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By shota
Sandwiched between the multicultural neighborhood of Okubo, and the high-end boutiques along Yasukuni Avenue, Kabuki-cho is arguably an entertainment hub that defines Tokyo nightlife. Known as the biggest red-light district in all of Japan, the district has a reputation for being a place for adult entertainment and crime. Love hotels, host clubs, bars, and Izakaya restaurants line the streets within the Kabuki-cho neighborhood, making Kabuki-cho a very lively city at night. Despite its reputation for nightlife entertainment, its negative reputation for hosting illicit businesses and gangster activity has stuck. In a city where it is otherwise considered safe, Kabuki-cho stands out as one of the very few neighborhoods in Tokyo where it is deemed ‘dangerous.’
Within the pages of this site, we seek to re-visit our understanding of Kabuki-cho as a dangerous place and look deeper into the way of life in Kabuki-cho. Through our observations of cultural behavior, artifacts, and speech, the subpages provide a rich account of the social environment.
Snowy Kabuki-cho, January 2022
(Photo taken by Shota)
Authorities calling for cooperation in “stay at home requests” Kyodo Press, 2020
Golden-gai, 2022
(Photo taken by Shota)
This notion of Kabuki-cho being a notorious neighborhood is often disseminated by media coverage of crimes committed in the neighborhood, and the voice of local authorities. One example of this was in 2020 when the neighborhood was targetted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) for being a hotbed of new coronavirus infections (Osaki, 2020). In the wake of the pandemic, Governor Koike Yuriko called for social restraint (jishuku) and requested establishments serving alcohol to shorten business hours. (jittan-eigyo) The staff of the TMG and doctors of the Tokyo Medical Association were seen parading along Kabuki-cho Ichibangai Avenue, holding signs that read “stay home” and “No 3Cs”.
Given the public performance and requests to shorten business hours for restaurants, it is apparent that the local authorities clearly had in mind who is responsible for spreading the virus; hostesses, kyabajo, hosts, bar owners, and their customers. Those whose livelihoods depended on the settai (business entertainment) industry. The portrayal of Kabuki-cho in this negative light by authorities at the start of the pandemic arguably raised the notoriety of the neighborhood to a new high.
However, it is important to note that prejudices against mizushobai laborers are nothing new. Examining historical records reveal a history of stigmatization of pleasure quarters in Japan. The Yoshiwara Yukaku pleasure quarters of Edo, for example, was physically segregated to the outskirts of the city, as the industry was considered as being unclean and of low moral (Giammaria, 2020). This notion of isolating the adult entertainment neighborhoods, although not done physically like in the Edo Period, still lingers in the form of media representation and the government's targeted response to the coronavirus pandemic. Although the representations are not complete untruths, they often may be biased generalizations of the neighborhood.
Terminologies
Mizushobai (水商売)
Euphemism for nighttime entertainment business
Settai (接待)
Corporate Entertainment
By examining the many facets of Kabuki-cho through our fieldwork, we hope to convey a Kabuki-cho that is far more complex and interesting than what our preconceived notions alone can provide.