Shiga

Otsu and the towns around Lake Biwa

Shiga holds Lake Biwa, Japan's largest freshwater lake, and its capital, Otsu, is a core city at the prefecture's south-western end. The prefectural tourism bureau groups Otsu and Takashima as the west, Kusatsu and Koka as the south, Hikone, Higashi-Omi and Omi-Hachiman as the east, and Nagahama and Maibara as the north.

Where the ordinance allows storefront venues

Article 28 of the national Amusement Business Act bans storefront adult businesses within 200 metres of schools, libraries, child welfare facilities and similar sites, and lets prefectures designate further prohibited areas by ordinance. Article 9 of Shiga's ordinance adds hospitals and clinics with inpatient beds, community halls, museums and city parks to those base facilities.

Article 10, item 1 bars soaplands (Act Art. 2(6) item 1) and storefront fashion health shops (item 2, including reception offices) anywhere in the prefecture when they are run in a motel-type facility where a garage leads straight to the room. Under Article 11 these businesses may not open anywhere in Shiga between midnight and 6 a.m.

The ordinance names no districts, so walk-in formats such as soaplands are limited to sites that meet the distance and building rules of the Act and the ordinance. Delivery health is an outcall format used at a hotel or another place you choose; for those venues the area marks the reception or base.

Getting there

Kyoto to Otsu takes about 9 minutes on the JR Biwako Line Special Rapid, and Osaka to Otsu about 40 minutes on the JR Kyoto Line Special Rapid. From Tokyo, allow about 134 minutes to Otsu using the Hikari Shinkansen; Kansai and Chubu Centrair international airports are each about 90 minutes away by train.

How RED LIGHT JAPAN divides Shiga

This site splits Shiga into four major areas: Otsu City; Koga, Konan; East Lake; and Hubei · Huxi. Otsu City holds Hamaotsu, Ogoto, Katata, Ishiyama and Seta, while "Koga, Konan" holds Kusatsu City and "Ritto, Moriyama, Yasu, Konan".

East Lake has three areas, Hikone City and its surroundings, Omi Hachiman, Azuchi, Notogawa, and Higashiomi City and its surroundings; Hubei · Huxi has four, Nagahama and Chikubu Island, Takashima City, Maibara City, and Yogo and Kinomoto. Outcall venues cover different ranges, so check each venue's page.