Kabukicho, Legend of Living the Night: The Loneliness and Pride of Akira Kanzaki (Early 2000s)

Kabukicho, Legend of Living the Night: The Loneliness and Pride of Akira Kanzaki (Early 2000s)

Akira Kanzaki was a "legendary" host in Kabukicho in the early 2000s, and was one of those rare individuals who remained active at the age of forty-five. The reason he continued to perform on stage despite serious illnesses such as cirrhosis of the liver and acute alcoholism was not to sell alcohol, but to prove that he was alive. Kabukicho at the time was a fictional theater of money and love, where the afterglow of the bubble economy and economic stagnation intersected, and host clubs were places where "dreams were played and sold. Veterans like Kanzaki lived between freedom and control. With the advent of the social networking age, host culture has become visualized and quantified, and Kanzaki is still spoken of as "the last of the generation who lived the story.