If this is what the ongoing cleaning-up of Shinjuku's notorious red-light district means, then bring it on.
The AV and gravure idols magazine Weekly Playboy is opening a bar in Kabukicho from June 10.
Every night, different gravure models will be serving drinks at Shupure Sakaba (Weekly Playboy Bar) to a few very lucky customers.
This is an exclusive VIP bar with just five seats per session and a limit of only three seatings per night. Needless to say, reservations are a must and there is a hefty cover charge of ¥10,000 for one hour and a four-course meal (drinks and food not in the ...
We all like a no-strings attached kind of arrangement. So where to find Japanese ladies keen on this?
We just spotted this amusing photo report on a visit to a dating telephone club, or terekura, which were once commonly located in city neighborhoods as places where men could go to ring up women for dates.
These days terekura have been more or less replaced by deai cafes and online alternatives, where you can be introduced to ladies willing to do the business with you -- for some compensation, natch.
The blogger went to a terekura in Kabukicho, one which I'm sure many of our ...
Once again we have an alarming announcement from Japan's health ministry that the number of syphilis patients in Japan has gone up.
This has become a regular news item of late, prompting the ministry to launch a special team to investigate ways to combat the spread of sexually transmitted infections and diseases.
Hospital data from across Japan reports that the number of syphilis patients totaled 4,259 in early December, which is an big increase of 77% from 2,412 in the corresponding period in 2015, and more than seven-fold from a decade ago.
It seems that current efforts to ...
Host culture in Japan is so big now that apparently even pre-teens aspire to look like the hirsute Kabukicho drinkers-for-hire.
Ryuchalo is the son of a beauty blogger called Chiimelo (yes, the names are pretty wacky), and apparently he wanted to celebrate his 8th birthday as a host.
In fact, he even celebrated his birthday at a host club in Kabukicho, a notorious red-light district if you discount the recent partial gentrification (or should that be Godzillafication?).
Ryuchalo spent his big day in August at Superstar club, which is owned by Jin, a famous host.
He even got to ...
Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club is a new book by Akiko Takeyama, published by Stanford University Press. It is an ethnographic study of the men and women who produce and consume love in Japan's host clubs, examining not only the "fixed times and formal spaces" like the late-night sessions in the clubs themselves, but also beyond.
Why it is very easy to find media reports and articles about hostesses, male hosts are less famous outside of Japan.
And yet arguably, this is the more interesting phenomenon, since there are bars and clubs where you pay to hang out ...
We know that rich Japanese politicians, businessmen and celebrities have a penchant for hostesses.
But feminism happened, don't you know. It's not just the men having all the fun.
According to the tabloids, there are plenty of prominent female celebrities who are addicted to male hosts, a habit which costs them dearly.
Josei 7 magazine recently published a report claiming that actress Yoko Maki had once spent ¥20 million in a single night at a host club!
The 33-year-old divorcee, known for her stunning breasts, clearly liked the services she was given.
Maki's not ...
Like most places, older politicians in Japan are no strangers to sex scandals: from gay prostitutes to forcing young sportsmen to kiss them or even putting bondage club visits on the expense books.
And it's not just the politicos. The bureaucrats are at it too.
In 1998 seven senior civil servants in the Ministry of Finance were arrested and charged with corruption. They had received favors from figures in the finance world, such as trips to a "no-panties shabu shabu" establishment in Tokyo's Kabukicho.
Japan's anti-prostitution laws -- paying for penetration is officially illegal ...
Ever hired a lady of the night and then changed your mind? Tried to cancel and had trouble with the girl or her handlers?
One man had such a problem in Kabukicho but ended up on top, legally speaking.
Yukie Shimoyachi, a 30-year-old prostitute, was arrested earlier this week for extortion. She had forced a man to pay her a "cancellation fee" of ¥50,000 ($410) in the early hours of September 27th.
The man had been lured by a street tout in Kabukicho (lesson of the day: DON'T trust those guys) with the promise of a lady who could provide full penetrative sex services (technically ...
It seems whenever the western media wants something saucy, they make an article or video about Japanese hostesses.
Vice did a 24-hours-in-the-life-of video of a "high-class hostess" last year.
Now the BBC has jumped in with this interview with a Kabukicho hostess.
As a hostess at a club in Shinjuku Kabuki-cho, Emiri Aizawa, 27, pours drinks, lights cigarettes and listens to men.
"My main job is let them have fun," she says.
"Of course, there have been customers who asked for more, because we are men and women, but I politely say, 'No.' "I don't think you can do this job ...
Directed by Ryuichi Hiroki, Kabukicho Love Hotel (Sayonara Kabukicho) came in 2014, promising to be a dark romance.
Okay, let's get something straight.
As you might expect, star Atsuko Maeda may have left her AKB48 days behind her but unsurprisingly she does NOT strip off in this movie. (Apparently after Maeda was cast the script was radically changed.)
Instead we have to make do with modest nude scenes and sex scenes starring members of the supporting cast.
As the title suggests, the film is set in a love hotel in Tokyo's sex capital, Kabukicho.
Actually, the main (and best) sex scene ...
