Record Boy

Down in the back streets lurks this grotty record shop situated at the top of a creaking stairway.

I say grotty, but only by appearance. It has character.

Strictly for hardcore punk and the like, it throws in a lot of Japanese bands mixed in with European and American.

Books and Sake

For that fabulous combination of drinking and reading.

Here is "Book Sake" in Koenji.

Little motorbikes

Not even coming up to your waist, just over your knee in some cases, these little bikes can be found on in Tokyo.

A few here in our very own Koenji.

A little Ducati type stands as a display outside a hair salon, and a few more outside a clothes shop.

In a country where everything is made small and compact, these stand above the rest.

Gentleman's Relaxation Zone

Not quite offering the services that somewhere like Kabuki-Cho might offer, Koenji still has a small area for the late-night businessman to pop in on his way home from a 16-hour day.

Just a few sex parlours, with some dodgy looking blokes outside to usher you away in case you might have the urge to stray into their "no foreigners" establishments.

Star Case

Once again, was turned down the chance to take some pics in Star Case.

Took this one on my way out...

Call the Cops

As Shaun Ryder would have said, "call the cops".

Burnt out van in an apartment building round the corner from OK supermarket.

Brought a tear to my eye, as a sight like this can sometimes be seen in the streets of England.

Made me feel right at home.

Just need to find a shopping trolley in the river and a sofa/TV combo outside in someones front garden to complete the trio.

Bird of Prey

Lots of hair salons in Koenji, but only one with a hawk outside.
Just around the corner from "Olympic".

This little chap sits outside all day, then when the shop closes, his owner takes him for a walk.
I say walk, as he's perched on his owners arm...

European Papa

Small record/CD shop.

Many a rarity can be found.

Bootlegs on both Cd and DVD.

Little cat as a member of staff, should you need any assistance.

Koenji 20000v

First 2 bands were a bit tame, surprisingly for this place, but the last one finished on a high.

Actually, the first band was a guy playing 45-minutes of feedback.

A few random heads were nodding, but not everyone's cup of tea.

A quick break in between bands and it's a quick trip to the store to stock up on alcohol around the corner.
GEAR is also in the same building and people sometimes share their time between the two venues.
No loitering outside. They seem quite determined to not let you either drink or generally hang around the place during or after the shows.

Awaodori 2008

The Awaodori was held on the 23rd & 24th August 2008.
It rained all weekend, but that didn't put people off and it was still crowded and the groups danced harder than ever.

Snakepit Japan

Right next to my apartment is Snakepit Japan.
Here you can practice thai boxing and/or submission wrestling.
Submission wrestling is just a more modern, generic term really. Catch Wrestling is essentially what pro-wrestling was when it was real.

Long before they had thought about sports entertainment, pro-wrestling or "Catch" was a real art. Catch’s more modern lineages can be traced back to Billy Riley and the Snake Pit in Wigan England. From Billy Riley we have “God of Pro Wrestling” Karl Gotch who trained Antonio Inoki, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Masakatsu Funaki and so on.

While less known than Gotch but no less amazing is Rileys other star pupil, Billy Robinson. Robinson was an amazing wrestler and had many legendary matches especially with Inoki. Robinson with UWF, UWFI veteran Yuko Miyato and Thai boxing champion Makato Oe run a gym in Koenji, Tokyo called the UWF Snakepit.

Part of the above information was taken from an interview with pro-fighter, Josh Barnett, himself a practitioner of Catch.

At the top are a few pics from outside that I took, and some from Snakepit's website:
http://www.uwf-snakepit.com/

Koenji Streets people as subjects

First two pics are near the station (South side).

Bottom is a mobile phone salesman scouting for business.
Just to add, the phone shop has since closed down. Quite a shame, because being in Koenji, it may have been the only mobile phone shop in the world that had a CD player outside playing death metal.