DIRTY DAN'S GREASY-SPOON, PIT-STOP & SNACK BAR -- AND THE WATER WHEEL BOY in OLD JAPAN

GOING NEARLY BARE-ASSED AND BUTT NAKED IN OLD JAPAN

or.....JAPANESE DON'T THINK LIKE WESTERNERS DO

(Which in some cases is a VERY GOOD THING !)

♥ LARGE SIZE : www.flickr.com/photos/okinawa-soba/4641155440/sizes/o/

"........Pre-modern Japan was quite different than today, with public nudity and semi-nudity being commonplace. In the towns and cities, laborers, rickshaw drivers, etc would wear only a loincloth during the warm weather, and women would often go bare-breasted.

The countryside was similar with both men and women working in the fields almost naked. The first Western visitors to Japan brought with them their Victorian morality and writers such as Isabella Bird were quick to comment upon the "lewdness" and "degraded morals" of the Japanese.

While public nudity was the norm among the majority of Japanese, as one ascended the ranks of society, being 'properly' clothed increased in importance, and a samurai, for example, would never be seen naked in public.

In many ways sexuality was more closely associated with clothing than with bare skin. The Japanese very much appreciated the idea of tantalization and the appeal of imagination. In Edo period pornography, shunga, almost all portrayals of the sexual act involved clothed figures. It was the fine silks and sumptuous clothes of the geisha that made them the stuff of men's dreams. Indeed, there was no history of the nude in Japanese "high" art until 1894 when Kuroda Seiki displayed in public a painted nude for the first time.

Attitudes began to change towards the end of the 19th century. The Japanese government needed to appear "civilized" to the Western powers so that the unequal treaties Japan was forced to sign could be repealed. Many new laws were passed to change how Japan appeared in the eyes of the West.

In 1872 a law was passed in Tokyo prohibiting public nudity, mixed bathing, and urinating in the street. Not only total nudity was banned, but naked thighs and upper torsos also resulted in fines. In 1876 more than 2,000 people were arrested for nudity offenses. (The latter part of this law --- urinating in the streets --- continues to be ignored to this day!)

Bath owners followed the letter of the new law, if not the spirit, by stringing a rope across the bath, thereby making separate spaces - however virtual - for men and for women.

In 1900 tougher laws were introduced requiring a solid barrier between the men’s and women’s sections of a bath......."

www.japanvisitor.com/index.php?cID=365&pID=960

♥ ♥ ♥ Just so you folks know that Japan hasn't been completely destroyed by Western morality, here for your enjoyment is an.....

EXTRA BONUS LINK !!! For a modern-day, popular family festival still held in Japan (and once popular with prostitutes), please go here and scroll through the pics : babibubebo.com/2008/04/07/kanamara-matsuri-festival-of-th...

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RANDOM SOBA : www.flickriver.com/photos/24443965@N08/random/

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Taken on: May 16, 2010

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Meiji

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明治時代

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Sets appears in: • AT WORK in OLD JAPAN • ALBUMEN PHOTOS

Groups appears in: • Cafes, Coffee Houses, Burger Joints, Food Carts. • Kokoro no shashin - Creative commons pictures of Japan

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