Shinjuku Gyoen Photos

My Turf: The Movie

Minasan Genki? Hisashiburi desu. Kyou no burogu wa hajimete no bideo burogu de gozaru. Yoroshiku.

This is my first video blog. It's a collection of videos from around my area and also every video that you see is a stop on my cycle tour. A lot of these bring back memories of when I lived in Harajuku and Shibuya as well as the time I spent working in the skyscrapers of Shinjuku. Yes, I used to have REAL jobs at places like Microsoft, Cisco Systems and Opera Software. I am at that critical juncture of my life where I am trying to make a decision whether or not to continue working in the hi-tech arena or focus on my blogging, GPS map making and tours. The company life was cool and I worked with some great people and I got to travel the world on business trips to places around Europe, the Middle East, and just about everywhere in Southeast Asia. Anyway, Please give me some feedback so that I can make a decision.


These guys are the absolute greatest. You have to see them in person because the video, although good is nothing compared to real life. I used to live just down the street and I spent every Sunday in the park with my friends and I never got tired of seeing these guys.



I did a quick calculation and I realized that I've done the 'Shibuya Shuffle' 1000+ times. Maraih Carey did a real stupid thing one day and pulled into the center of the intersection in her limo and got out and started dancing. Well that caused some serious delays and I couldn't even cross and the traffic was halted.



I now live just down the street from here and I do the hanami party every year. It is so crowded during cherry blossom season that every single patch of grass is covered with people. Sometimes you have to walk around for an hour just to find a tiny plot just to sit cross-legged and eat your bento.


This is taken from a famous overpass in Nishi-shinjuku that appears in just about every television drama on TV. I used to work in the big black skyscraper on the left and I can see my old office window . I remember my first day in Japan and I was totally overwhelmed with Nishi-Shinjuku after all I came from Windsor, Ontario Canada and all we had was the Detroit skyline with a river separating us. Thank God for that river.


This is normal in 'the Park' . Now you can see why I liked to hang out here every weekend. The entertainment factor was great so you never got bored.


This is where I spend a lot of my time these days because I like to blog about it and it's fun not to mention I live five minutes away. My favorite time is dawn when the hostesses and hosts exit the clubs staggering down the streets and the yakuza pimps are getting an early start on the day. I sit in my regular window seat on the second floor of McDonalds with my camera and laptop and blog and shoot photos.

Well that's about it for now. I make it a point to keep the blog alive and updated so you may want to get an RSS feed going.

Yoroshiku...

The Shinjuku Ghost

Kabuki-cho: Weirding up the Planet

Hi Folks it's been a bit but I got some more photos. Although it's weird, tonight was an especially weird night in Kabuki-cho.  Part of an escort's job in addition to promoting their club is recruitment.  Check out the photo above.  Aren't those high school uniforms?  When I walked by they were negotiating prices.

Here are some along with a good shot of one of their targets (hostess).

This guy actually waived me down when he saw my camera.  These egoistic parasite love nothing more than attention.

These guys were actually kinda cool and they even posed for me.  They were kicking a can around and when I was walking by and it hit me but they apologized.  Even escorts get bored.

Things that make you go HMMMMM...

It was a busy night tonight even though everyone goes back to work tomorrow after Golden Week.

This guy never moved.  He just stood there motionless the whole time.

Kabuki-cho normal

Nice Hi-Res shot of the main strip.

Grandpa must be really impressed with our youth today.

Nice 'manscaping' dude.  Check out the eyebrows.

Your mother would love this girl.

 Not from tonight but I'll add it anyway.

As you can see the weirdness in Kabuki-cho never ens but it has to be one of my favorite places to hang out.

Yoroshiku

Fabulous! Shinjuku Ni-chome (the gay capital of Nippon)

[cue: Judy Garland's "The Trolley Song"]

Whether you are a bear, otter, cub, straight or whatever for that matter get your manscaping on and get down to Shinjuku's Ni-chome for a truly cool time.  Friday and Saturday nights are like one huge block party and you don't have to feel intimidated if you are straight cuz the natives are really cool and encourage 'mixing'.   Shinjuku Ni-chome is located about a 10 minute walk from Shinjuku station's east exit.  It's the gay center of Japan but you'll be surprised of the 'smallness' of everything.  The whole are encompasses less than 300 sq. meters but packed into those 300 square meters is 300+ bars.  Don't expect to be looking for any big nightclubs or discos either.  The maximum capacity is no more than a couple dozen people at the larger establishments.  Although the 'leather' scene is worldwide this are is very organized into 'sen' or themed bars focusing on a specific niche.

These two were really cool to let me snap their photo before they headed into a grand opening of a new bar.  My camera battery ran out so I had to use my mobile phone camera.

They tore down the famous park that was located in the center which is sad cuz it was a symbol of the area and there were a lot of interesting people there.  I wish I had a photo of it but I used to avoid it because being the good looking guy that I am...not to mention the explaining that I have to do if my wife saw me around there.  After all, her shop is located right around the corner and she delivers her arrangements to many of the bars and I never thought that I'd be blogging about it.
There are also a number of specialty shops as well.

 One of the many specialty shops in the area.

This shop owner is a regular customer at my wife's shop.  He is very cool to my little girls as well.  I peeked in and he saw my camera and I got a pose.

There are bars that cater to the women but they tend to keep a low profile and men are usually NOT allowed into those establishments. There is also an annual 'rainbow parade' and an O-mikoshi (carrying of the portable shrine) festival for Ni-chome.  I always take part in the O-mikoshi festival.  I'll post another blog on this later because it's happens next month.

And now for something completely different...

He insisted I take his photo when he saw my camera.  

Love Ya Darlings!

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