Golden Gai

Golden Gai is the famous bar area in Tokyo located right next to Kabuki-cho, Shinjuku.  It is made up of shanty style bars that are very small.  The area mostly caters to the artist community (actors, musicians, writers...) but anyone is welcome at most places.  There are private clubs where you must be introduced.  These are usually small unmarked doors.  I know these places because I have seen on numerous occasions famous people going in or coming out of these doors.  Foreigners don't have a good reputation in Golden Gai and many places outright forbid foreigners.  Some places levy a special gaijin (foreigner) charge.  One place that I know will not allow foreigners that cannot speak Japanese fluently and even then they treated me rudely.  That place is in the photo to the left.  Be sure to read the sign.

Kabukicho Real-Time Blogging

The following is an experiment that I did. I decided to head down to one of my favorite place to hang out. It is the 24 hour Mcdonalds in Kabukicho. I usually head there in the mornings since I am an early riser and my wife complains that I disturb her sleep.

5:00 am: I am an early riser. My wife and two kids usually sleep until 8:00 am

5:30 am: I get changed and get ready to head out. She has been complaining lately that I get up too early and that I disturb her sleep patterns. I decided to grab my laptop this time since I knew that the entertainment factor was better than anything on TV.

5:40 am: I am walking down the street on my way to my favorite morning place in Kabukicho. I always sit on the second floor looking out onto the street. To my left is the original Kabuki theatre that the area gets it's namesake from.

5:45 am: Less than a minute from my destination I run into a a group of about 20 police officers (three patrol cars) attending to a drunk that collapsed and hit his head. He was incapacitated and bleeding profusely. It looks like he was in some kind of altercation because his face was pretty messed up. All but two of the officers were just standing around doing nothing while the two that were were loading the man into a dirty old oil-stained plastic tarp and that they got out of the trunk of a cruiser and were dragging him down the road toward on of the cruisers.

5:47 am: In less than 100m I am asked by four different sleazy yakuza types if I wanted a woman.

5:50 am: Finally, I am sitting down in my spot and looking out into the street from my usual second floor seat in McDonalds. I allow myself only one coffee per day (in the morning). The scene on the street was the usual mix of drunk bar hostesses staggering around still in 'vampire' mode as well as bar hosts in cheap black suits, pointy fake leather boots, make up and blonde/orange died hair. The homeless were out as well screaming at everyone and talking loudly to themselves.

5:52 am: I look around and the floor I am on is quiet as usual due to no smoking. The third floor where the bathroom is located is a smoking floor and it's like a roadhouse littered with low-life male escorts and bar hostesses as well as people sleeping. I walked into the bathroom (the only one) but after seeing the most unhealthy bloody, green goo fecal matter in the unflushed toilet I quickly exited.

5:55 am: I got back to my seat just in time to catch the first of the action. There were two guys yelling and screaming at each other on the street. One guy pushed the other guy to the ground and proceeded to bash him with a bicycle that was parked nearby. This continued on and off until the J-cops arrived nearly ten minutes later.

6:05 am The J-cops arrived (about 20 of them). They broke up the fight . The guy who was on the ground (we will refer to him from now on as the 'bashee') was still conscious but covered in blood. Two J-cops were talking to the guy bleeding all over the place. Nothing to stop the bleeding was provided. There were two others talking to the 'basher' who was actually physically pushing around the J-cops. The other 16 or so J-cops just stood around doing nothing.

6:20 am The 16 J-cops that were just standing around left and the bashee was being escorted away (presumably to the nearest police box) cupping his hands under his nose to catch the dripping blood. The basher was continuing to resist arrest (physically). My attention gets drawn to the undercover cop who is questioning the young girls sitting next to me. There is a huge problem in Japan where underage girls from the rural areas just leave home and go to the large urban centers and live on the streets for a little while.

6:40 am: It's been relatively quiet. The basher is still pushing around the J-cops (this is getting old). There's been a guy standing on the corner absolutely motionless since I got here. Some retarded women stopped to feed the crows that were already tearing up the garbage and making a huge mess of everything. A gang of skinny 'tough' guys wearing identical embroidered dragon jackets intimidated a group of escorts. I was then startled by the manager banging the tables where everyone was trying to get some sleep and screaming at them to wake up. As usual everyone just ignored him.

6:45 am: I 've decided to head back (through the puke laden) streets to get the girls ready for school. If I get good feedback then I'll do this again soon. BTW the basher and the bashee passed me on the way out. They were cuddling and holding hands. Looks like they knew each other...

If I get good feedback I'll do this again.

Yoroshiku