Of hosts and hedgehogs

On Saturday night I visited the Kabuki-cho night district in Shinjuku. At one time, it was intended that kabuki theatres would be built here, and although these plans were scrapped, the name stuck. Kabuki-cho, like most night districts in Japan, is a tangle of narrow alleys and backstreets, with venues and shops as diverse as hippy clothing stores, florists, host and hostess bars, expensive and classy restaurants, cheap yakitori and hole-in-the wall eateries.

I came across a huge billboard of host bars featuring small portraits of the various hosts in their fully coiffed finery. I also spotted a host of hosts, who looked very similar to these dandies:


I also wandered into a pet shop that sells baby albino hedgehogs! I squeaked in shock when I saw the small, spiny pale creature snuffling over a piece of carrot. I am convinced The Albino Hedgehog is a tip-top name for a pub.



n.b. Host pic from the doco "Tale of an Osaka Love Thief" - peruse previous post and *do* check out the doco for an insight into a lesser known aspect of Japanese culture!