with sex here makes it more of a shunned closed door type of idea where you can make money from selling it’s image. I think with the approach Japan has taken with sex there are probably less problems with crime in that way, I have no statistical data to back that claim up. I do however see a problem with the way Japan handles their sex industry. There is no regulation and no protection for the workers like there is in the Netherlands. The Red Light District in Amsterdam is probably the worlds best known legalized prostitution spot. From what I understand, the workers are mandated to get regular testing for disease. There are probably other reasons why it works well for them there in Amsterdam, more reading for me to do on the subject! I find this stuff to be very interesting to research.