Kabukicho: My Life In The Red Light District Of Tokyo
Tokyo's has a red light district called Kabukicho where I decided to stay for 2 months among the Yakuza gangsters and Hostess clubs and see if this area is as dangerous as people make it out to be.
I had a sweet apartment on the top floor of a medium sized apartment building complete with my own mailbox, laundry machine, microwave, toaster oven and chopsticks.
It only took a few minutes to walk to the center of the Kabukicho district which is known in Japan as the 'red-light-district', comparable to the Dutch red-light-district.
beautiful view of kabukicho's entrance by night
Supposedly the crime in this district is the highest in Japan and is a dangerous place to walk around at night. I booked my place through Sakura house who were of great help finding me an ideal location.
Since I still had to work for the company in Toronto I usually had to work from 10pm till 6am thus having lunch around 1am. It was funny walking around town and try a new place every day and test their food.
shinjuku hanazono shrine grand festival
I often got harassed by pimps and Yakuza (Japanese mafia) to come to their clubs.
My favorite places were definitely FamilyMart, Donki Hote, Sushi Mamire, the old district pact with lots of pubs, Lawson, the ramen shops and an Indian Curry place. After a few visits I already became good friends with the owner of the Sushi place which was 24/7 sushi and high class. I must have eaten the weirdest sushi in the world there.
narrow hidden streets in shinjuku
It was often funny and entertaining to see all those girls go to their work in the early evening at host bars and clubs where they would entertain attention hungry men. Most of them did not look pleased walking the streets.
Since Shinjuku is so jam packed it was impossible to see everything within 2 months. I could honestly live there for years and still not get bored.
cheersing with my Dutch friends in Shinjuku
One night I even sneaked my way into the Park Hyatt to locate the bar and pool from the movie Lost in Translation which was quite awesome. Lots of rich folks go to the Park Hyatt.
Also, playing arcade games during my lunch breaks were the best way to spend my time. Definitely one of the most enjoyable times of my life.
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