Osaka thinks it has a bright idea to combat tachinbo.

Osaka has a lot of famous attractions, like Osaka Castle, the Dotombori canal area, and Universal Studios Japan. However, there’s one part of the city that’s been drawing crowds for a less wholesome reason than an interest in samurai history, cyberpunk-esque scenery, or movie/video game magic.

A street in the city’s Taiyujicho neighborhood has become an open-secret center for tachinbo. Tachinbo comes from the word tachi, meaning “stand,” but tachinbo isn’t just any standing around, it’s standing around for the purpose of proposing prostitution. Prostitutes operating under the tachinbo style will find a stretch of street to loiter on, often fiddling with their phones as though they’re killing time while waiting for somebody, which is technically true since they’re waiting to be approached by solicitors to negotiate the payment terms for sexual intercourse.

Around 30 prostitution arrests have been made along the Taiyujicho street this year. That’s a drop in the bucket when close to a dozen women a night have been seen plying their tachinbo trade there, but increasing arrest numbers is likely to be difficult, considering the plausible desirability that prostitutes and customers are just talking while on the street, and that the actual exchange of money happens behind closed doors at nearby hourly rate love hotels. So Osaka is also trying to prevent those “just talking” conversations from happening in the first place, and they’re employing an unusual strategy: painting the Taiyujicho tachinbo street bright yellow.

The yellow painting was completed this week, and is part of a larger effort to change the visual atmosphere of the street which also includes installing additional streetlights for brighter illumination at night. Artwork has also been installed at intervals along the ground, depicting schools of fish and other aquatic life.

One could possibly make the argument that the new paint job might have the effect of visually announcing “Hey, here’s the prostitution zone!”, but consciousness is actually the whole point. Rather than a non-descript strip of asphalt with pockets of shadow to stand and negotiate in, by making the entire street extremely conspicuous the goal is to draw attention to anyone who’s hanging out there for an extended period of time, either prostitutes displaying themselves or potential clients perusing that night’s selection while they make their choice. Even the marine animal artwork is meant to have a subtle psychological effect, depicting them swimming forward to plant the idea of “keep moving” in people’s minds.

Since the visual overhaul, local authorities say that tachinbo sightings have become few and far between on the street. Critics contest that this just means the prostitutes and their clients have found somewhere else to meet, but if the yellow makeover keeps them away from this street long-term, we might see other urban neighborhoods take similar action.

Source: Yomiuri TV News via Jin, Sankei Shimbun
Top image: Pakutaso
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