Male Prostitution/Social Attitudes in London and Nagano 1901-2

[powdered_opium]

I figured that whilst you're all staying so helpful, I'd throw out queries I have about some of my other fiction projects. This is concerning a novel set over the course of three years in three different countries: London, England 1901, Nagano, Japan 1902 and Paris, France 1903. Character A is a seventeen-year-old male prostitute working and living

Comments

[stormwreath]

In answer to #4: the 'Yellow Peril' was mostly an American phenomenon, because of the large number of Chinese immigrants to the Western states causing moral panic.In Britain, class and status would probably be more important. A wealthy upper-class young gentleman from the Orient would primarily be regarded and treated as wealthy and upper-class. He would encounter a lot of stereotyping, intrusive questions, people making assumptions about him based on his race, etc. Most people who didn't work in shipping and trade or for the Foreign, Indian or Colonial Offices had probably never met a non-European before, and would see him as strange and exotic and curious. Of course they'd never let their daughter marry him, being a foreigner and all. But they would always be polite to him.

#5 1902 is 34 years after Japan was opened to the West, so it's not that recent. Earlier on, there'd been a love affair with Western culture: people adopting European-style clothing, dancing European dances to European music, and so on.An actual European would

[powdered_opium]

4. Ah, I was aware of the phenomena but not of its application. Thank you for the clarification. Also, this is all perfect and is in line with how he - and his interactions with British characters - have been portrayed so far, which is incredibly reassuring. Thank you! <3

5. Thank you again! Well, recent in terms of the change. B has relatives who are very nationalistic and traditional, so whilst I want them to treat him with suspicion, I'd like the majority of the population to not feel that way. I was hoping that foreign visitors would be rare as my story involves a scene where a small crowd of children approach A out of curiosity when he first arrives. A does not like children, and thus hilarity will hopefully ensue (if I can write said hilarity). :D

[jayb111]

He would encounter a lot of stereotyping, intrusive questions, people making assumptions about him based on his race, etc.
Most people's ideas of Japan were probably derived from Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado.

[powdered_opium]

Thanks! I'll make sure I get some references into that.

[syntinen_laulu]

True. But The Mikado itself was a response to a widespread interest in and fashion for things Japanese in the later 19th century. For example, a 'Japanese Village' exhibition was on show in London from 1885 to 1887, and just about everybody in London with any cultural interests (or even anyone who liked to see the sights) must have gone to see it.