Asian trading ports as early as the 17th and 18th centuries, according to the records of the Japanese community in Singapore, the first Japanese to settle in Singapore was Yamamoto Ekichi in 1862. (Otokichi Yamamoto), who died in Singapore in 1867. In 1864, Uta Matsuda came to Singapore to run a grocery store with her Chinese husband, and then her aunt Yasu came to Singapore to sell bananas. With the establishment of the Japanese trade consulate in 1879, the introduction of Japanese rickshaws in 1884, and the opening of the Singapore branch of a large Japanese enterprise, the number of Japanese residents in Singapore had increased significantly by the end of the 19th century. By the end of the Taisho period or the beginning of the 20th century, Japanese immigrants had spread all over Southeast Asia and even South Asia: 6,950 in Singapore and Malaya, 4,112 in Manila, 239 in Bangkok, 2,446 in Batavia, 1,749 in Surabaya, and 282 in Yangon. people, Mumbai 456 people.
Yamamoto_Otokichi_memorial,_Japanese_Cem popular database Photo Credit: Aldwinteo (Aldwin Teo) CC BY SA 30 Tomb of Otokichi Yamamoto The remarkable development of the scale of Japanese settlements is closely related to the opening of Japanese brothels in the east of the Singapore River. There were no traces of any Japanese brothels in 1868, but at the turn of the century, Japanese brothels at Hainan Street, Malabar Street, Malay Street and Bugis Street began to replace the Malays, Chinese and Europeans in the kampungs successively. A brothel run by Kampong Glam. Unlike the Chinese brothels in Chinatown, which only serve Chinese people, they also have different levels of internal standards; Japanese brothels are only customers, and they don’t care about the ethnic background of customers, but they also define the level of “high-level and low-level”. .
These prostitutes from southern Japan were called " karayuki-san " (translated as "Miss Tang Xing" in Chinese). Their appearance marked an important starting point for the Japanese community in Southeast Asia, and was also one of the sources of Japanese foreign exchange during this period. The prosperity of the prostitute business in Southeast Asia also attracted traders, shop owners, doctors, and bank owners to expand business opportunities to support Japan's overseas economic development, because Japan was already an industrial country, but it was not enough to occupy a place in the West. In 1920, after the prostitution industry was banned, the remaining industries continued to expand in the original brothel area, and continued to maintain the existence of this settlement. opened in 1911), school (founded in 1912), club (founded in 1917). By 1926, the Japanese settlements in Singapore had expanded to occupy the area bounded by Prinsep Street, Rochore Road, North Bridge Road and Miduo Road, right next to the Hainan settlement.