Until today, it was illegal for Japanese dance clubs to stay open after midnight. For real.
In 1948, Japan passed a law called fuzoku eigyo torishimari ho, the "Entertainment Businesses Control Law," or fueiho for short. The law was introduced to regulate prostitution, outlawing dance clubs and other so-called Adult Entertainment Venues — where sex workers were thought to operate — from staying open between midnight and sunrise. It's been called the "no dancing" law.
For a long time, it wasn't enforced. But in 2010, responding to noise complaints, Japanese police began the crackdown on fueiho. Owners of well-known nightclubs like Masatoshi Kanemitsu of the Osaka nightclub Noon was arrested and prosecuted for serving food and alcohol and allowing patrons to dance past curfew. A petition against the ban called "Let's Dance" circulated widely.
Last June, The Japan Times reports, Japanese lawmakers revised the policy recognizing it was foolish to treat dance halls like sex parlours. Under the new laws, venues could apply for permits to operate as Nighttime Entertainment Restaurant Operations, which entitles the establishments to offer entertainment, like dancing, as well as food and alcohol until 5 a.m so long as the facility is equipped with lighting brighter than 10 lux (roughly the brightness of a movie theatre before the movies start).
Dance clubs that can't comply with the lighting regulation may still stay operate until 5 a.m. on the condition that alcohol isn't served. Some strange kinks, but it's a start.
The revisions come into affect Thursday, June 23.
Japan has finally lifted its 68-year-old “no dancing” law by chris hampton | Chart Attack.
