I can very well imagine that they're going to do something special for the 15th anniversary. The big question though: What will it be?
By the way, I'm back from Japan and walking through Kabukicho sure was a bit surreal, realizing that I know pretty much the layout of it, even though I've never been there before in real life. Some things are certainly different (not just shop locations or facilities like the batting center) and unfortunately there was some construction going on behind Theater Square, so it didn't really look that "cool", but it was still a great experience. Seeing "real life Shangri-La" was quite funny too, gave me that "ahh, that place..." moment. Sadly, I didn't see any giant traffic cones where a certain someone might be hiding underneath it, but I certainly saw a lot of hosts (they're easy to spot with their fancy hairstyles and clothes). The giant Godzilla head was awesome too, especially at night when they do this little show with the Godzilla theme playing and smoke coming out of the head that's supposed to be his atomic breath. I haven't had the time to go through my pictures just yet, but I'll make sure to share a few once I did. I didn't spent too much time in Kabukicho, because I still had so much else to explore. I went there in the afternoon and left once it got dark, but next time I definitely want to soak in the night life in it a bit more. Walking through Golden Gai was amazing too. I definitely want to try going for a drink there next time.
That being said: I did get asked once to come into a manzoku, the same stores you also see in the Yakuza games, where they will tell you about hostess clubs, boob bars etc. Just ignore them and you're good to go (unless you want to go that is). That's in general a pro trip when walking through the streets, where people try to give you stuff. In Shibuya I did get one of the energy drinks also featured in the Yakuza games for free (it's quite tasty!) but most of them, when they give you like flyers etc. they also try to drag you into their store, so just refuse or don't even make eye contact, unless you really want to go with them. Like I actually went "ah, whatever, let's experience a maid cafe, why not" but instead of searching for one on Googlemaps, I just made eye contact with one of the many maids in Akihabara. 5 minutes later I was in the cafe. That was quite the experience, haha... The food was reaaaaally cute, though.
