Colored plate from De Becker's "The Nightless City."
In 1899, Joseph Ernest De Becker published an expose of the geisha quarter of the Japanese capital of Tokyo — then named Yedo — called the yoshiwara. De Becker ended up with a tome of over 500 pages, detailing the history, architecture, and customs of the quarter and including several beautiful color prints and many illustrations in black and white.
De Becker’s avowed aim was to discuss the degredation caused by having a known “prostitute’s quarter” in a large city like Tokyo. Indeed, he starts his book with a brief, vituperative prologue warning his readers not to be complacent and think that “you, as a race, have any monopoly of virtue” (12) over the Japanese. Interestingly, De Becker mentions infamous English publisher and author W.T. Stead’s “Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon” in defence of his thesis, urging his readers to seek out the piece, published in the Pall Mall Gazette in London in 1885.
Stead created an international scandal with his demonstration of the availability and cheapness of girl prostitutes in the city of London — indeed, he was put on trial for his alleged “purchase” of a girl for five pounds.
De Becker’s volume is not as inflammatory as Stead’s Gazette writing, but it does seem as if his careful descriptions of prices to be paid for each type of prostitute or service; what food could be expected by a client making a late-night visit; and his precise explanations of Japanese terms might be taken as a guidebook rather than a serious warning.
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