Glossary

akasenJapanJapanese

赤線, 'red line'. The licensed prostitution districts of pre-1958 Japan, abolished after the 1956 Anti-Prostitution Law took effect on 1 April 1958. Modern soaplands occupy the same geography in several cities.

Anti-Prostitution Law (Japan)JapanStatute

売春防止法, Law No. 118 of 1956. Criminalises 'intercourse with an unspecified person for compensation'. Customers are not penalised; sellers face penalty only when publicly soliciting. The narrow drafting underpins the entire visible fuzoku industry.

bar finePhilippines, ThailandEnglish (regional)

Compensation paid to a bar by a customer to take a worker out of the venue. Functions as the bar's payment for losing the worker's table time. The worker is then negotiated with separately on personal terms.

bola karaokeIndonesiaIndonesian

Slang for the karaoke-with-hostess venue category in Indonesia; equivalent to Korean room salons or Taiwanese KTV.

bottakuriぼったくりJapanJapanese

Bill-padding scam, most associated with backroom bars in Kabukicho and Roppongi. A street tout draws a foreigner into a venue with no posted prices; the bill at the end is ¥80,000–¥300,000 with credit-card-machine intimidation.

bottakuri barJapanJapanese (loanword)

A bar operating the bottakuri scam. Identifiable by: street-tout solicitation, no posted prices, fake menus, aggressive bouncers.

Cheongnyangni 588South KoreaKorean

청량리 588, the most-photographed glass-fronted 'red-light' district in Seoul through the 2000s. Demolished and redeveloped 2018-2019 after sustained enforcement under the 2004 Act.

condition meeting (조건만남)South KoreaKorean

Online-arranged paid meeting; the modern displacement of the in-person 'red-light' district economy after the 2004 Act crackdowns.

DSC ClinicSingaporeEnglish (Singapore)

Department of STI Control, at Kelantan Lane. Singapore's principal public STI clinic and the regional reference clinic for sexually transmitted infections. Walk-in testing; PrEP since 2017; PEP within 72 hours.

Empower FoundationThailandEnglish (Thailand)

Thai sex-worker-led organisation founded 1985. Outreach, education, English-language harm-reduction publication. Runs the Can Do Bar in Chiang Mai as a worker-owned demonstration model.

fuzoku風俗JapanJapanese

'Public morals'. In modern usage refers to the licensed adult-entertainment industry regulated under the 1948 Entertainment Business Law: hostess clubs, cabaret clubs, fashion health, delivery health, image clubs, pink salons, soaplands.

GeylangSingaporeEnglish (Singapore)

District in Singapore where the police-tolerated licensed-brothel arrangement operates, in specific named lorongs (alleys) registered to the DSC Clinic framework.

Han-tah (한터)South KoreaKorean

Common short reference to the Hanteo Women's Rights Centre, a Korean sex-worker-rights organisation.

iSHAPSouth KoreaEnglish (Korea)

Ivan Stop HIV/AIDS Project. Korean queer-community-led HIV testing and PrEP referral network with English-language support.

jiyū-renai自由恋愛JapanJapanese

'Free coupling'. The legal fiction underpinning Japan's soapland districts: any sexual contact is treated as a private personal matter between adults who happened to meet at a bath-house, therefore outside the 1956 Anti-Prostitution Law's scope.

KabukichoJapanJapanese

歌舞伎町, the entertainment district in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Highest-density of cabaret clubs, hostess clubs, host clubs, fashion-health establishments. Centre of the bottakuri scam pattern.

kissaten / kiss roomJapan, KoreaJapanese / Korean

Originally Japanese 喫茶店 (coffee shop). Korean 키스방 ('kiss room') is a separate category — a venue offering limited paid intimacy on the legal fiction that no 'intercourse' occurs.

KoganechoJapanJapanese

黄金町, Yokohama. From the 1950s housed an estimated 250 small unlicensed brothels under the Keikyū railway arches, mostly staffed by Thai, Filipino and Colombian workers. Closed by a coordinated 2005 Kanagawa Prefectural Police sweep; redeveloped as artist studios.

KTVKorea, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, IndonesiaEnglish (regional)

Karaoke television. Private-room karaoke with hostess service. Licensed entertainment in most jurisdictions; sexual services privately negotiated outside the licensing.

KUHP 2023 / 2026IndonesiaIndonesian / English

Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Pidana, the revised Indonesian Criminal Code (Law No. 1 of 2023, in force January 2026). Article 411-413 criminalise extramarital sex generally, complaint-based, penalties up to one year. Affects tourists.

lorongSingapore, MalaysiaMalay

Alley or lane. In Singapore's Geylang context, the numbered lorongs (e.g. Lorong 14, Lorong 16) are the specific addresses where the licensed-brothel arrangement operates.

molka (몰래카메라)South KoreaKorean

Illicit recording, particularly of intimate images. Korean law was significantly strengthened in 2018 (Act on Special Cases concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes); penalties tripled. Foreigners are not exempt.

NakasuJapanJapanese

中洲, Fukuoka. One of the three largest entertainment districts in Japan, alongside Kabukicho (Tokyo) and Susukino (Sapporo).

NSWPGlobal

Global Network of Sex Work Projects. International umbrella body for sex-worker-led organisations; publishes country briefings cited in much of the source material on this site.

OPSIIndonesiaIndonesian

Organisasi Perubahan Sosial Indonesia. National sex-worker-led network.

P. BurgosPhilippinesEnglish (Philippines)

P. Burgos Street, Makati, Manila. The foreigner-facing bar district, established in the 1980s after the closure of Olongapo's US naval bar economy.

papakatsu (パパ活)JapanJapanese

'Daddy activity'. Compensated-dating economy operating online and in coffee shops, outside the Fueiho licensing framework. Carries compensated-dating-sting risk for customers if the other party is under 18.

PatpongThailandEnglish (Thailand)

Soi in central Bangkok established as a foreign-tourist nightlife district during the 1967-1973 US Vietnam-era R&R agreement. The original of the Bangkok foreign-facing pattern.

PEPGlobalEnglish (medical)

Post-exposure prophylaxis. A 28-day antiretroviral regimen that must be started within 72 hours of HIV exposure (ideally within 24 hours). Available at major hospital emergency departments and at most regional reference STI clinics.

PrEPGlobalEnglish (medical)

Pre-exposure prophylaxis. Daily or on-demand HIV-prevention antiretroviral. Thailand has the most developed foreigner-accessible PrEP programme in the region (Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre Anonymous Clinic, Bangkok).

Project XSingaporeEnglish (Singapore)

Singapore sex-worker advocacy organisation, founded 2008. Outreach, support, English-language publication.

Red Cross Anonymous ClinicThailandEnglish (Thailand)

Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre Anonymous Clinic, Bangkok. The regional reference clinic for anonymous HIV testing, PrEP and PEP. Operates in English; accepts foreigners; long-standing.

ringkasanIndonesiaIndonesian

'Summary'. Used as a name for the post-closure displacement market — informal arrangements taking the place of pre-2007 lokalisasi (state-licensed prostitution zones) closed by the Ministry of Social Affairs.

room salon (룸살롱)South KoreaKorean

Private-room karaoke/hostess venue category. Visible Korean equivalent of the Japanese hostess-club economy and the Taiwanese piano-bar economy. Subject to bait-and-switch bill-padding scams.

soaplandソープランドJapanJapanese

Bath-house-and-private-room establishment operating on the jiyū-renai legal fiction. Concentrated in named districts (Yoshiwara in Tokyo; Tobita Shinchi in Osaka; Horinouchi in Kawasaki). Closed to foreign customers in most cases.

Subic / Olongapo eraPhilippinesEnglish (Philippines)

The 1947-1992 period when the US Naval Base at Subic Bay and adjacent Olongapo City hosted the largest foreign-tourist bar economy in the Philippines. Post-1992 closure of the bases displaced the economy north to Angeles City.

SusukinoJapanJapanese

すすきの, Sapporo. The largest entertainment district in Hokkaido and one of the top three in Japan.

SWASHJapanEnglish (Japan)

Sex Work and Sexual Health. Osaka-based Japanese sex-worker-led harm-reduction organisation, founded 1999. Multi-lingual STI/HIV resources.

SWINGThailandEnglish (Thailand)

Service Workers In Group. Bangkok-based sex-worker-rights NGO; outreach, peer education, advocacy.

Tobita ShinchiJapanJapanese

飛田新地, Osaka. The most architecturally distinctive of Japan's unofficial pleasure quarters: rows of glass-fronted 'restaurants' that the law treats as a chain of independent ryōtei restaurants for licensing purposes. Photography is strictly enforced by the local proprietors' association.

UNTAC eraCambodiaEnglish (Cambodia)

1991-1993 United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia. The presence of 22,000 UN personnel transformed the Phnom Penh adult-entertainment economy; the scale persisted after UNTAC withdrew and underpinned the pre-2008 visible industry.

Walking StreetThailand, PhilippinesEnglish (Thailand/Philippines)

Used in both Pattaya (Thailand) and Angeles City (Philippines) for the principal pedestrianised tourist bar strip. The Thai original dates to the 1970s; the Philippine usage dates to the post-1992 Subic closure period.

Women's CharterSingaporeEnglish (Singapore)

Singapore statute Cap. 353. Sections 140-148 criminalise causing or encouraging prostitution, trafficking, brothel-keeping, and living on the earnings of prostitution. The act of selling sex itself by an adult woman acting alone is not a substantive offence.

yat lau yat fung一樓一鳳Hong KongCantonese

'One floor, one phoenix'. The Hong Kong solitary-prostitution arrangement, which avoids the Crimes Ordinance 'vice establishment' offence because the premises is used by only one worker, not the two or more required for the offence.

yellow cardSingaporeEnglish (Singapore)

Registration card carried by sex workers in the police-tolerated Geylang lorongs, indicating DSC Clinic registration and current STI screening.

YoshiwaraJapanJapanese

吉原, Tokyo. The historical Edo-period pleasure quarter; today the largest soapland district in Japan. Like Tobita Shinchi, photography is enforced by the local proprietors' association.

yuán jiāo (援交)Taiwan, Hong KongChinese

Compensated dating. The online-arranged paid-meeting economy in Taiwan and Hong Kong; same risk profile as Japanese papakatsu.

Zi TengHong KongEnglish (Hong Kong)

紫藤. Hong Kong sex-worker-rights NGO founded 1996. Outreach, advocacy, peer support.