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. To remain active at the age of forty-five is almost a miracle in the nightlife world, where both physical and mental strength are reduced to the utmost limits. He overcame such severe illnesses as cirrhosis of the liver and acute alcoholism, yet he continued to perform on stage. He did not do this to sell alcohol, but to prove that he was still alive.

At the time, Kabukicho was in a period of economic stagnation mixed with the afterglow of the bubble economy. In 2003, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government implemented the "Kabukicho Cleanup Operation," which was aimed at reducing the number of host clubs in Kabukicho by implementing the Entertainment Establishments Control Law and fire prevention measures. The structure of the nightlife district was drastically changed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's "Kabukicho Cleanup Operation" in 2003, which tightened the Entertainment Business Control Law, fire prevention standards, and tax regulations. Flesh-and-blood hosts such as Kanzaki were in the midst of this transitional period, living out their lives between the old uninhibitedness and the new controlled society.

Alcohol, money, and loneliness. Behind the glamour of the host profession lies physical limitation and mental exhaustion. Working long hours and drinking excessively, Kanzaki walks a tightrope between life and death. But he continued to stand on the streets at night with a smile on his face. It was his last pride as a "dreamer," and at the same time, it was his prayer as a human being. His figure is a symbol of the time when the nightlife still had a human touch.

Eventually, with the advent of the social networking age, host culture became visualized and digitized, and "legends" were transformed into live broadcasts and ranking numbers. However, the presence of a figure like Akira Kanzaki is still quietly passed down as a memory of an era when Kabukicho still had a living story to tell.