The red light strict is located at the heart of Shinjuku. There were so many people walking around in this area even it was late at night in an ordinary week day. I went there twice, once with my academic friends and the other time with Paulo and his folks. Paulo was born in Malaysian but now live in Tokyo, so he knew stories related to the red light district, from his friends, and his friends’ friends.

Along the main street, the top ranked hosts are advertised on the street bill boards. They made more money then I do monthly. Paulo said that currently, Japanese women like thin, feminine looking guys. So some hosts went for cosmetic surgeries to boost their careers.

Unfortunately, this one in the bill board failed the cosmetic surgery. Stories happen in this industry. Paula said sometimes the customer fell in love with her regular host, then drama happens between love and money.There was a recent crime related to this.

I was told that the prostitution is illegal in Japan but if the actual activities do not happen in the shops, the police will not come to arrest you. Additionally, due to the high rent in the main street, the actual service rooms are located in the back streets or high rises in the nearby buildings. There are sales who will spot potential customers at the exit of the train stations and on the streets, and then take you to the buildings.

You think there will be only lonely-looking men or rich and old women who come here for service? No, young girls in their twenties and early thirties come here often and quite some of them come here regularly. Of course, there are also birthday parties and bacheloress parties happening. Their service is diverse. For example, you can order a co-bath/shower service only for 200 dollars but that gets you a 40+ man; with 400 dollars, you can have a 20+ man — it sounds hilarious.

Guys have many choices also. You can do window shopping at the Girls Bar Milky,

or select a favored girl to do some role play, from a girl friend up till a wife, from going out for a dinner to going home to sleep together — as short as a night or as long as months (if you are rich :)).

Down the street, you see the hand job service advertisement stands besides the advisement for the ramen noodle shop 🙂

Besides sex industry, several shops on the street offer drinking buffet. You will hear many sales standing on the street to pull you in. Paulo said sometimes these buffets can be tricky– they did not list certain types of drinks in the buffet menu, and then after you drink it, the shops charge you a lot of money. The whole streets are mixed with also many other shops like restaurants and snack stores. You see a lot of tourists and even kids.

I was told that those people standing in the street are the sales. They left my groups alone for twice when I went there, it must be that I look more like a journalist than a customer 🙂

Such an adventure to explore here. It totally satisfied my curiosity. I think if it is not for health reasons, it might be fun to try some services 😀 Then oh well, I never found those feminine guys attractive, haha