Long time no post. Very busy. It’s Golden Week in Japan and I should be on vacation — or something.<\/p>\n
Actually, this isn’t a great time to go on vacation around here. It’s one of the major holiday periods and a significant percentage of the population leaves town. This gives airlines, hotels and other holiday-related businesses a boost and an opportunity to gouge<\/strike>, er, \u00a0exercise the principle of supply and demand.<\/p>\n
What this means is, your plane ticket is likely to cost three times the norm.<\/p>\n
I never go anywhere during Golden Week or in the summer or around New Year. I value my hard-earned yen. And I wouldn’t want to be stuck in the traffic jam that inevitably takes place on Sunday evening as everyone heads back into Tokyo.<\/p>\n
Catching up on some old news<\/strong>, Steve<\/font><\/a> and Ageha performed some shows at Kabukicho’s DX strip theater in March (I said it was old news!). I headed over there one evening just to get some pics of the sign and the outside of the place for your enlightenment but I arrived a little too late and it was closed. Nothing much to take pictures of.<\/p>\n I didn’t go to any of these shows but I have been to some of Steve’s shows there in the past. The theater has the requisite revolving stage. Come to think of it, maybe my memory is just bad but I don’t think there’s a pole in there. Not that I’ve been to one in ages, but don’t strip clubs in the west have poles these days, as in pole dance<\/em>?<\/p>\n Maybe this hasn’t caught on in Japan. Note to self: Go to more strip clubs.<\/p>\n As I was sauntering around the back roads of\u00a0Kabukicho, I came across <\/font>this<\/font><\/a> place. I’m glad to see it’s still in business. Brings back memories. When I first came to Japan about 14 years ago, I decided I needed to try out this shibari <\/em>business and\u00a0practice some\u00a0of my reverse-engineered rope techniques gleaned from the paltry stash of Japanese SM magazines I was able to get my hands on at the time.<\/p>\n So I saw this big sign that said “SM” and it was all I could do to\u00a0will myself up the dark, narrow staircase. I wasn’t sure what awaited me at the top and I’ll be honest, I was pretty nervous.<\/p>\n To make a long story short, the place was inhabited by a sour woman in her fifties and a man who was perhaps a little younger and\u00a0much friendlier. Turns out she was\u00a0his mistress so I and one other spectator, a Japanese salaryman, were treated to this guy getting his ass beat whilst\u00a0sporting a little red sock covering his dick.<\/p>\n Can’t remember what I paid for this show but whatever it was, it was too much. Then again, I wasn’t exactly expecting this<\/em> sort of show.<\/p>\n Thing about this place, you could also order up a cute M chick after the show and have your way with her either at your place or at their dungeon.\u00a0The going rate in those days was 30,000 yen an hour. I figured what the hell, you’re only in Japan once, right? So I decided to just go ahead and spend the money for an hour or two. But the deal fell through when I said I wanted to take pictures. The way I saw it, I needed something to show my homies or they’d call bullshit on my tall stories.<\/p>\n However, the red sock guy\u00a0said their girls wouldn’t be crazy about having pictures taken. I understood that and we parted company. When I got back to my hotel, I got on the horn and found a place in Roppongi that was more accommodating — and the rest is history.<\/p>\n Now, where was I? Oh yes. I was a bit surprised they had this SM extravaganza at the Kabukicho DX theater again this year. I believe it was at this locale where, the previous year,\u00a0a woman doing a self-bondage act threw in an unplanned\u00a0seppuku <\/em>(aka hara kiri) <\/em>performance. She survived but only after being\u00a0rushed to the hospital by ambulance. After that, I heard that they were going to put the ol’ kibosh on the SM shows. Guess not.<\/p>\n Why did she try to kill herself on stage? Apparently it had something to do with her relationship with Go Arisue <\/strong>of Hana to Hebi<\/em> fame. And that’s all I know about that.<\/p>\n Here are some pics<\/font><\/a> of Steve’s performances with Ageha.<\/p>\n