Having left the porn/manga store in Akihabara, I noticed that it was rapidly approaching 5.00. My friend and I made our way to the neon playground of Japan - Shinjuku. Shinjuku is probably my favourite place in Tokyo; the streets are crowded, the shops open late and there are innumerable small little ramen shops, izakayas and toriniku stands crammed in between giant department stores and electronics shops. One area that captures the feel of Shinjuku is its seedy district – Kabuki-cho. There is no real physical boundary between Kabuki-cho and Shinjuku, and it is very easy to stray from one to the other without realizing it, but as soon as you enter into Kabuki-cho the keen observer can immediately tell the difference. Kabuki-cho is famous for long being a Yakuza hangout, and walking down the street there are still many men hanging around with visible tattoos and missing fingers. Nowadays, though it seems more of a place for 'Yankees', by which I don't mean fat American tourists, but young Japanese people with dyed hair and pierced ears, basically, the stereotypical rebellious kid. At first glance, Kabukicho seems to be just like any other district of Tokyo, albeit with a slightly more intimidating crowd, but as you get further into Kabuki-cho, you arrive at the sex shops. Yes, Kabukicho is Tokyo's red light district, and although prostitution is illegal in Japan, the Japanese get around the law by employing various euphemisms and sophistries that keeps the practice of the world’s oldest profession alive and well - compensated dating, remaining the most popular. There are also a variety of other, more legal, institutions related to the sex industry, if you are interested in possible catching hepatitis, you may want to try one of the following:
Oppai-pabu (Titty pub) - topless bars
Soaplands - 'massage parlours' in the very loose sense of the word (i.e. men go there to get 'soaped-up')
Hostess bars - bars where the waitresses are very attentive
Love hotels - hotels where the rooms are rented by the hour
There's also your usual selection of pimps, prostitutes, touts, johns, gangsters and the very occasional policeman, who seem to mostly be there to remind people not to smoke on the street. Unfortunately dear reader, I didn't go to any of these establishments and spent the remainder of the evening with my friend in a ￥270 izakaya (that is an izakaya where everything costs ￥270. An opportunity missed? Perhaps, but I'm just thankful not to come away with VD. After meeting up with another friend, our small party left Kabuki-cho behind and headed to the station. Soon, my new friend and I left for Shibuya, another entertainment district, not as expensive as Roppongi, nor as seedy as Shinjuku, Shibuya attracts a lot of foreign visitors. About 1 in 5 people seemed to be non-Japanese, and if that seems somewhat underwhelming to you, bear in mind I can count the number of white people in my hometown (pop. 60,000) on one hand! My friend and I headed to a little Ramen place, where I ordered too much...again. One day, Japan, I will master your Ramen portion sizes. After she left I headed to, of all things, a British pub. As much as I love it here in Japan, I do miss being able to order a pint of ale in a dingy little drinkery where a ban on smoking means all sorts of horrible smells assault your nostrils. So there I was, sitting in a faux English pub, being served by an Australian, with Lancashire hotpot on the menu and listening to the Smiths while some American guy to my left tried to impress a girl by explaining the difference in marital expectations between the West and Japan. It reminded me why I left England in the first place, there was something altogether...depressing about the place. It wasn't like the British pubs we have in Nagoya, which are just full of girls looking for foreigners to sleep with; no this was much more of an authentic British experience.
Having cured myself of my shameful nostalgia, I decided to expose myself to another Japanese institution - the manga kissa, or manga cafe. Whilst there does exist manga kissas which are basically cafes for reading manga, these ones are specially designed for insomniacs and those too drunk to care where they sleep. You pay around ￥1500 for a small room about the size of a disabled toilet which has a computer and a reclining chair. You can either get some sleep in the hot and slightly noisy environment, or stick the headphones on and every episode of the Colbert Report that came out this month. I did both. There are free soft drinks, free manga library, and even a shower for the morning, but to be honest, it's more of an experience for the cheapskate, the adventurous or the sort of person that always wanted to look over the tops of toilet cubicles and see Japanese men asleep in their underpants.
Oppai-pabu (Titty pub) - topless bars
Soaplands - 'massage parlours' in the very loose sense of the word (i.e. men go there to get 'soaped-up')
Hostess bars - bars where the waitresses are very attentive
Love hotels - hotels where the rooms are rented by the hour
There's also your usual selection of pimps, prostitutes, touts, johns, gangsters and the very occasional policeman, who seem to mostly be there to remind people not to smoke on the street. Unfortunately dear reader, I didn't go to any of these establishments and spent the remainder of the evening with my friend in a ￥270 izakaya (that is an izakaya where everything costs ￥270. An opportunity missed? Perhaps, but I'm just thankful not to come away with VD. After meeting up with another friend, our small party left Kabuki-cho behind and headed to the station. Soon, my new friend and I left for Shibuya, another entertainment district, not as expensive as Roppongi, nor as seedy as Shinjuku, Shibuya attracts a lot of foreign visitors. About 1 in 5 people seemed to be non-Japanese, and if that seems somewhat underwhelming to you, bear in mind I can count the number of white people in my hometown (pop. 60,000) on one hand! My friend and I headed to a little Ramen place, where I ordered too much...again. One day, Japan, I will master your Ramen portion sizes. After she left I headed to, of all things, a British pub. As much as I love it here in Japan, I do miss being able to order a pint of ale in a dingy little drinkery where a ban on smoking means all sorts of horrible smells assault your nostrils. So there I was, sitting in a faux English pub, being served by an Australian, with Lancashire hotpot on the menu and listening to the Smiths while some American guy to my left tried to impress a girl by explaining the difference in marital expectations between the West and Japan. It reminded me why I left England in the first place, there was something altogether...depressing about the place. It wasn't like the British pubs we have in Nagoya, which are just full of girls looking for foreigners to sleep with; no this was much more of an authentic British experience.
Having cured myself of my shameful nostalgia, I decided to expose myself to another Japanese institution - the manga kissa, or manga cafe. Whilst there does exist manga kissas which are basically cafes for reading manga, these ones are specially designed for insomniacs and those too drunk to care where they sleep. You pay around ￥1500 for a small room about the size of a disabled toilet which has a computer and a reclining chair. You can either get some sleep in the hot and slightly noisy environment, or stick the headphones on and every episode of the Colbert Report that came out this month. I did both. There are free soft drinks, free manga library, and even a shower for the morning, but to be honest, it's more of an experience for the cheapskate, the adventurous or the sort of person that always wanted to look over the tops of toilet cubicles and see Japanese men asleep in their underpants.
