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?