The world is so Kalandrakas…

Two weekends ago, I, with 3 photo buddies, had an early morning photowalk again. This time in Kabukicho at around 5:30 in the morning.

Kabukichō is an entertainment and red-light district in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Kabukichō is the location of many hostess bars, host bars, love hotels, shops, restaurants, and nightclubs, and is often called the “Sleepless Town”. The district’s name comes from late-1940s plans to build a kabuki theater: although the theater was never built, the name stuck. — Wikipedia

There are still nanpa activities in this early morning. A nanpa is a way to pick up girls in Japan. To know how it works, check Nampa – Japanese for Picking Up by Neil Duckett.

We walked through Shinjuku Golden Gai and we could still hear people laughing while having some chat inside the shanty-style bars and clubs.  Learn more about the Golden Gai here: Old-world left in a Big City, Shinjuku’s Golden-gai

Kabukicho is a notorious place known for a lot of illegal activities like prostitution, illegal drug trafficking, and other crimes. A number of business establishments here are owned by yakuzas and Chinese triads. The photo below is the most famous police box throughout Japan for having been featured a couple of times in TV documentary shows.

Thanks to my friends: Mika, Kyoko, and Naoto for joining me in this walk.

Hamaorisai Festival is held annually at Nishihama Beach in Chigasaki City. This is a summer festival where people take the mikoshi, or portable Shinto shrine, into the sea to please the god living in it. This year’s festival was held on the 20th of July, which is also the Umi-no-Hi (or the Ocean Day).

The festival starts very early in the morning at 4:00am.

A portrait of a man waiting for his group to take the mikoshi into the water.

The waves is one of the challenging aspects of this festival.

There’s been a “competition” among the shrines. Each group tries to be the one to go the farthest and longest out to the sea.

After all the mikoshis are taken into the water, they are lined up and blessed by offering fruits and vegetables.

This festival is one of the most challenging photoshoots I’ve had. I got soaked and almost drop my camera into the water.

I would like to thank Levi for inviting and offering his place for us to stay overnight.

This is what most people don’t know about Japan.

Homelessness was largely unknown in Japan until the economic bubble burst in the early 1990s and unemployment began to rise. – BBC

At the beginning of the 1990s, the homeless in Japan were viewed as nuisance. The government tried to get rid of the street people “because the environment there needed beautification”. – Wikipedia

According to street-papers.org, there are 25,296 homeless people in Japan.

Some of these homeless people live in the side of the street with their card-board houses.

Some in tunnels and underground stations.

The homeless prefer to freeze outside rather than be frozen by officialdom’s coldness.  – share-international.org

Note: The photos were taken in Fujisawa, Ueno, Yoyogi and Shibuya.

Tanabata was originally about a Chinese love story of a princess and a cowherd being separated by the king.  Traditionally in present-day Japan, people celebrate Tanabata by writing their wishes on colorful, small strips of paper called tanzaku…

…and hang them on bamboo branches…

The streets are decorated with huge colorful  hanging lanterns which kids enjoy watching…

…especially at nights when these lanterns are being lighted.

This was during the Tanabata Festival in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa. This is the biggest Tanabata festival held in the Kanto Area. The most famous one is held in Sendai.

…

This is the second part of the Midnight Shooting: Roppongi to Shibuya blog entry.

We started our walk around 1:00AM from Roppongi, and reached Shibuya at nearly 3:00AM. Below are images that you will likely be seeing in an early Saturday morning in Shibuya.

This guy welcome us right at the foot of the pedestrian bridge near the south entrance of Shibuya Station.

Outside the station, you can see a lot of people sleeping. Either they lay down on the pavement..

… or simply just sit down…

They sure had fun last night, eh?

Obviously, these people are waiting for the station to open, and catch the first train.

And finally, the gate has opened. Ohayou, Shibuya!

The next post will be about homeless people staying near Shibuya station.

Thanks for watching. :-)