Gaijin shitamachi: Kinshicho a low-cost alternative to Kabukicho

The warmth of spring may have finally arrived but the chill of the wave of recession is still readily apparent throughout the metropolis. Yet Takarajima (May) finds the entertainment area of Kinshicho, located three train stops away from Akihabara on the Chuo Line in Tokyo’s Sumida Ward, to be surprisingly indifferent to these economic difficulties.

A visit one evening in March starts with a stroll down a street called Derby-dori, situated behind the Marui department store and outside the South Exit of the station building. After just a few meters, street touts in black suits quickly approach.

“How about for 4,000 yen? For three, it will be 10,000 yen.”

The club is named Eden of the World’s Beauties.

“It’s a Filipino pub. Lots of young girls are there. Russians, Romanians, Slovaks and Ukrainians, too. Hey shacho, are you interested? Wanna hang out with some young girls from South America?” Read more

Odious maid cafes put the squeeze on unwary Osaka otaku

One of the least pleasant words in the Japanese language is bottakuri, which means a ripoff. When the word bottakuri precedes such words as bar, kyabakura, casino club, massage parlor, etc., it indicates places where unwary patrons get taken for a ride.

And now, reports Shukan Jitsuwa (Dec. 31), the maid café can be added to the list of such disreputable establishments in, of all places, Nipponbashi — Osaka’s equivalent of Tokyo’s famous Akihabara Electric Town.

Nipponbashi is no longer the friendly, innocent place it once was — if it ever was.

“Like Tokyo’s Akihabara, this place is a Mecca for otaku (geeks) from Kansai and beyond,” the operator of a maid café tells the weekly from within the electronics wholesale district.

Along a street nicknamed “Ota-dori” (geek street) interspersed with computer shops, girls in maid costumes stand out on the sidewalks soliciting customers. These places had best be avoided. Read more

Dolls or dildos no assurance of safe sex

“But she was so nice!” It’s an oft-heard moan that inevitably follows a speaker’s being informed he tested positive for an STD.

For this reason, much has been made of masturbation as a healthy substitute. Assuming your own hands are clean, there’s very little likelihood of coming down with the clap. And you can’t beat the price.

Wanking has caught on in a big way, observes Nikkan Gendai (Aug. 7). Across the street from JR Akihabara station the 10-story Otona no Omocha (adult toy) Building brims with autoerotic gadgets, attracting throngs of customers of numerous nationalities and both sexes. Read more

Shunned customer stabs Akihabara ‘ear cleaning’ employee

A stabbing incident on Monday has left a female employee at an “ear cleaning” salon in serious condition and her grandmother dead, reports entertainment Web site Zakzak (Aug. 4) and the Asahi Shimbun (Aug. 5).

Seventy-eight-year-old Yoshie Suzuki was killed and her 21-year-old granddaughter, Miho Ejiri, a worker at Yamamoto Mimi Kaki Ten in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, was rendered unconscious following an attack by 41-year-old company employee Koji Hayashi at the family’s private residence in the Nishi Shimbashi area of Tokyo’s Minato Ward.

The suspect was a regular customer at Ejiri’s shop, where ladies attend to the ears of customers as they lie in their lap. He spent roughly 300,000 yen each month. From April, however, he was banned from the premises after pressing for friendship with Ejiri. Police quoted him as saying that she had refused to see him again last month.

Zakzak notes that these types of shops have increased in number recently and can also function similar to kyabakura (hostess club) establishments in which sexual services are dispensed. Read more

Akihabara idol showcase venue to shut

Entertainment news site Zakzak is reporting that a legendary idol event space within the electronics district of Akihabara will close next month.

Known as the “Idol Holy Land” for showcasing gravure stars in bikinis and costumes on a weekly basis, the third-floor venue within Ishimaru Denki Soft 1 has featured appearances by Aki Hoshino, Yuko Ogura, Aya Ueto, Masami Nagasawa, Shoko Nakagawa and Mikie Hara.

The Apr. 8 article says the appeal of the 300-person-capacity space had been the intimate setting it offered to everyone, from otaku to salarymen, for viewing the idols of their affection and purchase their latest photo DVD titles.

Ishimaru Denki has multiple outlets in Akihabara offering consumer electronics, CDs, and DVDs. The retailer will shut all three floors of Soft 1 that it occupies within the Daido Bldg. Read more

CoFesta unites film, TV, gadgets, and games

TOKYO – Japanese pop culture exports – from Gundam robots to “Godzilla” pics to Sony PlayStations – have never been promoted as a single entity. Until now.

Co-sponsored by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Japan Intl. Contents Festival (CoFesta) has brought together a series of events from such industries as manga comics, animation, broadcast programming and videogames to promote the latest in Japanese coolness to the world. It also includes Tiffcom, the Oct. 22-24 Japanese film market. Read more

I spy with my miniature camera

TOKYO – As casually as any one of the millions of Tokyo train commuters may, Kazuo Ozaki, manager of Y.K. Musen in Tokyo’s technology hub of Akihabara, flips open his mobile phone and stares at the screen. A camera lens is mounted in the hinge. Nothing too special thus far; most phones have such a feature these days. But in truth, this is really no phone at all. It is only a micro lens contained within a phone’s body. A remote wireless digital recording device receives and stores all that is filmed.

“You can place the recorder within a 300-meter range,” he boasts of the gadget’s versatility. Read more

Evolving anime films follow new inspirations

TOKYO – Akihabara, the Tokyo district that’s paradise for purchasing electronics and toon-related DVDs and costume wear, has recently been undergoing a makeover. The smaller specialty shops that have made the area so appealing to legions of nerds and geeks (who are known as otaku) are slowly being squeezed out by mainstream emporiums.

But the Akihabara Enta Matsuri (Entertainment Festival), running concurrently with the Tokyo Intl. Film Festival from Oct. 20 to 28, might give these otaku a reprieve. Read more

The wacky, wired world of Thanko

TOKYO – To the chagrin of the legions of geeks who call it home, Akihabara, the Tokyo district regarded as the prime shopping spot for the latest in electronics and cartoon merchandise, is being reshaped by a renaissance that has nothing to do with quirky gadgets or erotic manga.

Mainstream emporiums and sparkling office developments are now shadowing the area’s trusty standbys: the eateries where waitresses dress as maids in frilly Victorian wear, the dusty stalls selling mounds of outdated computer and audio gear, and the obscure shops peddling character costumes and accessories.

But for Hiroyasu Yamamitsu, a self-described otaku and president of quirky electronics company Thanko, this is an exciting time – not a reason for pessimism. “Now, there are so many new things,” says the president from outside one of his company’s two stores in Akihabara. “The great aspect of Akihabara is that it accepts all businesses. Everyone is welcome.” Read more