Posted on 05/29/2007 7:27:21 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
The Street of Sin and Violence, Kabukicho
note: The video is a slow presentation of photos. At times, it gives the mistaken impression that the video has stopped playing.
The first video on the top left shows Yakuza violence, Iranian drug-pusher, tussle between a a Yakuza man and a black. Towards the end, you see a group of men gathering and kneeling in front of other guys. They are so-called "hosts", male version of bar maids, groveling under their senior or Yakuza men.
The one on the bottom right shows sex and run-away girls in Kabukicho.
Ping!
Kind of like Times Square in the late 1970s!
It would seem that the only commodity in Toyko that is cheaper than human life is human dignity.
If you go looking for trouble in Kabukicho, you can find it. If you don’t, it won’t come looking for you.
However, what is shown is in fact real, does exist (the photos are not faked, the people are not actors), and represents some of the more increasingly dysfunctional aspects of Japanese society that have come into fruition over the last 25 years...often mimicking the morass, socially, of such places as Harlem or Tijuana, in our own Western Culture.
Actually, Kabukicho is a very small part of Tokyo located in Shinjuku.
From my experience, I would say that these pictures are cherry-picked --- give me enough time, and I could create such montages for similar areas in most big cities in the U.S.
My own opinion is that the pictures are not particularly representative of what you see most of the time in Kabukicho and its environs.
Kabukicho is a pretty nasty area of town, there’s no mistaking that part, but even there, its a lot safer than any major American city I know of.
Yes, if you are looking for drugs or cheap sex, you can find it there. But there’s also a lot of straight up bars and restaurants in the district as well.
I was just there two days ago visiting a really nice classic rock bar. No worries, no hassles, just good music.
The distinction is not lost on me. I was careful to specify 'Tokyo'.
Japan is a land of enchantment in my book and I very much long to visit there one day. I may not even go to Honshū...but concentrate on the many places and peoples to be found on Hokkaidō, Shikoku and Kyūshū.
I agree that it is safer than slums of major U.S. cities.
“Actually, Kabukicho is a very small part of Tokyo located in Shinjuku.”
Shinjuku, as in Demon City Shinjuku? O.O
Why is the text in Korean?
Because it was published in a S. Korean newspaper. Incidentally, one segment also feature Korean stores in Kabukicho, too.
Kabukicho is not a new part of Japanese society. Hostess clubs and their precursers have been around as long as Japan has.
Basically places like that are a way of letting individuals indulge their perversions in a “safe” way without letting intrude on their public and home life.
Americans may not like it, but it has worked for the Japanese for over a thousand years.
Another thing, Japanese red light districts are remarkably safe. I only know of one of my friends getting jumped and that was because he was hitting on a yakuza’s girlfriend. It was pretty funny in hindsight, after roughing him up a little bit(just a few bruises no injuries, it was funny how careful they were not to actually injure him) one of the lower ranking yak’s bowed to my friend and gave him back his wallet and then they left.
Shinjuku is the part of town where the salarymen go to get royally wasted, staggering from one karaoke bar to the next with arms linked, pissing on parked cars as they go. The place looks rowdy, but it's actually safe enough that mothers with small children routinely mingle with the crowds. What you have to keep in mind that Koreans and Japanese never got along. Korean media will go out of their way to make Japan look like a nest of iniquity. It's somewhat like our media depictions of Mexico.
Actually, S. Korea has that sort of places, too. Many smaller ones. The difference is that mob is not better organized yet, sex industry is not in the open.:-)
I think the photos reflect a lot more than “hostess clubs”, in fact I saw little of such clubs in the photos. Mostly of violence in the street, filthiness, and delinquency.
You might be right there. The breakdown in Japanese society is causing a lot of what was previously private to spill out in public.
But all the pictures are derive from that industry.
Crime doesn’t exist in Japan because it is nationally shameful TO REPORT IT IN THE FIRST PLACE.
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