ABSTRACT
Karayuki-san were Japanese women who were engaged in prostitution abroad before World War II.1 According to Morisaki Kazue, the term karayuki was used in western and northern parts of Kyushu from the Meiji era (18681912) to the late 1930s. Kara meant ‘China’ or ‘foreign countries’, and after the Meiji Restoration, ‘working abroad’ and ‘the people who worked abroad’ were called karayuki or karankuni-yuki. There were not many jobs available for Japanese men in foreign countries, and women began to account for the large majority of those going abroad, for they could be employed at Japanese brothels. Therefore, karayuki came to mean ‘Japanese who went abroad to work as prostitutes’. At the beginning of the Taisho era (191226), karayuki began to be differentiated by name according to their destinations, including amerika-yuki (those heading for the US), shinayuki (those heading for China), shiberia-yuki (those heading for Siberia), chosen-yuki (those heading for Korea), and others. Eventually, karayuki came to mean nanyo-yuki (those heading for Southeast Asia) (Morisaki 1976:17-18).
