The above photo, and the rest of the current 10 posts are a selection from K. Ogawa's 1910 book depicting 18 scenes in a typical Red-Light District of Japan. The roughness of the images is due to them being printed by the collotype process onto crepe paper. The rest of the 18 images may be seen HERE : www.baxleystamps.com/litho/ogawa/ogawa_yosh.shtml You will notice variations in colors and densities between the scans from my collection and those on Baxley's Website. This is due to the one-by-one, hand-tinted nature of the books. Crepe paper books were popular in Japan for a while, and this crepe "Guide" to Japan's culture of prostitution was printed in English for the tourist market. In 1910, there were about 20,000 brothels housing over 250,000 prostitutes --- or, as the Japanese usually preferred calling them in English, inmates. You know, like being in a Prison. www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/2779649798/in/set-7215... The above photo and caption mirrors an older Okinawa Soba post, where the caption expresses things being done in a different order than that which is described above : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/2372617968/in/set-7215... QUESTION : How do you take a pretty Japanese prostitute from old Japan who's loaded down with any combination of Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, Herpes, The Clap, The Drip, Five varieties of Crabs, and a bucket of Pubic Lice --- and still make her attractive and acceptable to the entire, adoring world ? JAPANESE ANSWER : Distract everyone from Japan's true attitudes toward women by (1) not mentioning the fact that, for the most part, all of these women were sold into the brothel system at the age of five or six, and (2) take everyone's mind off the the average prostitute's serious medical, emotional, and financial problems by sticking her in a beautiful SILK KIMONO, and selling her photos across the entire planet. That's it ! At which point, all nations of the World will fall on their faces in worshipful praise of Japan..... for having had such a wonderful cultural heritage of high moral achievement, while buying Hello Kitty dolls dressed like prostitutes as gifts for their young daughters. Go Japan ! OLD JAPAN PROSTITUTION SET : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/sets/72157604201288302/ * * RANDOM SOBA : www.flickriver.com/photos/24443965@N08/random/