Japanese prostitutes in the North American West, 1887-1920 Cover Image

Book

Japanese prostitutes in the North American West, 1887-1920 / Kazuhiro Oharazeki.

Summary:

"This compelling study of a previously overlooked vice industry explores the larger structural forces that led to the growth of prostitution in Japan, the Pacific region, and the North American West at the turn of the twentieth century. Combining very personal accounts with never before examined Japanese sources, historian Kazuhiro Oharazeki traces these women's transnational journeys from their origins in Japan to their arrival in Pacific Coast cities. He analyzes their responses to the oppression they faced from pimps and customers, as well as the opposition they faced from American social reformers and Japanese American community leaders. Despite their difficult circumstances, Oharazeki finds, some women were able to parlay their experience into better jobs and lives in America. Though that wasn't always the case, their mere presence here nonetheless paved the way for other Japanese women to come to America and enter the workforce in more acceptable ways." --Book jacket.

Record details

ISBN: 9780295998336
ISBN: 0295998334
Physical Description: xii, 292 pages: illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
Publisher: Seattle : Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest in association with University of Washington Press, [2016]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-282) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Across the Pacific rim : global dimensions of Japanese prostitution in the North American West -- Hardships at home : micro-level analysis of the social origins of Japanese prostitutes in the North American West -- Recruitment and passage : transpacific migration of Japanese prostitutes to the North American West -- Racialized, exploited, and excluded : the lives of Japanese prostitutes and barmaids in the North American West -- Breaking the shackles of oppression : Japanese prostitutes' and barmaids' response to sexual and economic exploitation -- The emergence of anti-Japanese prostitution reforms in the North American West from a transpacific and comparative perspective.