Guide: Tobita Shinchi

Tobita Shinchi is the largest full-service Red-Light-District located in Nishinari-ku of Osaka. In existence since the Taishō period, the area has grown to become Western Japan’s largest pleasure quarters to this day.

💡 What is Tobita Shinchi?

The Red-Light-District of Tobita Shinchi is known for its restaurants or “Ryōtei” as they are locally called in Japanese. They are brothels that offer full-service sex, “legally” in Japan.

The brothels are typically run by a female elder who acts as the pimp and manages the handful of prostitutes rotated at the front of the stores.

Sex that takes place within the confines of these brothels isn’t recognized as prostitution by regulating authorities. Like Soaplands, it’s simply love making on the prostitutes free will.

Over 100 brothels do business in the area with sex workers selling themselves at the front of the stores like De Wallen of Amsterdam in full-open view trying to catch the attention of roaming eyes.

This type of prostitution is unique to the Kansai region and unseen anywhere else in Japan.

🚃 Getting to Tobita Shinchi

Tobita Shinchi can be visited by public transport or on foot from the following stations

• Dobutsuen-Mae Station
• Tennōji Station
• Abeno Station

Station Name	Time Required	First Train to Dobutsuen-Mae	Last Train from Dobutsuen-Mae
Kansai-Airport	1 hour	05:38	22:57
Namba	20 minutes	04:47	00:46
Umeda	30 minutes (15min EXP)	04:49	00:05
Shin-Osaka	20 minutes	05:08	00:05
Kyoto	75 minutes	05:02	23:33

During the new year period, most of the brothels will either be closed or operating with reduced hours, from around Christmas day (December 25^th) until around January 4^th or later.

🌐 Are foreigners welcome to Tobita Shinchi?

Foreigners are welcome to the area, though expect some level of discrimination based on your ethnicity and possibly your Japanese level, if required.

The prostitute will have the final say in whether or not she’s willing to serve you but if she’s smiling and waving at you, it’s a good indicator that she’s is giving you the green light.

🙆‍♂️ What services are offered at Tobita Shinchi?

The basic service provided at all brothels within Tobita Shinchi include

• Covered full-service sex*

*Variations in service may differ by brothel and duration of service.

💴 How much does Tobita Shinchi cost?

Foreigners may be charged an additional surcharge at the discretion of the establishment.

Japanese yen in cash is the only form of payment accepted at all brothels in Tobita Shinchi.

Duration	Price
15minutes	¥11,000
20minutes	¥16,000
30minutes	¥21,000
45minutes	¥31,000
60minutes	¥41,000
Extension (15mins)	¥11,000

❓ What are the differences in Tobita Shinchi?

Major Streets

• Seisyun Street – Busiest of all the streets in Tobita Shinchi, mostly prostitutes in their early 20’s.
• Main Street – Prostitutes that aren’t “young” enough to work on “Seisyun Street”, Mid 20’s and above.
• Oomon Street – Least number of shops out of the three with a mixed range of prostitutes of varying quality

Side Streets

• Youkai Street – Prostitutes that are of middle age and above, mostly Milfs.
• Nenkin Street – Same as above with gems found working here on “rare” occasions.
• Hyakuban Street – Runs parallel to Oomon Street with the least amount of brothels in Tobita Shinchi. Mixed range of middle age providers like all the other side streets.
• Hashi Street – Runs into the shopping street West of Main street. Mixed range of middle age providers.

👧 What kind of sex workers can I meet at Tobita Shinchi?

There are 7 streets within Tobita Shinchi, all situated within walking distance from each other, with their own distinct offerings of prostitutes from young to old catering to all tastes. This includes girls that are of mixed Japanese descent.

The working girls of Tobita Shinchi are renowned for being some of the best-looking girls of the industry who prefer to work discreetly in the digital age with all the brothels doing business offline.

There aren’t any official websites showcasing the working girls of the area online, thus the only way to check who’s working there is in person, on foot with your own two eyes.

🔞 What to expect visiting Tobita Shinchi

If you agree to the terms set out by the prostitute’s female pimp you will be ushered upstairs to the play room where the action takes place.

As these brothels operate as “restaurants” the custom is to provide some form of refreshments in the form of a consumable item at the start of the session.

The only service they provide is covered full-service sex with a complimentary basic hand job when required.

After service you will be given a lollipop to suck on when heading out, signaling to other female pimps that you’ve had your fun already.

If the sex workers see you as a potential repeat client, she may hand you a business card with her details printed or written by hand. A contact number to call is provided where one can confirm her working schedule for future appointments with the brothel.

👣 First time visitor to Tobita Shinchi

• No females or children permitted in the area
• Don’t use your smartphone when wandering the streets of Tobita Shinchi as innocently checking your phone while facing the wrong way may get you in serious trouble
• Do a few laps of the area over the course of an hour to see the full catalogue of girls
• Visit a public bath before going to clean yourself. Yudokoro Abenobashi can be found on the way to from Tennōji Station
• Best day and time to visit is between 6PM to 8PM on Friday and Saturday evenings

🗣 Phrases you need to know when visiting Tobita Shinchi

Terms that may come in handy

English	Japanese	Romaji
Going to the play room upstairs (2F)	上がる	Agaru
First client of the day (provider)	元	Gen
First timer to Tobita Shinchi (client)	いちげん	Ichigen
A client who’s visited a provider over three times	馴染	Najimi
When a provider didn’t get any clients for the day	お茶をひく	O cha o hiku
Same as above	坊主	Bōzu
Unfriendly Interaction	塩対応	Shiota iō
Shortening the time	時短	Jitan
Favorite	オキニ	Oki Ni
Bad client	地雷	Jirai
Good provider	良嬢	Ryōjō
Good client	良客	Ryō kyaku
Prostitute ( Referred as Princesses in Japanese )	姫、嬢	Hime / Ji yō
One session	一本	Ip pon
First session of the day for providers	口開け	Kuchiake
A window shopper (client)	まいど	Maido

🔎 Other areas like Tobita Shinchi in Osaka

There are 5 areas in Osaka where these types of brothels proliferate with Tobita Shinchi being the biggest by shop count. The four other areas include

• Matsushima Shinchi
• Shinodayama Shinchi
• Takii Shinchi
• Imazato Shinchi