SLOPPY SECONDS OVER TOKYO | Enter Kabuki Cho Part 1
By Jean Marc Roc
Japanese society is a pressure cooker, so when the residents need to let off steam, they do it in a major way. And on any given evening or after a period of jishuku (self-restraint usually when the Emperor’s is ill), the bars of these glitzy alleyways were filled with middle-aged Japanese males and females doing things which would paralyze many gaijin males in a rictus of guilt. The thing which sets Kabuki-cho and the other Japanese pleasure centres apart from what are called “combat zones” in American cities is the lack of puritan shame. While U.S. legislators seek to regulate fantasy by eliminating sexual dreams from the media, they do little or nothing to strengthen· rape laws or protect victims from the burgeoning legion of serial murderers.
But the Japanese find success in staunch adherence to the social structure, compensating with an outrageous fantasy life. The fantasies emerge full-blown on television, on video, in theatres, and manga (Japanese comics). You can find, on a fairly regular basis, comic book tales of robot rapists, sadistic schoolboys, and other assailants of various sexes, who force sweet things to have their unearthly offspring. All these artistic visions heap abuse on the cutest of uniformed schoolgirls and are enjoyed by the schoolgirls themselves as well. Ironically some of the biggest fans of this genre are Japanese women.
Perhaps stimulated by all these creative variations on the old in and out, on the streets of Tokyo, real-life schoolgirls, are discovering the unapparent joys of edgy sex compensated or not. They are attracted by the bright lights which promise kicks of every kind. And not just the sort of stuff Kabuki-cho is best known for.
On the polite streets of Kabuki Cho
Every weekend, hundreds of 18 something Japanese teens wander its streets, moving in huge packs, looking for a little carnal wish fulfillment. Thousands of teenagers are finding thrills above and beyond the sins of the flesh. The district’s most (in)famous youths, however, still ply their trade on the other side of the wall. Not as much because they really need the money, but as a way to fulfill their need for fast cash to buy luxuries and satiate their own sexual fantasies and curiosities. They are the players in the theatres (sleaze and tease; the peep~shows, cabarets; and massage parlours.
Take a peep
One typical peep show in the district charges an entry fee of ¥2,000 and offers a ¥500 discount for students. Their 20-minute shows involve more than just peeping. Customers enter a tiny, darkened, private cubicle and, through a two-way mirror, watch a well endowed Japanese girl engaged in “erotic” dancing – which starts with the girl reading a fashion magazine, then makes its way through fondling, stroking herself sensually, and, for the exciting finale, feigning masturbation to the tune of “My Way.”
Meanwhile, during the show, two other girls make the rounds to each cubicle and provide (optional) sensual massage to a predictable conclusion. A sign on the wall informs customers of this service “from one of our beautiful girls” at the mere push of a button Price: ¥3,000. You may touch the girls while the service is being performed. The real Japanese paradox is how come, men, brought up in a society where family members bathe together and nudity is supposedly “ignored” out of politeness, display such an intense curiosity over the naked female body? And specifically, over female genitalia? The vernacular magazines are no help since the government censors still aren’t willing to give those who want to get the explicit photographic evidence they crave. Another alternative: pay for the privilege of viewing female exhibitionists at the neighborhood strip show, where the graceful art of disrobing as developed by Sally Rand and Gypsy Rose Lee has given way to something that more closely resembles a visit to the gynecologist
Life in the Cabaret
Many Kabuki-cho visitors find the native-run cabarets unsatisfying. The establishments which cater to Japanese concentrate on getting the patron drunk, rather than satiated. In these places, depending on the mood of the management and staff, you may leave satiated, but you will also pay pay pay.
Over-charging is systematic and widespread. The Japanese have a saying seemingly created specifically for these places: “Shiri no ke made nukereta”. “They even took me for the hairs on my rear.” Filling the gap are newer hostess bars, which feature a one-price system – said to be an Osaka innovation – with the price of entry pegged at from ¥l0,000 to ¥12,000 per head; but that is all that you pay for the rest of evening, with no time limit. Since the charge is fixed, drinks are not hustled; like coffee shops in the daytime, the bar merely determines what it hopes to obtain from the lease of a chair for the evening. So you are welcome to stay until closing time, eat, drink, sing and make merry to your heart’s content without concern over being monetarily shafted.
Conversation and karaoke are merely the preliminaries; it is hoped that patrons will succumb to the urges of the flesh. For that purpose, the places are well stocked with hostesses. They are available in many shapes, sizes and hues, but come in only two categories: short-timers or all-nighters. They can be taken to one of the many love hotels a few minutes walk or even back to your Roppongi apartment all night.
Depending on the establishment and availability, you can take your choice of Thai, Filipina, Chinese, Malaysian, Taiwanese, or Korean women. (The happy Japanese hooker is becoming as rare as a good metaphor in this wealthy day and age. Although some ladies appeared to be pushing 30 and had clearly seen better days before coming to try their luck in Japan, others were still in their late teens. The going rate: ¥30,000 for two hours, ¥40,000 for all night.
Rub Out
On a street nicknamed Ebi-dori (Prawn Street) near Seibu Shinjuku station, a cluster of nearly a half-dozen “fashion health” massage parlours displays the masseuse of your dreams through two-way mirrors. The 30-minute service usually includes a shower au pair, with the girl disrobing along with the customer, although she remains at least partially clad. The male client is then led to a massage table where he is treated to an all-over massage, not always limited to the hands of the masseuse. Prices for this service in the better Kabuki-cho establishments run around ¥10,000.
Getting more than you bargained for
At a “health” emporium, however, it is agreed upon as a matter of course that intercourse is strictly verboten, but at certain times of the month, women are more randy than usual and on more than one occasion I have had a woman, turned on by all that constant sensuality suggest and offer to consummate the friendship. Hint: Be polite, smell good, (being fairly good-looking helps) and overemphasize the pleasure you feel when she attends to you. Moan and groan and arch your back to give her a lot of positive feedback. You will be surprised how it can turn a so-called “bored and jaded ” sex worker on. Deep down inside many women working in this business do so with an appreciation of the human arousal that sex really is. The money is an added plus.
Exchange Rate
Earnings from such ministrations tend to be generous. One ad seeking volunteers for an Ikebukuro fashion health establishment states, “Boredom and Poverty are Our Enemies!” Young women, who used to be known somewhat cynically in the trade as shasei (ejaculation) girls, are enticed to work at these establishments by the offer of minimum per diem earnings of ¥50,000, disbursed in cash upon leaving the premises each day. Some recruiters offer an immediate recruitment bonus of ¥l00,000($1,125.00) when signing up. Twenty-five is the age ceiling for such work.
But times have changed, and the old flair which used to characterize these businesses is gone. Some of the more renowned kinks of past decades that come to mind include one Shibuya establishment with a “Baby Room” where male customers went to be mothered. Customers were decked out in a diaper and put in a crib, where they were able to nurse off a bottle. In another now-defunct establishment named “Uranai” (divination), the male customer was invited to lie inside a coffin with his face exposed, while a girl fondled him through a small hinged window further down.
But as the nation gets richer, the businessman’s sexual imagination gets plainer. His kinks are straight nowadays; even so, sexual fantasy is so well designed and presented in Kabuki-cho that many enthusiasts are more than satisfied by the titillation alone
In fact, actual sex might seem crass after such elaborate foreplay. Contrary to critics who decry Kabuki-cho’s sexual exploitation, the area is more accurately described as a place for sensual stimulation. Especially in this age of disease and danger, Kabuki-cho’s amusement park air remains powerful and potent.Index 1 2
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