J in Japan: The (not so) underground of Shibuya

Where as over here in the UK the sex and the kink is often tucked away in alleys which are blocked by a brick wall and require the tapping of a brick 3 slabs to the left and 10 up from the floor to access; in Japan it all manages to co-exist. With no censoring, no velvet ropes or curtains. Just POW! In your face. The chugokujin and I had already been wowed by the pr0n being advertised on the streets in broad daylight back in Nipponbashi / Den den town. So the well... there's a McDonald's, a Family mart, a bank, a shop selling dick shaped pacifiers...Eh, WHAT!?-ism of Shibuya didn't phase us. But it still stunned us a little. And of course for the sake of investigations, we took as close a look as we could Shibuya's smut.

Shibuya is a complete melting pot of craziness where anything goes. It's only a 10 minute Taxi ride from Roppongi, So I guess it's to be expected that kink and smut lurk around every corner, and that you might find a sex shop next to a Wendy's, or a Love hotel right next to a shrine.

The first slice of smut within Shibuya we came across was Condomania. Which was appropriately positioned next to a kebab stall. It's like a cross between a pick 'n mix sweet shop and Ann Summers. If ladies are looking for anything to keep in their gob other than their partners penis - then Condomnia has some great alternatives. They also sell a Golf ball which can be cracked open to reveal a condom. The Tiger Woods jokes write themselves, so I won't try.

The infamous Gas panic also has a small little bar tucked away on one of the snaking streets of Shibuya. And whilst what happens there is no where near as bad as what goes down at the main Gas panic clubs in Roppongi, you will still find some local ladies (keyword: drunk) around; seeking some export sausages. When my friends and I peeked inside, a black dude had a Japanese woman all over him. It was like watching a spider death grip a fly in its web. I didn't know whether to salute the fella for bagging some booty or try to save him. So I did neither.

Shibuya is home to love hotel hill, which is as the name clearly implies: is a hill full of love hotels. It's not the green pastured Teletubbies hill with a rainbow arcing over it and a house at its peak which puffs out heart shaped smoke from its chimney. But more a concrete stretch of a road which has some lavish and some grimy looking holes. Each with a unique theme to entice merrily straggled couples looking for a place to crash and have their drunken sex. Whether you want a sickly pink frilly sweet with mood lightning, a plain as Jane B&B type setup or a room with Wii (or real wee if you like water sports) and a selection of kinky outfits - Love hotel hill has you covered like jam on toast. And they're appropriately within a stones throw of some of Shibuya's popular bars and clubs. So if you manage to pull and your apartment is too far, and you don't have the money to ball out for a lavish hotel, just check in at a love hotel.

The amazing thing about Shibuya is how the wholesomeness and the hot sleaze are able to co-exist together. A McDonald's, a Condomania, a Family Mart and some gangsta looking tattoo parlour looking like its run by a bunch of guys whose Visa's ran out 7 months ago; all on the same stretch! Gotta admire the diversity. Shibuya wouldn't be quite complete without one or the other.

The other side: The surface of Shibuya
Stuff in Shibuya: M. Bison at the bank | The smoking room | Shibuya crossing