Kabukicho - What's with the Japanese touts?

[Lukes]

So I've been in and around Kabukicho several times before at varying times of the day/night but never noticed (or was never approached before by) these Japanese "touts" claiming to be from some local free information center.

These dudes speak English quite well and claimed to have an office where you can get info on the P4P (gaijin friendly, I assume) spots in the area and that if I followed them to their place nearby, they could check what's available.

I knew from the myriad horror stories on here that I should under no circumstances follow a tout in a place like that so I told the first dude that I was on my way to meet a girl already and told a second dude that I ran into later that I'd already blown my wad and was heading back to the hotel but I'd be back some other time. Sadly those were lies but whatever. No wads were blown that evening.

So the question is - is there really such a thing as a place that helps you find P4P shops or get you hooked up with bookings?

I figured that was just BS and that if I followed them I'd either end up paying out the ass for some cheap booze and the company of their finest used up crackheads (or whatever the Japanese equivalent of that is) or be a kidney or two lighter on the return flight home so I bolted. Not sure which of those would be harder to tell the wife about.

Normally I wouldn't even bother to ask but that night I went to like three or four places and they were all sold out except a certain place that we don't speak of on here anymore. Am I doing it wrong by not calling these places first?

 

[Sudsy]

So the question is - is there really such a thing as a place that helps you find P4P shops or get you hooked up with bookings?

Yes. The 無料案内所 （Muryo annai jo) - there are plenty of them around Kabukicho and the other red light districts, and they are legit.

They also NEVER send staff out to hunt for customers on the street. Never follow a tout, never trust a tout, never talk to a tout.

 

[Lukes]

Yes. The 無料案内所 （Muryo annai jo) - there are plenty of them around Kabukicho and the other red light districts, and they are legit.

They also NEVER send staff out to hunt for customers on the street. Never follow a tout, never trust a tout, never talk to a tout.

Thanks! I had no idea that there was anything like that. But I'm guessing based on how pushy these guys were that they probably were just trying to get me into whatever money making scheme they were running.

I consulted TAG reviews plenty while in Tokyo but when I'm actually out and about, I'm discovering that finding places and getting in is a bit harder than I expected.

 

[scorpioni6ths]

the last time a J-tout talked to me in Kabukicho ... he speaked quite good English ... and blurted out 'sex' in the middle of the sidewalk (was waiting for the walk sign to turn blue)

one time i was with a gay friend ... and talked to my friend instead ... in English.

> Am I doing it wrong by not calling these places first?

most places like a call first ... for some it's their way of saying that they don't want to serve a gaijin dude.

 

[User#8628]

If they stand on that fuurin kaikan street with all the advertisement and stuff and they stand kind of close to the free information centers, then they do work for them.
You can follow them and if they actually guide you to one of the boxes with the big “free information” advertisement then its legit.
They have even talked me into one before, made me wait there and booked host shokai for me, while one of the guys there was flirting hard with me, lol.

 

[Hofmeyer]

In general touting is illegal there, so most legit information booths won't be doing it unless business is hurting real bad. It's always safer to never follow anyone no matter what they say or promise.

 

[Viggagadye]

Are those the shops with the symbol that looks like Batman?

 

[Sudsy]

Are those the shops with the symbol that looks like Batman?

If you mean these ones, then yes, they're a chain.

https://***********.com/en/contents/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/26sept16_goldengai_010.jpg

They are just one of many groups that run this service though.

 

[okayspot]

\
Normally I wouldn't even bother to ask but that night I went to like three or four places and they were all sold out except a certain place that we don't speak of on here anymore. Am I doing it wrong by not calling these places first?

Even if we ignore all the warnings that tout experiences are at best rip-offs, at worst drugged and or demanded to pay money at knife / gun point (Taken from the US embassy JP warnings)

You have answered your question here... if every place you went to was booked out, would a legit shop really need to go send staff out into the streets to find customers at a discounted price?

 

[Keihan]

I figured that was just BS and that if I followed them I'd either end up paying out the ass for some cheap booze and the company of their finest used up crackheads (or whatever the Japanese equivalent of that is) or be a kidney or two lighter on the return flight home so I bolted. Not sure which of those would be harder to tell the wife about.

Well, I've had my share of adventures by following shady characters into dimly-lit alleyways, some turning out to be the greatest escapades of my youthful years...and then sometimes I end up wearing a strawberry-flavored condom, Suntory Highball can in one hand and an afro wig in the other, humping an old bat that probably lost her virginity in the 1960s and secretly enjoying it a little.

But to answer your question, it is generally a VERY bad idea to follow shady touts anywhere, for any reason, no matter how horny you are. Trust me, I'd happily settle for beating off in a Famima urinal stall while daydreaming to Taylor Swift music videos, rather than limp back to my hotel 100k lighter, the image of "Yuriko" lifting her skirt to reveal a cock bigger than mine forever burned into my fragile psyche. I've found that following just about anyone, anywhere, is generally a pretty bad idea. Never, ever follow people.

On a drunken night in 1999, I followed three drunken girls back to my room during one of my infamous house parties--I awoke at 5am, bareass naked, lying face-down on my bed, lipstick smeared all over my ears, obscene images drawn in black Sharpie on my chest and abdomen, my hair smelling of Goldschlager and 99 Bananas, a horrifically foul substance smeared all over the area around my mouth and nose, one of the longest pubic hairs I'd ever seen under my tongue and a tampon string hanging out of my asshole.

Be a leader. Not a follower. Tampons are for vaginas.

 

[Lokiofasgard]

Most of those guys are lefol. They have pamphlets and stuff which are English friendly. Some of them are pretty cool too. Just use your street smarts and don't follow touts!

 

[Babaram]

While you should never follow touts anywhere, especially not in Kabukicho, and not at all in Roppongi, following the lady touts in Gotanda generally is safe, and it gets you full service for 10,000 JPY with a Chinese girl.