Singapore: Malay Street c. 1900, when it was part of the Japanese karayuki-san 'red light' district.

At the beginning of the 20th century Malay Street, together with contiguous Hylam and Bencoolen Streets, was notorious for its Japanese karayuki-san brothels. The area was known to its Japanese residents as Suteretsu or 'street'. The Japanese prostitution industry began to wind down after World War I under pressure from the Japanese authorities. The area comprised many dilapidated two storey shop houses, the last of which were demolished in the early 1980s. Today the old street is incorporated within Bugis Junction, a pedestrian shopping mall made up of three streets - Malabar Street, Malay Street and Hylam Street. The streets are the first in Singapore to be air-conditioned and are thus commonly refered to as 'indoor streets'.

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Pictures From History