Shibuya's sleazy happening bars offer chaotic, erotic
action at
bargain prices
"Are you sure this place is all right?" Sayaka whispers
nervously.
Sayaka's reaction to this out-of-the-way club in Tokyo's Shibuya
district, located in the corner of a nondescript building off
Miyamasuzaka Street, may be understandable. She's never been to a
"happening bar" before, and this place looks, well, sleazy right
down to its official greeter, who appears to be a female
impersonator in his late 30s.
"Happening bars" in Roppongi and other parts of Tokyo, explains
Shukan Taishu offer customers a chance to engage in, or observe,
anything-goes activities, performed spontaneously in the most
exhibitionist style imaginable. Catering to the jaded affluent and
the morbidly curious, they generally charge a minimum of 10,000 yen
for membership by couples, and perhaps twice that figure for
unaccompanied males. Females are generally admitted for a nominal
fee, and in some places even free of charge.
Discovery of the Shibuya establishment shows that once the aura of
exclusivity eventually wears off, when a good idea trickles down to
mass markets, it becomes considerably more affordable. How
affordable? Admission for Shukan Taishu's reporter and Sayaka, his
unaware date, came to 4,000 yen, including two drinks.
The reporter paid in advance, and the couple -- as a prelude for
things to come, perhaps? -- shed their footwear before
entering.
This club had a maximum capacity of about 15 people. So as to leave
little doubt as to its purpose as a venue for the sexually
open-minded and the hopelessly horny, its brown-hued walls were
festooned with suggestive motifs, such as phallic symbols and
erotic "shunga" woodblock prints from the Edo period.
Four women, who appeared to be in their 20s, and seven somewhat
older men were already seated and sipping at their drinks.
Sayaka struck up a conversation with a young woman named Miki at a
neighboring bar stool.
"Do you go to 'hapu-baa' (happening bars) often?" Miki asked
Sayaka, who shyly shook her head in the negative.
"Ooohh look, she's shy. Isn't that cute?" gushed Miki.
The reporter's eyes gradually adjusted to the interior gloom and
they soon noticed that an older man with white hair was in the
process of using a hemp rope to tie up a nude young woman, using an
elaborate combination of loops and knots. Once she was rendered
immobile, he began teasing her nipples, and she writhed and
squealed with a combination of humiliation, pain and
pleasure.
Seeing this, a woman who appeared to be an office worker said, "Ah,
I feel like eating!" She knelt before her date, lowered the zipper
on his trousers, and buried her face in his crotch, making loud
sucking sounds.
"Hey, 'Yukorin's' 'regular' performance has begun," a male customer
dryly remarked.
After bringing her date to orgasm, 'Yukorin' moved on to the
customer at the next stool and, after washing out her mouth with a
shot of tequila, repeated the process.
Shukan Taishu's reporter excused himself for a quick visit to the
loo, and returned to find a leggy young woman had moved in and
begun fondling the breasts of his date, Sayaka. But when the woman
tried to run her hand toward Sayaka's crotch, resistance
stiffened.
Realizing Sayaka wasn't willing to go all the way, the young woman
lifted her own skirt and began energetically fingering herself,
with accompanying sound effects. Others in the bar soon began
joining in, transforming this "happening" into what American teens
typically describe as a circle jerk.
"I can't stand this crazy place any longer," whispered Sayaka in
hushed desperation. "Come on, let's get out of here."
"Hey, don't you want to get it on with me?" the leggy woman said to
Sayaka.
The couple fled.
Still, Shukan Taishu's reporter was upbeat after his experience.
After all, he asks, where else can you enjoy such chaotic, erotic
action in a city like Tokyo at these bargain prices?