Karayuki-sanMark Teh

From the 1860s, as Japan surfaced from 200 years of self-isolation and closed borders,successive waves of young men were sent to the West to be educated before returning toassume elite political and technocratic positions at the dawn of the Meiji era.
Contemporaneously, another ﬁgure of mobility and modernity was also coming into being –the karayuki-san (‘Ms. Gone Abroad’). Young Japanese women primarily from povertystricken Amakusa and Shimabara were trafﬁcked as sex workers to many parts of Asia.
Initially acknowledging the economic contributions of this diasporic ‘female army’, Japan’sgrowing international reputation by the 1920s precipitated a disavowal of the karayuki-san.

Most were repatriated to Japan but the remains of karayuki-san who chose not to returncan be found in cemeteries across Southeast Asia, and it has been suggested by someresearchers that most of their graves are often positioned facing away from Japan. The
karayuki-san is a precursor of the modern foreign worker and the vulnerable, exploitedunderclass who ‘go abroad’ in uncertainty – a ﬁgure who also reappears as the migrant, thedisplaced, the refugee, and the undocumented.

Karayuki-san in Singapore, circa 1900s.
Source: https://www.nst.com.my/lifestyle/sunday-vibes/2017/12/315387/ladies-night

Graves thought to belong to karayuki-san, Singapore.
Source: https://thelongnwindingroad.wordpress.com/2012/12/18/voices-from-a-forgotten-past/Japanese cemetery in Penang, where most of the graves belong to karayuki-san.
Source: https://gogo-kyorochan.official.jp/volume_005/0541_penang-jpn-cemetery/index-english.html

Related Links

Books, Videos & Websites
1. Website on karayuki-san, with bibliography of related books and ﬁlms.
https://karayuki-san.wixsite.com/karayuki-san
2. Nishio Kaori, Why I am here, why she is there – Journeys around Karayuki-san (2018)lecture performance. https://youtu.be/0OyC222tDI0
3. James F. Warren, Ah Ku and Karayuki-san: Prostitution in Singapore 1870-1940(2003). https://nuspress.nus.edu.sg/products/ah-ku-and-karayuki-san
4. Yamazaki Tomoko, Sandakan Brothel No.8: Journey into the History of Lower-class
Japanese Women (1999).
https://www.routledge.com/Sandakan-Brothel-No8-Journey-into-the-History-of-Lowerclass-Japanese/Yamazaki-Colligan-Taylor-Colligan-Taylor/p/book/9780765603548
5. Kumai Kei, trailer for Sandakan No. 8 (1974).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG1PLEFu0vY

6. Imamura Shohei, Karayuki-san, the Making of a Prostitute (1973) documentary.
https://www.idfa.nl/en/ﬁlm/7ec9fb30-d26b-48ce-b7f6-29d507f94863/the-making-of-aprostitute
7. Homma Mei, My note about Maiko's country -Catatanku tentang negeri Maiko- (2016).
https://en.meihomma.com/my-note-about-maiko-s-country
8. Nipan Oranniwesna interview about Hope Brings Us Here (2013).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68UjhbWsPZU
9. Nuraini Juliastuti (KUNCI Study Forum and Collective), “Indonesian Migrant Workers’
Writings as a Performance of Self-Care and Embodied Archives”, essay.
https://parsejournal.com/article/indonesian-migrant-workers-writings-as-aperformance-of-self-care-and-embodied-archives/
10. Para Site & KUNCI Study Forum and Collective, Afterwork Readings (2016).
An anthology of migrant and domestic worker literature, containing short stories,
poems, and excerpts from novels and plays, written by classical literary ﬁgures of theregion, established contemporary authors, as well as domestic workers themselves.
https://www.para-site.art/publications/afterwork-readings/
11. Chen Chih-jen, Empire’s Borders I (2008-2009). https://vimeo.com/149784421
12. Tuan Andrew Nguyen, trailer for The Boat People (2020).
https://vimeo.com/402251635
13. Lucy Davis, trailer for Migrant Ecologies Project: Jalan Jati (Teak Road) 23 (2012).
https://vimeo.com/149145689
14. Minamishimabara City Kuchinotsu Historical Folklore Museum
Kuchinotsu was a major port from which many Karayuki-sans went abroad. Most ofthem was done as secret passages on colliers. This museum shows history aroundKuchinotsu port with coal industry.
https://www.city.minamishimabara.lg.jp/page1594.html
15. Benten Mt. Taishi Hall Tennyo Tower Tennyo Tower was built by a monk, HIROTA
Gensho for the repose of Karayuki-san. Gensho walked around Southeast Asia andvisited the places Karayuki-san died, then collected donation.
https://www.city.shimabara.lg.jp/page2919.html
16. A Lullaby of Shimabara This song describes the scene around Kuchinotsu port andKarayuki-san. https://www.city.shimabara.lg.jp/page944.html
17. Inasa Oei Oei is a Karayuki-san who was born in Kumamoto, went to Russia and cameback to Japan after ten years. She succeeded in running a restaurant and hotels inNagasaki. https://nagasakicci.jp/publics/index/321/#googtrans(ja|zh-CN)
https://kumamoto.guide/look/terakoya/087.html＆