Soapland storybook?

[Caustic Saint]

I found this over at Nekobaba. (Where else, right?) I'm not quite sure what to make of it. What's puzzling me is the page number in the lower-right corner. The style of the illustration looks similar to what you'd see in a children's storybook - but not the content of the illustration! (Unless I'm missing something.)

Anybody have a clue as to the origin of this pic? Or why the soap-girl and her client look like gaijin?

If the text is too small to read on that one, here's a link to a larger version.

[American Oyaji]

The large text reads,

Why do adults go to soapland?

[Andocrates]

I attemped to translate it, but the text was hard to read and i had homework on more interesting stuff. I had write a story about my life in Japan in 20 years and how happy I'll be,

if Im here in 20years something went very wrong with my life.

[Gestalt]

I'll have a go:

"Do you know what happens at a 'SoapLand'? Soap means 'sekken', Land means 'basho'. So you probably imagine a place that is something like a hotspring, or a bath house. And officially that's just what it is: there is a room with baths full of hot water where people wash. However all of the customers are men, and they pay women to wash them. Why would a grown man pay money to have himself washed? The answer is: to have sex with women. Some men use money like this to fulfill their sexual desires. It goes without saying that a woman's body is not just a tool for the purpose of entertaining men. A man using money like this to buy a woman's body (prostitution) is a despicable human act.
WHY DO ADULTS GO TO SOAPLAND?"

Characters in Japanese comics often look like foreigners for no good reason I can explain..
Notice the Yakuza guy in the doorway counting the money. This could even be part of police campaign against these sorts of places, or perhaps a pamphlet from a woman's group?
Encouraged by a friend and a lot of alcohol, I tried to get into a SoapLand years ago in a town in the middle of Mie-ken and the guy at the door just told me foreigners weren't allowed.. probably not much has changed.

[bejiita]

I tried to get into a SoapLand years ago in a town in the middle of Mie-ken and the guy at the door just told me foreigners weren't allowed.. probably not much has changed.

As with all things, science has you covered. Courtesy of the Japan Pink Salon Research Institute.

[tomasurii]

Is SoapLand a Jp brothel, like the "oriental massage parlours" along American interstates pandering to uptight (read "lonely, horny") truckers?

Curious.

[Taro Toporific]

Is SoapLand a Jp brothel, like the "oriental massage parlours" along American interstates pandering to uptight (read "lonely, horny") truckers?

A soapland is just like the service depicted in the above image.
You get soaped, washed often the women uses her own body as washcoth. For a seperate neogiated fee, additional services are <yawn> possible.

For every "oriental massage parlour" you can find in the States there are 1,000 soaplands. It's mainstream normal biz that is part of Japan's Sleaze Industry representing 5-20% of the GNP.

[Naniwan Kid]

I tried to get into a SoapLand years ago in a town in the middle of Mie-ken and the guy at the door just told me foreigners weren't allowed.. probably not much has changed.

I used to have the same "problem". I used to visit a music studio next door to a pink salon. Dammit if every week the guy out front would say to me, in English, "Japanese only". After about five times of ignoring him I went up to him and told him, in Japanese, I wasn't walking on the street to F his ugly pigs inside and if he talks to me again he will sorry.

Dude never yelled "Japanese only" to me again.

[canman]

Soon after coming to Japan, one of my students thought he would treat me to a little Japanese delight. We drove to the place only to be turned away at the door. The yakuza type doorman said only Japanese. When my student argued, the guy just looked bored and said no Gaijin. I think my student was more upset than I was. Perhaps he was looking forward to the bath. Later on he took me to a club in town that has foreign dancers, but only allow Japanese. But since he knew the doorman, he let me in. I can tell you the other foreigners who may have wanted to get in weren't missing much.
Taro, I'm sure you've had hundreds of incidents like this in your time in Japan.

[Andocrates]

What's even sadder then that is I got turned away from an emergency room once. And I even managed to get sick during the 3 hour period they were open.