THE CLIENTLE, ETC

The soldiers wait their turn in the Western-style parlor. Most have gone first to a place where they drink cheap spirits. I believe the Hifumi used to be a tea house, but Mrs Okata does not serve refreshments. She does allow them to play the phonograph while they wait. Once upstairs they do their business quickly, like rabbits or roosters, knowing others are waiting. [from Miss Gone-overseas]

The photograph is a group of soldiers on the island during WWII, drinking cheap spirits, having a grand time. No doubt some have plans for a visit to one of the local brothels. No doubt each soldier’s pocket contains a hygiene box of two condoms, which were issued as military material. Factories cranked them out. Also in that pocket would be a voucher for a brothel visit, a voucher worth a half hour -- or the length of one stick of burning incense. Brothel workers were known to surreptitiously fan the sticks to make them burn faster.

What did the narrator of Miss Gone-overseas think about the men she serviced? She had two brothers who went off to war in Manchuria. She had no idea if they were dead or alive. Did she feel a sisterly affection for any of the soldiers who trooped up the stairs and into her small room? Maybe some, but she only describes one encounter: a solder too drunk to fuck, and who blames her for his lack of ability. He slaps her; she slaps him back and is pleased to hear him tumble down the stairs with nothing to show for his visit except the red mark of her hand on his face.

Readers learn of the narrator’s first introduction to sex: servicing her brother in law, at the urging of his wife. More than urging, the sister in law gave explicit instructions on to how to harden an unwilling cock by sucking on it. Later, in the brothels of Tokyo and Nagasaki, the narrator must have learned other tricks. Like offering her posterior to avoid sour breath in her face, or faking sighs (of enjoyment), or whimpering noises (of pain). Anything to enhance the speediness of her client’s performance.

The upstairs rooms at the Hifumi were about the size of a modern, middle class American woman’s walk-in closet. Each room had a raised platform on one side, topped with a thin futon. Across the room would be a basin of disinfectant -- for washing both her own and the client’s genitals before and after. One of the island's doctors made a bi-weekly rounds of all the brothels, inspecting for gonorrhea in that pre-antibiotic era.

At the end of every month the manager entered into her ledger the amount the military paid for that month's vouchers. Only a small portion went to the workers, most went to the brothel owners and for administrative costs such as the manager's own salary and that of the servants, for the room and board of the workers and for the upkeep of the premises.

The workers could obtain small amounts of cash for the purchase of various sundries such as make-up, meals out, parasols, etc. But prudent workers left most of their money in the ledger, hoping to accumulate a decent nest egg for when the industry no longer had any use for them.