自転車で五条楽園When prostitution was made illegal in Japan in 1958, many of the old red light areas faded away.
They have of course been replaced by other, non-officially sanctioned, areas.
The older areas have been torn down and or rebuilt, and are today mostly drab residential areas that give off no whiff of their former selves.
Kyoto's Shimabara is one such example.
One former red light area, though not frozen in time, does still have enough of the theaters and tea houses and older buildings to give one an idea of what the pre-1958 atmosphere was like.
Gojo Rakuen (5th Street Paradise) is located south of Gojo Dori, from Kiyamachi to the Kamo River. In the Taisho Period (1912 - 1926), it stretched south all the way to Shichijo Dori.
The area was a mix of inns, theaters, restaurants, bars, and brothels.
Many of the buildings appear unused today. Part of that stems from the 1958 ruling. However, on October 28, 2010, five men were arrested for running brothels in the area, and as a result all of the tea houses were shuttered.
Today 15 of the original tea houses, a kabuki theater, and many old buildings remain.
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