To commemorate the enactment of the Prostitution Prevention Law in Japan 50 years ago, Japan's Mainichi Daily published a photo gallery of 'Old Images of Prostitutes in Japan.'

50 years ago, Japan's formal ban on the centuries old act of prostitution came into effect. The Prostitution Prevention Law outlawed the world's oldest profession even though it had long been one of Japan's most lucrative. But the law was filled with loopholes and even today the sex business remains one of Japan's biggest industries.

The fight to end prostitution began in earnest following Japan's defeat in World War II, with newly liberated women Diet members in the vanguard of the fight.

After several attempts at legislating against the practice during the Occupation from 1945 to 1952 and again after Japan regained its independence in 1952, what became the Prostitution Prevention Law finally passed through the National Diet in 1956.

Its enactment was held off until April 1958 to give workers in the industry time to find new professions or enter into government-run rehabilitation centers (where the cost of feeding the occupants was famously less per day than what the Tokyo Metropolitan Government would pay for meals for dogs awaiting euthanasia in pounds).

Old Images of Prostitutes in Japan

Sex workers in a red light district in 1950:

A prostitute in the Atami resort area of Shizuoka Prefecture tries to lure a customer in August 1950:

A prostitute and john at her hotel workplace in January 1949:

A man gets a light for his cigarette from a streetwalker in June 1952:

Students hang out near an area where prostitutes serviced U.S. military members (their U.S. servicemen clients):

Prostitutes waiting for customers in Osaka's Tobita Shinchi in 1956:

Arrested streetwalkers are loaded onto prosecutors' truck in July 1950:

Pan-pan prostitutes solicit customers near the old U.S. Tachikawa Air Base in suburban Tokyo in 1956:

A handcuffed prostitute talks to police following her arrest. Date unknown:

Streetwalkers arrested after a raid in Tokyo's Nerima-ku in August 1954:

Prostitutes give written statements to police in June 1953:

Prostitutes answering questions for the first postwar National Census on Oct. 1, 1950:

A list of top prostitutes from the mid-Meiji Era (1868-1912):

Streetwalkers arrested after a raid in Tokyo's Nerima-ku in August 1954:

Prostitutes specializing in servicing foreigners are arrested after a raid on the Shinjuku-ku hotel where they worked in 1953:

Women Diet members campaigning against legalized prostitution talk to sex workers in Tokyo's Tachikawa in 1953:

Prostitutes specializing in servicing foreigners after a raid on their Yokohama hotel in 1953:

Prostitutes in 1953:

Women Diet members campaigning against legalized prostitution talk to sex workers in Tokyo's Tachikawa in 1953:

Prostitutes arrested after a 1954 raid:

Prostitutes in Tokyo's Shinjuku in December 1957:

Streetwalkers who specialized in servicing foreigners rounded up in a 1955 raid:

Prostitutes in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district solicit customers in 1955:

Prostitutes in Tokyo's Yurakucho district in September 1946:

Streetwalkers in an aosen unauthorized prostitution district in 1953:

Prostitutes in Tokyo's Shinjuku-ku in May 1956:

Prostitutes (in sunglasses) testify during July 1955 debate on what would become the Prostitution Prevention Law:

Streetwalkers are forced to undergo health checks at Tokyo's Yoshiwara Hospital following a raid in August 1950:

Streetwalkers arrested for illegal prostitution in September 1953:

Streetwalkers arrested after a 1946 raid:

Handcuffed sex workers following their arrest in the wake of a 1955 raid:

Streetwalkers in Tokyo's Shinjuku-ku in February 1953:

Streetwalkers arrested in Tokyo following a February 1950 raid:

Prostitutes inside a brothel in Tokyo's Yoshiwara wait for customers:

Streetwalkers in Tokyo's Shinjuku-ku try to pull in johns in April 1953:

Anti-prostitution campaigns shout slogans at a sex worker in Tokyo's Shibuya in August 1948:

Anti-prostitution campaigns shout slogans at a sex worker in Tokyo's Shibuya in August 1948:

Source: Mainichi Photobank