A Soapland (ソープランド, sÅpurando) is a a type of brothel in Japan where male clients can engage in sexual activity with female prostitutes, although officially the clubs do business as places where the client is bathed. Soaplands began when explicit prostitution in Japan became illegal, as a simple form of bath where women washed men’s bodies. They were originally known as toruko-buro, meaning Turkish bath. Following a campaign by Turkish scholar Nusret Sancakli denouncing the use of this name for brothels, the new name “soapland” was the winning entry in a nationwide contest to rename them.