Ongoing History Daily: Dancing in Japan

Once upon a time in Japan, all dancing had to stop once the clock strikes midnight. It was the law, a measure imposed more than 75 years ago to crush prostitution that was apparently running amok in the nation’s dance halls and clubs.

Not only could one not boogie down after midnight, but there were minimum lighting levels mandated for clubs. No dance establishment can have ambient light less than 10 lux, which is about as bright as a movie theatre before the film starts. You don’t want people sneaking off into the shadows, you see.

Things got a little weirder in 2010 when a student was killed in a nightclub brawl in Osaka which had police cracking down a lot more stringently than in the past.

However, when it was announced that Tokyo had been awarded the Olympics in 2020, the midnight ban was finally repealed.