In this Walking in Cities video we tour a nice-looking neighborhood in Tokyo. Most of the walk is through side streets, where only pedestrians, scooters and bicycles are about. There are a lot of store front businesses lining the streets. It looks like a pleasant neighborhood.
This is different than my usual Walking in Cities video in that it starts out with a visit to a Girls Bar in Tokyo. The Girls Bar visited in this video charges a 3,000 yen (~$22.00) cover to be able to enter and stay for an hour. You'll be charged more if you stay longer, and there may be extra charges for drinks.
It seems odd, but what you're paying for is conversation with the bartenders who are young, cute girls. They're not prostitutes. In fact, you're not supposed to touch them or even have risqué conversations. That said I imagine some are sketchier than others and I suspect that getting too drunk in one is a good way to get your bank account vacuumed clean.
As explained in the above linked article:
For those of us who grew up outside of Japanese society, the idea of paying someone just to talk to them may be hard to grasp. But girls bars may actually be a product of Japanese work culture that leaves employees very little time to cultivate and maintain a healthy relationship. It’s a compromise that allows men in Japan to enjoy the company of women, even if it’s just for a while.
Who goes to girls bars?
Mostly men. It could be a tired businessman who’s just gotten off work and wants a drink and a chat. Or it could be a young man who’s nervous around women and wants to practice his conversational skills. Or even a foreign resident who wants to improve his Japanese or rather a tourist who just wants to see what Japan has to offer.
It could be a person like me who unwittingly wandered into one and didn’t realize it was a girls’ bar until my cute girl bartender told me I’d be charged for every half-hour I was there!
As you can see the bar shown is quite small. It seats 5-6 customers and has 3 girls working plus a bouncer. The place has 3 customers, 2 jovial Japanese fellows on one end and a female Thai tourist on the other. Apparently, the bar has a Thai theme (in the comments they think the 3 bartenders are Thai girls). The place seems amiable enough, although at $20+ an hour plus the risk of getting simped out of your life savings it may not be amiable enough.
After his stay there he does take a stroll in the streets surrounding it.
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Man, is that post title click bait or what? I probably ought to be ashamed of myself, but I'm not. Anyway, sorry, but this isn't a post about people scampering around Tokyo without any clothes, instead it is about the work of the Japanese photographer Rumi Ando.
Ando retouches her photos to remove any signs of human life -- people, ducts, advertisements, A/C units etc., leaving only the buildings behind. It is a strangely minimalistic look. She has put out a photo book Tokyo Nude and you can also view more of her work at her Instagram account. HT to Spoon & Tomago.
