Flower shop sightings - Kabukicho in the early 2000s

Flower shop sightings - Kabukicho in the early 2000s

This is a story of the human condition of the nightlife district from the perspective of a person who dealt in flowers in Kabukicho. The flower shop was a place of everyday life, but it was also a stage for the drama of male-female desires and underworld interactions. The type of bouquet, the person to whom the flowers are given, and a single word of conversation reflect the subtleties of life, such as affection, parting, and reconciliation. Flowers used for both celebrations and farewells were a symbol of the nightlife, and the flower shops were a special place to observe the joys and sorrows.

In the early 2000s, Kabukicho was a place where money and desire were concentrated, as the sex industry and cabaret clubs expanded against the backdrop of the recession that followed the bursting of the bubble economy. Young people who came to Tokyo from the provinces entered the water business, and people from the underworld also came to buy flowers. Flowers were used as a signal for transactions, as well as a means of apology and rapprochement, as incidents such as the Parisienne Incident in 2002 and the Operation Purification in 2003 rocked the city, and flowers were used as a tool to mend relationships as tensions rose.

The florist's testimony tells the truth about the city not through flashy incidents but through fragments of everyday life. Flowers are given as gifts to mistresses, to make up for quarrels, and to show the presence of women in the water business. The essence of the theater of desire that is Kabukicho is condensed in these small exchanges.