Will Painting Yellow and Installing Streetlights Eliminate Prostitution? [Curiosity Lab]

Japan, struggling with street prostitution involving teenagers and young women, has embarked on a new initiative. They have painted roads densely packed with love hotels in yellow and installed streetlights in dark areas to brightly illuminate them.

Unrelated to the article content, a night street scene in a Japanese city.

According to reports from Japanese media on the 12th, the Osaka Police recently introduced this new measure against prostitution. The Osaka Police renovated and began testing a 4-meter wide, 100-meter long alley in the love hotel district of Kita-ku, Osaka City. This was devised as a desperate measure as street prostitution in Japan spread beyond Tokyo to major cities. The Osaka Police stated, "Creating a brightly lit alley with yellow roads and streetlights may psychologically reduce prostitution," adding, "We plan to investigate changes in the number of women involved in street prostitution and their clients to verify the effectiveness."

The alley has attracted women waiting for customers for the past 2 to 3 years. Last year alone, 30 people were arrested on charges of violating the Anti-Prostitution Law. Taking residents' opinions into account, the police not only painted the road yellow but also added illustrated stickers of swimming fish on the road to create a brighter atmosphere. On social networking services (SNS), posts appear daily showing women standing in the love hotel street of Kita-ku. Many people reportedly visit for fun, regardless of prostitution purposes. The Osaka Police said, "If effective, this can serve as a reference for other regions nationwide facing the same issue."

Osaka cityscape. Provided by Osaka City

The reason street prostitution does not increase is that it is easy money. One woman told Japanese media, "I earn 500,000 to 600,000 yen a day, about 23 million yen a month." While some prostitution women do it for livelihood, most enter prostitution to spend money at host clubs.

Some criticize the Anti-Prostitution Law enacted in 1956 as ineffective. While women involved in prostitution are punished, men are not. Japanese netizens expressed various opinions such as "Punishments should be strengthened for everyone involved in buying and selling sex," "Support measures for women involved in prostitution are necessary," "Strict punishment is not the only solution," and "Prostitution among adults should be legalized."

On the 17th of last month, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that Japan has become a sex tourism destination for foreigners including Chinese, citing the weak yen and increasing poverty as causes. A local youth protection organization official told SCMP, "Japan has become a poor country."