Karayuki-san was the name given to Japanese girls and women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who were trafficked from poverty-stricken agricultural prefectures in Japan to destinations in East Asia , Southeast Asia , Siberia Russian Far East , Manchuria , and British India to serve as prostitutes. Gone Abroad" were Japanese women who traveled to or were trafficked to East Asia , Southeast Asia , Manchuria , Siberia and as far as San Francisco in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century to work as prostitutes, courtesans and geisha.
Many of the women who went overseas to work as karayuki-san were the daughters of poor farming or fishing families. The mediators, both male and female, who arranged for the women to go overseas would search for those of appropriate age in poor farming communities and pay their parents, telling them they were going overseas on public duty.
The mediators would then make money by passing the girls on to people in the prostitution industry. With the money the mediators received, some would go on to set up their own overseas brothels. With the greater international influence of Japan as it became a Great Power, things began to change, and soon karayuki-san were considered shameful.
During the s and s, Japanese officials overseas worked hard to eliminate Japanese brothels and maintain Japanese prestige, [3] [4] although not always with absolute success. Many karayuki-san returned to Japan, but some remained. After the Pacific War , the topic of karayuki-san was a little known fact of Japan's pre-war underbelly. They were often sent to Western colonies in Asia where there was a strong demand from Western military personnel and Chinese men.
In Karachi and Bombay there were Japanese prostitutes to be found. The role of Japanese prostitutes in the expansion of Meiji Japan's imperialism has been examined in academic studies. In the Russian Far East, east of Lake Baikal, Japanese prostitutes and merchants made up the majority of the Japanese community in the region after the s.
