歌舞伎町 - 完结篇

Now, it’s time for a continuation of the story on Kabuki-cho.

After my companion headed for the subway, I continued to roam around on my own. It didn’t take long before I saw how certain people started viewing me differently, and as a result, I started viewing the surroundings somewhat differently too. It was as if Kabuki-cho had taken off her alluringly seductive mask, only to reveal the dirt and grime that had been said to be there, but had lain undetected until now. If you are male and are strolling along the streets of Kabuki-cho with a girl, you could very well be just “looking around”. But if you are male and are walking alone along the colourful but dark, and lively but gloomy alleys of Kabuki-cho, you are probably there for just one reason.

Sure enough, pimps came up to me speaking various languages and started soliciting like starved wolves yearning for the last piece of meat. Well-trained they are in identifying my “foreignness”. This is my third time in Japan, and I must say that it is very rare for anyone to identify me as non-Japanese visually. I don’t think I look typically Japanese at all; just that if you are in Japan where “everyone” looks East Asian, people don’t really bother to stop and think whether you are non-Japanese. On occasion, I’ve met Singaporean Japanese wannabes (I ‘m ashamed of you guys really, coz I have hardly come across another East Asian who is as lost in the “wannabe” spirit as much as some of you are) who are just so exhilarated when a Japanese mistakes them as Japanese IN JAPAN. To them, it is testimony to their success in imitating the hairstyle, hair colour or dressing of Japanese. They don’t seem to realise that Japanese, with their already low level of exposure to foreigners, simply do not stop to think whether another yellow-skinned person is Japanese or not IN JAPAN. But anyway, I might just continue with my cynicism for these people in another entry. For now, I just want to say that I was impressed that the pimps – be it Chinese or African-American (not that many of them, but they were there anyway) – could pick out the fact that I wasn’t Japanese. I could tell that from the fact that they approached me in either Mandarin or English. Only when I did not respond, did they start using English. The level of “internationalization” here reminded me once again that what I was seeing was obviously not just a reflection of a perverted nation (indeed, fans of Japanese porn often say that Japanese people are perverted in that sense, but I wonder what that makes of people who enjoy watching them) but a perverted world.

As I walked into other alleys, I saw several video stores selling nothing but pornography. The way in which people walked in and out of the stores made them look like they were just visiting any normal store. The way they rummaged through the video covers made them look like they were just browsing through books. (Yes, I entered the stores to explore, but I assure you that I didn’t buy anything!! *anxious look*) I’ve seen similar stuff in Australia too, and I am sure such stores can exist in most places outside of Singapore, but the collections in these stores were just overwhelming! You basically have about 3 storeys for this particular store, with each store specialising in a particular genre. If I remember correctly, one floor specialises in bdsm, while another in elderly porn and something else etc. Other than the regular pornographic stores, there were also video stores for glbts. It’s interesting that the bulk of gay videos feature effeminate pretty boys, instead of macho hunks with bulging biceps. Maybe it stems from a preconceived notion about glbts that was misguided in the first place.

Other than the earthy depravity, one other thing that struck me was the sight of the old men (and some women) sleeping along the pavements and in the open spaces in Kabuki-cho (or perhaps, an area near Kabuki-cho; don’t really know where it all begins and ends). Just one street away, people were dining in restaurants and having expensive beers in bars. But on this particular street, I saw homeless, elderly people sleeping in public. Such difference in the fortunes of these people! Earlier, I also saw the remnants of the “cardboard families” in areas near the Shinjuku station. I am so glad that Singapore, despite it being 100 percent urbanized, does not have such problems as homeless sleeping in public. I was told by some that there are such people, but the government rids them from the streets. I am not sure how true this is. Anyone who has information on this, post it in the comments section, ok? But in the very least, at that very moment, I felt a little sick seeing these people and was glad that it isn’t a common sight in Singapore as it is here. The last time I came to Tokyo, I saw some homeless people in Ueno Park too. However, it wasn’t as bad, partly because it was daytime when I saw them, I’d guess. But seeing these old folks lying on hard concrete around midnight, having no choice but to sleep through the loud music blasting through the speakers and to endure the flashing lights from the mammoth screen – that just made it a little sad to watch.

Other interesting experiences on this visit include the capsule hotel and the beautiful sights of Yokohama. I might have been lucky but the capsule hotel really isn’t as bad as what my colleagues made it sound to be! It might have felt like a mortuary all right, but the bathing facilities (open bath) and the facilities (radio, TV, alarm clock, mattress, pillow, blanket (what is the generic term for these sleeping stuff?) etc) were really beyond reproach for the kind of price that one pays.

As for Yokohama, I visited Minato Mirai and I must say that the buildings were ugly but charming. A paradox, it may seem, but really, I would hardly find those buildings with the weird shapes cut out of them beautiful. But at the same time, they did look futuristic, the effect that the builders had wanted to achieve; and there was a strange, inexpressible charm about them that made me want to look at them a few times more. As for Chinatown (THE place to visit in Yokohama), I didn’t have enough time to look around that much, but once again, I observed that people could tell that I was non-Japanese just by looking at me, and that was interesting. (Japanese wannabes: this time, the Japanese in Chinatown were also plainly dressed like me, so, let your fantasies burn away!) The shops were a little too narrowly built for my liking, but hey, I imagine this to be a more realistic sight of real Chinatowns! The one in Singapore is just too contrived and … well-planned.