The Susukino Crossing at night with the Nikka logo on the Susukino Building

Susukino (すすきの, Susukino^?) is a red-light district located in Chūō-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan. It is one of the major red-light districts in Japan along with Kabukichō, Tokyo, and Nakasu, Fukuoka. Currently, the district is congested with many restaurants, bars, hotels, and adult-entertainment establishments. Susukino is often noted as "薄野" in kanji, and "ススキノ" in katakana, and directly translated as "zebra grass field". The De Wallen red-light district in Amsterdam A red-light district is a neighborhoooood where prostitution and other businesses in the sex industry flourish. ... Chūō-ku ), Sapporo is one of the ten wards in Sapporo city, Japan. ...   literally North Sea Circuit, Ainu: Mosir), formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japans second largest island and the largest of its 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Nakasu night scene Nakasu (中州) is the island entertainment district which exists between the Nakagawa river「那珂川」 and the Hakatagawa「博多川」 in Fukuoka city「福岡市」 Fukuoka Prefecture Japan. ... Fukuoka can refer to several locations in Japan: Fukuoka Prefecture (福岡県) Fukuoka, Fukuoka (福岡市), a city in Fukuoka Prefecture Fukuoka-Kitakyushu metropolitan area Fukuoka, Toyama (福岡町), a town in Toyama Prefecture Fukuoka, Gifu (福岡町), a town in Gifu Prefecture Fukuoka Castle (福岡城), Edo age castle on Fukuzaki Hill in Fukuoka City Fukuoka POW Camp, a... Japanese writing Kanji Kana Hiragana Katakana Hentaigana Manyōgana Uses Furigana Okurigana Rōmaji   ) are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana (平仮名), katakana (片仮名), and the Arabic numerals. ... Katakana ) is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet. ...

The name

The origin of the name Susukino varies; one of the opinions is because the area of the current Susukino was covered by Miscanthus sinensis ("Susuki" in Japanese) , and another opinion defines that the Susukino is named after Tatsuyuki Usui, a supervisor of constructing the red-light district in Sapporo (Usui is written as "薄井" in kanji, and the letter "薄" refers to the Susuki in Japanese) .^[1] Miscanthus sinensis is a grass native to Asia, but also cultivated in other parts of the world. ...

Overview

Currently, the place name Susukino does not officially exist, although the name is widely used in the name of an intersection (the Susukino Crossing), and a train and subway station (Susukino Station of the Sapporo Street Car and Sapporo Municipal Subway). The area recognized as Susukino is ambiguous, however the Susukino Tourist Association defines the area of Susukino as lying between the roadways of Minami 4 and Minami 6 to the north and south, and from Nishi 2 chome to Nishi 6 chome to the east and west.^[1] Type 8520 tramcar. ... Sapporo Subway guide rail and steel rollways Sapporo Municipal Subway ) is the rapid transit system in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. ...

Susukino Crossing was located between Nishi 3 chome, Minami 4 and Nishi 4 chome, Minami 4, and many neon signs were installed on the buildings along the street. One of those signs is the Nikka sign at the front of the Susukino Building, which has a painting of the Nikka symbol, the King of Blenders^[2], and the background whose colors are changed one after the other. Every September, the Hokkaidō Marathon is held in Sapporo, and runners pass Ekimae Dōri through the Susukino Crossing and Susukino district, which leads to the finish line in Nakajima Park.^[3] Every August, the Susukino Festival is also held, and the line of people bearing Mikoshi parades down the street.^[4] The Ganso Rāmen Yokochō and Shin Rāmen Yokochō, where Rāmen restaurants are lined up along the pathway and visitors can have many types of the Sapporo Rāmen, are also located in the Susukino and are an attraction to sightseers. This mikoshi enshrines Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Toshogu in Nikko A mikoshi (神輿、みこし) is a portable Shinto shrine that serves as the vehicle of a divine spirit in Japan at the time of a parade of deities. ...

History

Susukino Crossing to the north.

Susukino originated in 1871, when the Hokkaidō Kaitaku-shi, the Settlement Envoyship pioneering Hokkaidō, designated the area from Minami 4 and Minami 5 to Nishi 3 chome and Nishi 4 chome as the red-light district. After the construction of the district, the Kaitaku-shi named this place as "Susukino Yūkaku" (Susukino red-light district), and integrated other brothels into this district. One of the reasons the Kaitaku-shi constructed a red-light district in this place was to keep laborers engaged in pioneering Hokkaidō in Sapporo.^[5] A brothel, also known as a bordello or whorehouse, is an establishment specifically dedicated to prostitution, providing the prostitutes a place to meet and to have sex with the clients. ...

In 1872, a 1.2 meter wall, 900 meters long, was erected around the Susukino Yūkaku and a gate was placed between Nishi 3 chome and Nishi 4 chome by Kaitaku-shi. In the fall of the same year, an act to emancipate prostitutes was announced by the new government, which had little influence on the district. With the establishment of licensed prostitution, Susukino Yūkaku and its surrouding area have smoothly thrived. In 1880, Susukino Kōban (Susukino police box of the Sapporo Precinct) was placed in the Susukino.

The transfer of Susukino Yūkaku to the neighbourhood of the Kamokamo River, headwaters of the Sousei River, was planned in 1901, in consideration of the elementary schools and women's professional schools that were located around the red-light district. The transfer, however, was not realised until the summer of 1920. Prior to this year, in 1918, the exposition of the 50th anniversary of Hokkaidō was held in the Nakajima Park,^[6] which was located close to the Susukino, and the Susukino Station of the Sapporo Street Car was also opened. Two years later, although the transfer of the red-light district was not carried out in time for the exposition, the district was moved to the place where Kikusui district in the Shiroishi-Ku, Sapporo, is currently located.^[7] Type 8520 tramcar. ... Shiroishi-ku, Sapporo is one of the ten wards in Sapporo city, Japan. ...

After all the brothels in Susukino were removed, many restaurans, cafe, and movie theatres were constructed and popularized in their place. It was quiet during World War II, but the cabaret and dance hall were erected right after the War, and the American occupation troops also walked around the district. Susukino was not an Akasen (red-line) district, an area where prostitution was acknowledged by the government, but was actually an Aosen (blue-line) district, where a lot of restaurants and bars illegally promoted prostitution. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Cabaret is a form of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue — a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting around the tables (often dining or drinking) watching the performance. ... Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing. ... Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP) was the title for Douglas MacArthur during the Occupation of Japan following WWII. The title did belong to Dwight David Eisenhower during WWII, however, he had nothing to do with the attacks on Japan. ...

The Prostitution Prevention Act was enacted in 1958,^[8] however, prostitution in Susukino did not disappear. The street stalls were the actual hotbed of the promotion of the prostitution, which were eradicated by their compulsory removal by the government in 1964.

Susukino Snow Festival (すすきの氷の祭典, Susukino Kōri no Saiten^?) with ice statues lining along the street.

In the late 1960s, Sapporo City was reserved as the site of the 1972 Winter Olympics, and the expansion of the Sapporo Ekimae Dōri (Sapporo Street in front of the station), the construction of the Sapporo Municipal Subway Nanboku-line, and the maintenance of the underground shopping arcade, Sapporo Poletown, were carried out in around 1970. In 1974, a department store, Matsuzakaya Sapporo Branch (currently Robbinson's Sapporo Branch) was opened, which was the first department store in the district of the Susukino. Other notable buildings were included the "Emperor" opened in 1973, which was a huge cabaret and later closed its business in September 2006,^[9] and the "Mikado" opened in 1974, which was also a large cabaret and later closed in the spring of 1982. Since the late 1970s, disco-style bars began to be popular in Japan and many discos were constructed in Susukino, while nightclubs decayed. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Sapporo Subway guide rail and steel rollways Sapporo Municipal Subway ) is the rapid transit system in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. ... The Matsuzakaya Co. ... Laser lights illuminate the dance floor at a Gatecrasher dance music event in Sheffield, England A nightclub (or night club or club) is a drinking, dancing, and entertainment venue which does its primary business after dark. ...

In 1980s, a lot of hotels were constructed around the Susukino district. The Susukino Snow Festival (Susukino Kōri no Saiten) was held as a part of the Sapporo Snow Festival in 1983, and since that year, ice statues and other snow objects are lining up the street of the Susukino district every Feburuary. In 1986, a natural hot spring was dug in the ground of Susukino. This was called "Susukino Hot Springs", and is used currently in hotels in the Susukino area. The Hōsui Susukino Station, a subway station of the Tōhō line, Sapporo Municipal Subway, was inaugurated in 1988. A palace entirely made of snow The Sapporo Snow Festival (さっぽろ雪まつり Sapporo Yuki-matsuri) is a famous yearly festival held in Sapporo, Japan over seven days in February. ... Green Dragon Spring at Norris Geyser A hot spring is a place where warm or hot groundwater issues from the ground on a regular basis for at least a predictable part of the year, and is significantly above the ambient ground temperature (which is usually around 55~57 F or...

Sources

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ...

External links

• Susukino Tourist Association Official Homepage (Japanese)
• Japan Travel Guide, Susukino Nightlife District (English)