Topic: Asia
Tokyo, the land of drunk salary men, used school girl knicker vending machines and giant fire breathing radioactive lizards. For a people so polite and reserved there is definitely some weird stuff going on in there. Walk past a doorman, buy a drink,swipe you rail pass at the gate, and you can be sure the nearest official will bow and say Arigatōgozaimas (Thank You) . In Akihabara (Electric town) I walk down a little lane full of shops selling electronic bits, the shops are at the best a couple of square meters. Ones full of thousands of tiny switches, the next lightbulbs, then weird electronic boxes. the walkway is a meter wide at the best, you can touch the roof. Hundreds of them jammed in like sardines. I stop and look at something, the bloke behind the counter who is about the same age as me, and has probably spent sixteen hours a day in that dim 4 square meters for the last forty years bows. " Arigatōgozaimas". I would have gone mad with the samurai sword about 30 years ago. I need to know more.
I'm off to Shinjuku the heart of Tokyo nightlife. First of all I need to catch a train and it's peek hour. The carriage has 500 people in it but it only fits 300. No problems, at the stops the people near the door file out to let the people behind out. Then they turn around and walk in backwards, more people back up to the door and push back til the sardine thing is happening, Just to make sure a few more back in just before the door shuts, then you can breath out. If you breath out before the door shuts someone will take that space. Shinjuku station is home to three quarters of a million passengers per day. It and the ten other stations in the couple of square KMs see three and a half million people through them every day. If I'm going to figure out what makes these guys tick here is a good place. First stop, piss alley, it's a bar street with 300 bars crammed into a tiny space. Here salary men are going wild. Tiny spaces are normal in japan. Most people live in an apartment way outside the middle of town. If you want to hold a party for your friends, A they won't fit in your house, B your neighbours will hate you for generations. Face is important in Japan. Solution. Party out with your friends in a tiny bar where no one will know you. Even the bar man will forget you as he is going to kick you out after two hours. They all do. Just wander off next door for another 2 hour session. Trains stop at midnight, decision time, stay and get hammered, or fall asleep on the train on the way home.
Feeling unloved, there are clubs where for a bit of financial domination you can be waited on hand and foot. Young girls dressed as Hello Kitty, schoolgirls or your favorite Manga character. Ladies don't feel left out. You too can be pampered by blokes who look like they are straight out of a Japanese boy band. They will sing and pour you expensive drinks until your cash runs out then dump you in the street. Politely of course, this is Japan.
What do you do when you actually have a romantic friend you ask. Obviously the three square meters surround by the folks, and neighbours with paper thin walls ain't gunna cut it. As per usual the crafty Japanese have a solution. The Love hotel. Rent by the hour, or the night. Choose the Tarzan, Spa, Dungon, or Hello Kitty themed room. (She gets around). In Osaka there is even a golf themed room (WTF) Pay at credit card machine at the entrance, no people involved, and you and your favorite, friend, doll or fluffy toy can go wild. Stop at the 7/11 on the way there, because the beers in the mini bar are expensive, and the locals love a bargain. Japan nightlife 101 you know you want to.
Thanks to Tokyo free walking tours, a great way to find out a bit about town if your ever there.
cheers 007
Posted by bondrj
at 12:01 AM EADT
