{"id":1765,"date":"2014-01-25T20:02:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-26T03:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=1765"},"modified":"2014-02-19T23:23:44","modified_gmt":"2014-02-20T06:23:44","slug":"japan-day-4-shinjuku","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=1765","title":{"rendered":"Japan Day 5 – Shinjuku and Kabukich\u014d"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Shinjuku was the next train stop north of where I was staying in Shibuya – and a very different sort of place.\u00a0 First off, there were a LOT more lights and people out to have a good time.<\/p>\n

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It’s amazing how many people were out even on a weeknight.\u00a0 Shinjuku on the west side of the tracks is a lot of large skyscrapers and shops that I didn’t get to visit during my short time.\u00a0 On the east side…well…it’s very different.\u00a0 This area is a complex of streets with all manner of diversion available.\u00a0 And by all manner, think a cross between the drinking centers of a large downtown area meets Vegas meets red-light district.\u00a0 I only spent a few short hours here and barely was able to cover half of it.\u00a0 And by ‘cover’ I mean just walk around.\u00a0 Actually going into half these places would have been all-night adventures in themselves…<\/p>\n

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First you see some classic and themed bars and restaurants – even a standby or two like this Mister Donut and fast food places like McDonald’s\/Burger King.\u00a0 There were so many themed bars that I couldn’t even begin to know where to start.<\/p>\n

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Since it was November, there was already Christmas trimmings available for you to purchase.\u00a0 That certainly felt odd and out of place.<\/p>\n

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But go about 2-3 blocks and you find the area called Kabukicho<\/a>.\u00a0 Like the rest of the area around Shinjuku station – it had been destroyed after the WW II bombing raids.\u00a0 It was slated for the creation of a Kabuki theater in the 50’s.\u00a0 The theater never appeared due to financial problems, but the area exploded in development.\u00a0 This development was led mostly by foreign Chinese investors.\u00a0 Now it is a world famous red-light district complex that houses over three thousand bars, arcades, nightclubs, love hotels, massage parlors, host\/hostess clubs and similar businesses.\u00a0 Because of the near constant activity of all sorts – it’s sometimes called ‘Sleepless Town’.\u00a0 A person could spend weeks investigating all the different venues, drinking establishments, arcades, and…er…shows and still not see it all.<\/p>\n

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First off, there’s some pretty standard stuff: karaoke, bowling, pachinko parlors, and buildings full of more innocent diversions.\u00a0 Many of the buildings here had a whole different experience on each floor.\u00a0 After passing blocks of buildings like this, one wondered exactly how long it would take to just visit each place once!\u00a0 There were hordes of young people and businessmen coming and going constantly – which certainly help\u00a0 it earned its name ‘Sleepless town’.<\/p>\n

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Here was the really strange ‘robot restaurant<\/a>‘ that has become somewhat famous.\u00a0 I wanted to attend since I heard it was pretty crazy (but mostly innocent) fun, but it looked like I was between shows or they weren’t starting till later and there was nobody to talk to when I passed by.\u00a0 Most of the action apparently happens downstairs, but the upstairs alone put the gaudiest Vegas casino to shame.
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While they weren’t doing a show at the time I came by, this video can give you an idea of the madness that is usually inside (disclaimer: not my video or anyone I know).<\/p>\n

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It wasn’t the only place done up in crazy lights.\u00a0 I just blindly wandered past this place too.<\/p>\n

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This is one of the manga-kissa<\/a>‘s that have recently popped up.\u00a0 Manga kissa’s (cafe’s) are usually open 24 hours and they let you rent out a small cubical for as many hours as you’d like.\u00a0 They have different kinds of cubicles depending on what you’re looking for.\u00a0 Some come with a computer and internet access, others with just a TV to watch shows, and some cafe’s come with amenities like a shower.\u00a0 A number of them have huge libraries of manga to read, anime, and movies you can rent and watch.\u00a0\u00a0 From what I could tell, the cubicals were barely 8×8 little rooms.\u00a0 But they were fully enclosed and had doors.\u00a0 You rent the rooms by the hour.<\/p>\n

While they do have plenty of manga and other fans that just come to enjoy some quiet, they have also become something of an alternative place to crash for late partiers that have missed their last train and can’t get into one of the capsule hotels.\u00a0 The hourly rates are so low, they actually can make for extremely cheap lodgings if you don’t mind sleeping in an office chair.\u00a0 I always kept these in mind in case I ever missed my last train (thankfully it never happened).<\/p>\n

Many people think such things as capsule hotels and manga-kissa’s are strange.\u00a0 In fact, most of the things Westerners think of a strange actually make a lot of sense when you understand the context.\u00a0 Living space in Tokyo is hard to come by and every square foot expensive. Not only that, but hotels are often booked up weeks in advance (as I found to be the case.\u00a0 Hostels were booked MONTHS in advance at times).<\/p>\n

Also, Japanese trains shut down at midnight and don’t start back up until 4am.\u00a0 So what happens if you go drinking and miss your last train?\u00a0 You could pay for an expensive cab – which might be impossibly expensive if you live 50 kilometers or more away from the downtown core (very likely!).\u00a0 You are left either with staying up drunk with little to do until 4am and then fight morning crowds to get home\/back to work.\u00a0 Maybe you try to get lucky finding a hundred+ dollar a night hotel but could wander around for hours trying that.\u00a0\u00a0 All you really need is a friend’s couch really.\u00a0 So as an entrepreneur, why not make a couple of small places for people to crash at for a few hours until the trains start?\u00a0 It really isn’t that strange at all.\u00a0 If all you need is a place to crash – a capsule hotel is just a little more formal than a friend’s couch.<\/p>\n

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Speaking of capsule hotels – the capsule hotel of Shinjuku appears to have shuttered – quite literally.\u00a0 This doesn’t surprise me considering it’s surrounded by a very seedy red-light district and was likely used for all kinds of … activities.\u00a0 It was also surrounded by love hotels – but more on that in a little bit…<\/p>\n

As I worked my way north and away from main drag, things thin out a bit and become…seedier.\u00a0 You definitely run into the red-light district aspects as you wander around.\u00a0 Strangely marked nondescript buildings with guys standing around front with cel phones.\u00a0 Some saying ‘Japanese only’ and others advertising girls with pictures outside. The very shady looking guys outside these establishments were constantly asking you if you’re looking for some fun.\u00a0 I’ve been told most of these guys are yakuza<\/a> and judging by the way they dressed, acted, and looked like they’d just assume stick a knife in you as look at you, I tended to agree but never felt in real danger.\u00a0 I shuffled along through this area and then ran into something I knew about, but didn’t know I’d see.\u00a0 Host clubs.<\/p>\n

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More towards the main street of this Shinjuku, you saw lots of hostess and themed bars catering to men.\u00a0 There were lots of pretty ladies advertised outside and many were themed much like maid cafes<\/a> or the robot bar.
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\nThere were tank girls bars, maid cafes, singing bars, etc.\u00a0 If you could imagine a theme – it probably existed.\u00a0 Based on what I was told about by two ex-pats I met, these bars are actually quite fun with friends.\u00a0 The girls are very friendly and hang out, talk, and drink with you – for a price.\u00a0 Often a very HIGH price – so you have to be careful or you might find you accidentally drop hundreds of dollars in just an hour or two.\u00a0 The understanding is this is all this opposite sex company is very platonic, there is no sex\/physicality.\u00a0 As you move away from the main areas, the ‘Platonic-ness’ quickly fades to blatant sexuality.\u00a0 Go even further, and closer to the love hotels, and you run into the flip side.<\/p>\n

Hostess clubs are not just for men. There is an equivalent for women as well.\u00a0 These are called Host clubs<\/a>.
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For a price, many very attractive young men (all looked in their 20’s) will hang out and drink with female patrons.\u00a0 Again, it’s completely platonic – there is no sex or even physicality to it.\u00a0 Again, it’s purely emotional company.\u00a0 Here’s a good video that described the trend. The male equivalents with women (hostess clubs) are almost the same – just with genders reversed. In another video I saw, one of the hosts admitted he earned well over $200,000\/year.<\/p>\n

Past the host clubs, you run into a quieter area…the love hotel district.
\n\"IMG_8704\"<\/a> \"IMG_8705\"<\/a> \"IMG_8707\"<\/a> \"IMG_8709\"<\/a> \"IMG_8711\"<\/a> \"IMG_8712\"<\/a> \"IMG_8714\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Love hotels also seem strange to westerners at first, but again, they fill a need.\u00a0 Japanese apartments are very small and expensive.\u00a0 Young people especially often share apartments and many of them still live at home. In families, parents may share rooms with their kids.\u00a0 In such conditions, it’s very difficult to enjoy intimate time with your significant other.\u00a0 Some crafty business people saw a need and filled it.\u00a0 These fancy hotels can be rented by the hour or by the night.\u00a0 To distinguish themselves, many of them become themed.\u00a0 And, well, you have love hotels as you see them today.<\/p>\n

This was all tremendously fascinating – but I was somewhat sad because I didn’t have a local guide to help me experience any of the bars and crazy stuff of Shinjuku safely.\u00a0 Up until a few years ago, this area was notoriously dangerous.\u00a0 All manner of red-light district scams would take place: most of the drug your drink and you wake up with no wallet and all your cards have been maxed out variety all the way to yakuza street justice. While the area has been apparently cleaned up a lot, it wasn’t a place I’d like to go drinking on my own.\u00a0 But I was heading to an area called Golden Gai anyway.\u00a0 I’d been there the night before to check it out, and was coming back to celebrate the bar’s 4th anniversary – which just happened to be happening while I was in town.<\/p>\n

So, enough of the Vegas-style Shinjuku – and off to Golden Gai.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shinjuku was the next train stop north of where I was staying in Shibuya – and a very different sort of place.\u00a0 First off, there were a LOT more lights and people out to have a good time. It’s amazing how many people were out even on a weeknight.\u00a0 Shinjuku on the west side of the tracks is a lot of large skyscrapers and shops that I didn’t get to visit during my short time.\u00a0 On the east side…well…it’s very…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4WECr-st","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1765"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1934,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765\/revisions\/1934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}