Kabukicho, a 1-kilometer square commercial area on the northern side of Tokyo’s JR Shinjuku Station, is reputed to be Asia’s largest adult entertainment zone, with an estimated nighttime working population of 23,000 (based on 2014 figures).
The adventurous, bored and curious are drawn by the thousands each evening to the neighborhood’s bars, cabarets, karaoke establishments, pachinko parlors, cinemas, retail outlets, hotels and an impressive variety of Japanese and international restaurants. This exotic mix also includes some 250 host clubs, where female customers can relax in the company of young men.
Many of Kabukicho’s businesses permit or encourage closeness, or even intimacy, between customers and their employees, so perhaps, not surprisingly, the district has been identified as a hot spot for COVID-19 cluster infections.
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