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2 • SOAPLANDS

If a man wishes his body to be professionally washed, steamed, licked, and manipulated to orgasm, and is prepared to pay between $100 and $850, he might turn to a soap lady working in one of Japan's many notorious soaplands. Of all the sex-trade establishments, the soaplands offer the most ingenious and far-reaching array of sexual services for sale in Japan today. They skillfully dodge the Anti-Prostitution Law by operating under the camouflage of body-washing and massaging.

The soapland "menu" has been a favorite in Japan since the early Kamakura Period, when bathhouses of ill repute offered masseuses in the two categories of oyuna (big hot-water-females) for the senior specialists, and their novices, usually 12-to 15-years old, known as koyuna (small hot-water-females). Jn the decade after World War II this type of bathhouse adopted the more fashionable name Toruko-buro (Turkish bath), offering the man in the street a cheaper, quicker, and often more relaxing alternative to an allout bordello. The big and small hot-water-females were renamed Toruto-jo (Turkish girls).

In those days poverty was rampant. Times were so rough that even respectable housewives took to the streets as matchi uri no shop (match-selling girls). For a yen they would strike a match, lift up their skirts, and yank down their bloomers. When the match went out, the peeking time was over and bloomers were hoisted. Times being what they were, bathhouses of every persuasion were flooded by waves of destitute women who hoped to end up as masseuses rather than selling matches or working in brothels. In the brothels as baishunfu ("spring-selling girls" or prostitutes), they would be expected to sell "spring" to a minimum of 12 men per shift, and up to a staggering maximum of 60. So many eager masseuses were available that even the reputable Tokyo Onsen (Tokyo Hot Spring) opened up a whole floor of private massage rooms. As the red-light world in those post-war days was filled with desperate amateurs, the services were scanty compared with the ingenious and devious offerings available today.

Paradoxically, it took a major catastrophe, the Anti-Prostitution Law of 1957, to transform the bathhouse industry of yesteryear into the sophisticated institution it is now. This law shook the red-light districts all over the country to their foundations. Outraged prostitutes and their pimps protested loudly, sent petitions to the government, and even marched through the streets of Tokyo chanting "Auld Lang Syne," but to no avail. The law passed, and some half-million prostitutes ended up on the street. But not for long. Ever adaptable and courageous in the face of disaster, the sex houses reopened, not as brothels but as bona fide massage parlors and Turkish baths.

Back in 1951 Tokyo Hot Spring had introduced the first Miss Toruko (Miss Turkish), who coyly kneaded away in good clean fun, clicking her tongue and wagging her finger if her victims became too responsive. Miss Toruko was so wildly successful that by the mid-fifties, red-light magnates fleeing the Anti-Prostitution Law opened the first Toruko baths in Tokyo's Asakusa and Shinjuku Districts.

For the next 30 years the Turkish bath industry flourished throughout the country, changing the appearance of former red-light districts with its lurid, imaginative architecture. By 1963, 390 Toruko had sprouted up, and by 1966 the number had surged to 675, with 973 Miss Toruko. To keep customers interested, the bathhouses became bigger and better. Architects modeled the facades after Shogun fortresses, the Tower of London, Las Vegas casinos, and even gothic castles—sometimes bulldozing many styles into one. To ward off competition from other red-light enterprises, the Turkish girls were encouraged to expand their repertory by inventing ever more titillating "washes." By the mid-sixties, "hard service" had become the norm. First came daburu purē (double play), fellatio with optional cunnilingus, and by 1970 all Turkish establishments had graduated to homban (performance), the professional euphemism for straight-out sex.

The seventies proved to be the decade of daring inventions. The newer Turkish baths of Kawasaki City and Horinouchi introduced the rectangular inflatable airmat, on which the customers could lie while the Turkish girls swashed about with bubbles, soaps, and suds. Matto sābisu (mat service) revolutionized the scope of the Toruko; since the women were no longer constrained by the dangerously slippery tubs, a mountain of new washes became available. Square mats became the rage, then triangular mats, the newest invention being the enkei matto, a special "circle" mat that originated in a Gifu City bath called Kiyōshi (Prince). Another major invention that began in the baths in Horinouchi in the seventies and has remained.an important part of today's nationwide soapland service was the seribōkyō (periscope). After the initial rub-down and wash, the woman springs into the tub with the customer, wedges her arms under his thighs, and lifting him a few inches so that his organ "periscopes" out of the water, bends forward to reach it with her lips. In later variations, the woman remains outside the tub and services her customer by taking deep breaths and plunging her head into the sudsy bath water. Some Toruko developed the periscope theme even further offering sakasa seribōkyō (upside-down periscope) and gyaku seribōkyō (reverse periscope). The woman takes off her panties and climbs into a precarious upside-down position on the tub with her feet securely wedged on its plastic-lame rim. Balancing herself by pressing her buttocks and thighs over the customer's head, she leans forward and performs the periscope special.

Another hit that began in Kawasaki City was the sukebe isu (pervert chair), followed by the pink chair, the dream chair, and the miracle chair. These chairs were made of plastic and were usually covered with intricate gold-lame patterns. They had two adjacent seats with holes in the front and in the bottom so that the Turkish girl could sit comfortably in front of her customer, with easy access to his genitals and anus from various angles. These chairs were wildly popular and brought about a nationwide explosion of "pervert" specials, "pink" washes, "dream" services, and "miracle" games. Every Turkish bath equipped itself with the wonder chairs, and women were encouraged to be as acrobatic and as innovative as possible on them. But the customers wanted more, and the next sensation on the bath scene was the mokuba (wooden horse), which allowed the women even more flexibility, as they could now offer a jolty, see-saw type wash. The clients came in droves.

Times for the bath industry, however, were not always easy. Angry housewives picketed, and the government passed a law in 1964 that targeted both "locked-door massage" and nude Turkish girls. The Japan Bath Association panicked, but ever ready to adapt, its members unanimously decided that henceforth massage-doors would remain unlocked but firmly closed, and that all Turkish girls should be urged to keep on at least their waterproof massage-aprons—that is, if the customer did not mind too much. Then, in 1971, the Bath Association had an even closer shave. Eleven militant women members of Japan's House of Councilors submitted, entirely without warning, a proposal to illegalize private-room massage in all bathhouses. Before the Toruko magnates could retaliate, the powerful Nihon Bengoshi Rengōkai (Japan Lawyer Association) joined in, and officially pronounced Turkish massage to be blatant prostitution, and thus technically illegal. Josei no sābisu (women's service), they argued, had to be banned. The magnates frantically pulled strings in high places, and a major red-light crisis was averted in the nick of time. Professional sex-massage flourished, and by 1984 Japan could boast 3,094 Turkish baths and related massage parlors.

The soaplands we know today burst onto the scene in 1985, under the most bizarre circumstances. The Japan Bath Association was preparing to celebrate its thirtieth prosperous year of unimpeded body-washing, when fate struck an underhanded blow. Japan and Turkey had decided to embrace each other in friendship, and things Turkish suddenly became fashionable. Japan initiated major investments in Turkey, while cultural and industrial exchanges took place between the two nations. Things were going splendidly until a Turkish scholar, Nusert Sanjakli, set off on a newspaper campaign to denounce Japan's Turkish girls and the so-called Turkish baths they worked in. Toruko (Turkey), he vehemently complained, had become the Japanese word for "brothel," and Torukojo (Turkish girl) an outrageous and unacceptable synonym for "whore." This was a direct insult to Turkey and Turkey's maidens.

The Japanese government was most embarrassed. To avert a possible chill between the two nations, Japan immediately outlawed the Turkish baths and their girls. The stunned Japan Bath Association was faced with the choice of closing down or doing what it had done back in 1956—renaming itself. Its survival instincts intact, it launched a national "Find a New Name" contest. The winner, unanimously chosen from among 2,200 finalists, was the crisp, clean, wholesome-but-gamy "soapland." The banned Turkish girls were immediately reintroduced as sōpu-jo (soap girls), or more fashionably sōpu-rēdi (soap ladies). Within days, the irate Turkish bath owners had changed their neon signs, their advertising, and their calling cards, complaining loudly into the ubiquitous television cameras about the government, the price of neon, and impending doom.

But worse was yet to come. The sharp blow that Turkey had dealt the Japanese bathhouse industry was accompanied by an unexpected local attack: the revision of the Law on Businesses Affecting Public Morals, which took effect in February 1985, on Valentine's Day, no less. The new, freshly decorated soaplands now had to register with the Public Safety Commission, exposing themselves to possible police measures. To the Japan Bath Association's horror, the new law also disallowed the hiring of minors, which made a major dent in the service menus of soaplands that specialized in rorikon sābisu (Lolita-complex service). Under the new law, anyone caught hiring an adolescent girl or providing sex-massage to an adolescent boy ran the risk of being closed down for eight months. The doormen were also dealt with harshly. Even on the slowest days, a desperate doorman relying on a per head commission for his livelihood could not resort to dragging clients onto the premises against their will. The harshest blow, however, was the curtailing of all-night partying. Soaplands would now have to be locked up by midnight.

The Japanese police meant business. That same year, more than 6,500 people (6,575, to be exact) were arrested for trying to break this law, and many of the most seasoned soapland and massage parlor owners broke down under the strain and closed up shop. In Tokyo alone, by Valentine's Day, 1986—exactly one year after the law took effect—38 of 281 massage parlors had gone out of business.

The result of the turbulent eighties was to make the soapland world of the nineties tougher, more flexible, and better equipped to fight for its clientele with competing sex-bars, -clubs, and -cabarets. Many soaplands have placed greater emphasis on catchy theme decor. Tokyo's Ichiriki Chaya (Topnotch Tea House), for instance, specializes in medieval Japan. The soap ladies wear formal kimonos, are well drilled in the complexities of tea ceremony, and perform their washes to the elegant sounds of the koto. Another Tokyo soapland, Yangu Redii (Young Lady), is known for its wild kanja purē (patient play) with nurses in starched uniforms. On New Year's Day the Yangu Redii customer receives a pretty embroidered pouch with a single pubic hair from his favorite nurse in it. Other places offer soap ladies disguised as airline hostesses, executive secretaries, and elementary or high school girls (who are actually safely in their twenties). Some soaplands take "themes" even further, punishing naughty customers with enemas, or changing the more eccentric client's diapers.

The nineties have also brought with them a flourish of larger and kinkier soaplands in the provinces. These sprang up after the harsh St. Valentine laws of 1985, which included a very strict zoning clause. New bathhouses, it stated, would not be permitted within 100 yards of schools, sports facilities, libraries, or child-welfare establishments. Some Japanese cities, in deference to the sick, even went so far as to add hospitals to the list. Soapland speculation ground to a halt. As a gesture of open-mindedness, however, the government allowed the opening of new establishments in the nation's old red-light areas, such as Tokyo's Yoshiwara, Kyoto's Gion, Osaka's Shinmachi, and Hakata's Nakasu. But the Japan Bath Association was not mollified. They complained that downtown real estate had so rocketed in price that no one could afford the space a respectable soapland would require. Furthermore, they would be beset by bars, clubs, and parlors of every denomination, and would have to fight for their lives. But the government refused to budge. As a result, soapland entrepreneurs left town and built newer, bigger, and brighter establishments on inter-city highways and in unfashionable industrial suburbs.

In the early nineties a surprise recession hit Japan and many middle-priced soaplands hit the skids and had to offer bargain washes and become what is known today as a kakuyasu sōpu (bargain soap). The prices of the most successful and exclusive of Tokyo's 257 soaplands, however, have not been affected by the recession and have continued to rise unhampered. In Yoshiwara, Tokyo's ancient red-light district; there are no fewer than 80 luxury soaplands that do not wash their clients for less than $450. The soap ladies there are models between jobs and triple-X video stars, and the bath areas in which they wash their customers have extra bedrooms, living rooms, and private bar facilities in which regulars can keep their own whiskey bottles. Clients can arrive and leave in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes, unless they specifically request something more discreet like a Toyota. While the cheap soapland hands out loud business cards, often pink in color with beckoning naked women, a classy establishment will sport the logo of a reputable bank, with the woman's name subtitled with "Section Chief or "International Representative."

Tokyo's most expensive soapland is Shangrila, where the two-hour specials start at $750. A few streets down Saten Doru (Satin Doll), Kurabu Enjoi (Club Enjoy), and Mink start at $700, while Gurando Kanyon (Grand Canyon) and Ginbasha (Silver Carriage) are a close third at $650. Business has been so steady at these cream-of-the-crop establishments that a new super-chic soapland, Maharaja Tokyo, opened with a flourish in Tokyo's Yoshiwara on New Year's Day 1993, offering a special two-hour wash for $550. The red-light crowd was stunned that a place of such grand proportions would dare to set up shop right in the middle of Japan's darkest recession in years—and that within walking distance of Yoshiwara's other 160 soaplands.

All soaplands, rich and poor, have had to extend their service menus. There is no limit to the extremes a modern hard-line soap lady will go to titillate her client—the more imaginative and delicate her touch, the more money she can extract from her client. From northern Hokkaido to southern Okinawa, soap ladies are encouraged to come up with new specialties, using tongues, breasts, knees, and toes in ever more creative ways. Like any other Japanese employer, the soapland is quick to spot good workers who throw themselves into their jobs, and dexterous women are given quick promotions and incentives like better "private rooms" and the highly fought-over titles of "Senior Soap Lady" and "Number One Body-Washer."

Soaplands increasingly present their massage-and-wash extravaganzas with the fanfare of an elite restaurant displaying its prized dishes. There is a growing trend to equate a delicate palate with delicate physical sensations. Sex-massages and body-washes appear under titles like furu kōsu (full course) or osupe (special, as in "special of the day"), sometimes coming out even more mysteriously as sanshoku sushi (triple-combo sushi) or osashimi moriawase (sashimi deluxe). Massage menus offer the customer the choice of a range of services that become progressively more expensive the more outlandish they are. The basic prix fixe bath fee averages $100 to $300, depending on the elegance and location of the establishment. For this price the customer is bathed in a tub, and then rubbed down from head to foot while he lies naked on an inflated rubber mattress. If the client is interested in a more venturesome massage— including extras such as fellatio, cunnilingus, anal stimulation, or sex—it will add anywhere from $300 to $500 to the bill.

All the services offered in the soaplands are camouflaged in the guise of "we are washing the customer." Over the years, establishments throughout the country have contributed their own special brands of sex-massage and intercourse supesharu (specials), and have titled them with upbeat suffixes such as play, game, dance, and wash.

Turkish baths, and then later soaplands, were always fiercely competitive among themselves. Each establishment has its dai (trainer) whose job it is to keep the soap ladies' technique up to scratch. When a particular place becomes an overnight success, with lines at the door and the parking lot overflowing, rival soaplands instantly send out their dai on a spying mission to report on any innovative items on the opponent's menu. The result has been that daringly novel "washes" that had drawn clients to new establishments in places like Kanagawa or Tochigi are now available in all soaplands.

The basic soapland service is bodii arai (body wash), in which the soap lady cleans and scrubs the customer, first in the tub then on the mat, until he climaxes. Another basic is awa odori (foam dance). In this special wash, the woman pours lotions and creams all over her body and then rubs and "dances" her client to orgasm. In some soaplands this is also known as shabon dansu (soap dance). The most popular item on the menu is the furu kōsu (full course): a body wash which escalates into a foam dance, followed by an optional body-lick where the client is licked from head to toe, with sexual intercourse as the grand finale.

THE SOAPLAND MENU

ANARU ZEME—Anal Attack

In this type of attack the client's anus is stimulated by massage, fingering, or licking. In some soaplands it can also be used to refer to anal sex, with the customer "attacking" the soap lady.

Other soapland synonyms for anal massage are the fashionable wan-wan sutairu, literally the "woof-woof," or what we may call doggie style; bakon bakon (bang bang); and the facetiously circumspect yoko kara semeru (conquering from the side).

When a customer wishes to sodomize a soap lady in one of the more luxurious soaplands, the poetic and elegantly evasive term used is ichi notani (the first valley—the second valley being the vagina).

CHIJŌ KIMMU-—Ground Servicing

After the customary wash and rub in the bath, the soap lady and her client proceed to the "ground." The girl lies on the mat naked and the customer climbs into a missionary position on top of her.

The other related program is kūchū kimmu (aerial servicing), in which the man lies on his back, with the soap lady approaching him from the top.

CHIN ARM—Penile Wash

Soaplands offer two types of penile wash. In some cases it refers to the soap lady cautiously washing and inspecting the client's organ before she fellates it. In a more luxuriant version the customer relaxes in the bathtub while the woman repeatedly lathers his organ to orgasm.

DABURU—Double

In most soapland services the girl does all the work, while the client lies passively. In daburu, from the English word "double," the customer is allowed (for a higher price) to reciprocate the licking while he is being fellated. This is also known as daburu supesharu (double special), daburu supesharu sābisu (double special service), daburu gēmu (double game), and daburu purē (double play). Some soaplands also offer their "sixty-nine" programs under the title of sakasa daburu (upside-down double) or sakasa bodii (upside-down body), which is short for "upside-down body-wash."

An inspired variation on these games and washes is the daburu tengu. Daburu refers to the standard sixty-nine position, while tengu is a fearsome Japanese forest goblin who has a large red penis-like nose. The client wears the long-nosed tengu mask provided by the establishment, and while the soap lady fellates him, he uses it to dildo her.

DAISHARIN ASOBI—Big Wheel Game

The soap lady lies naked on top of her client and stimulates him by slowly moving over him like a wheel, so that he gets to feel and lick the various parts of her body as they cross over his face. A variation of this, also known as daisharin (big wheel), is when the client and the girl, one lying on the other, move in opposite directions like two wheels.

Another popular and expensive variation is tokei asobi (clock play). The soap lady fellates the supine customer and, without letting go of his organ, crawls clock-wise around his body.

GENBAKU ZEME—Nuclear Bomb Attack

The nuclear bomb attack is administered by soap ladies who specialize in hour-long teasing and tantalizing washes that culminate in explosive orgasms. A similar attack is the suibaku zeme (hydrogen bomb attack), in which the client is repeatedly massaged just short of orgasm.

FASHON MASSAJI—Fashion Massage

Fashion massage was invented in the early Turkish baths as a cheaper alternative for clients who prefer to abstain from paying the steeper rates for sex. The original fashion massage was divided into two portions: the regular body-wash, with the topless girl spreading the suds over her client while he sat in the tub, followed by massage on the mat. Instead of finishing off the client with intercourse, the girl would briskly knead and tug at him with her hand.

Fashion massage achieved notoriety by becoming the main service in the booming herusu (health) massage parlor industry, where since the seventies it has been served up as fashion massage, or more specifically asfashon herusu (fashion health).

HIPPU ARM—Hip Wash

Hijrpu, the English word "hip," is a fashionable Japanese sex-trade euphemism for both the backside and the crotch area (it was inspired by koshi, its equally obtuse Japanese version). In the hip wash, the naked soap lady lathers her buttocks and the area between her legs and uses them to "wash" her client. In some soaplands this same program is also known as hippu roringu (hip rolling).

JINTAI YOKUJŌ—Human Bathtub

The special feature in the human bathtub service is that the bathtub is missing. In its stead, the soapland provides a "human" tub made of two nude girls— one on each side of the naked client—who wriggle and slide, spreading fragrant foams over his body.

KANZEN PURĒ—Perfect Play

The ordinary soapland customer sits quietly in the tub while the energetic girl gives him a good soaping, and then calmly climbs out, goes to the mat, and, lying motionlessly face up, waits for his massage. The perfect play was introduced specifically for the more active client. The soap lady lies still and the customer does all of the washing, massaging, stimulating, and licking. The session is then rounded off with intercourse.

KUGURIARAI—Tunneling Wash

The tunneling wash is one of the most original, if difficult, washes available. The supine and naked soap lady slowly wriggles her way under the prone and naked customer, performing the wash while she is "tunneling" under him. She carefully massages, licks, and bites each of the body parts that she comes in contact with.

An even more venturesome variant of kuguri ami is kuguri tsubo (tunneling pot). The soap lady uses the same tunneling technique, with the difference that when her tsubo (pot) reaches the customer's organ, he may slip it in.

The same service is sometimes billed as moguri ami (mole wash) and some soaplands even offer moguri shaku (mole blow), along with its expensive variant moguri namajaku (mole no-condom blow). The tunneling soap lady crawls and slithers towards the customer's organ, head first. Reaching it, she induces orgasm by fellatio.

KUROSU SUTAIRU—Cross Style

The cross style is an innovative type of wash in which the nude soap lady carefully seats herself on the organ of her supine client. She then massages and stimulates his body, revolving around him until he climaxes.

NAKISEN—Crying Specialty

Naki (crying) is a reference to the gasping or moaning sounds a customer might make while climaxing. In the nakisen, also known as naki senmon (crying expertise), the soap lady paces herself according to her client's prowess. She will incur the first cry by fellatio, while he is still dressed, the second by climbing into the tub with him, and the third in missionary position on the mat.

NAME ARAI—Lick Wash

After the client has been thoroughly washed in the bathtub the soap lady leads him to the mat, where she gives him a second going over with her tongue. In some soaplands these body licks are also offered as name sābisu (licking service).