At the beginning of the 20th century Malay Street; together with contiguous Hylam and Bencoolen Streets; was notorious for its Japanese karayuki-san brothels. The area was known to its Japanese residents as Suteretsu or 'street'. The Japanese prostitution industry began to wind down after World War I under pressure from the Japanese authorities. The area comprised many dilapidated two storey shop houses; the last of which were demolished in the early 1980s. Today the old street is incorporated within Bugis Junction; a pedestrian shopping mall made up of three streets - Malabar Street; Malay Street and Hylam Street. The streets are the first in Singapore to be air-conditioned and are thus commonly refered to as 'indoor streets'.