Tripping through Kyobashi, on the way from the Docomo shop. The area is seedy. Homeless men lay passed out in doorways, and salarymen duck into openings covered by wispy curtains. Pink signs dot the terrain.

A place of business catches my eye. "PlayStation" it says in English. The door is shuttered.

Above "PlayStation", a sign reads "Muryou Annaisho" ("Free Information Office"). Console gaming is the last kind of information you can get here. It's pretty blunt what kind of info they're supplying. Prostitution may be illegal, but this isn't prostitution. This is "health".

I take out my camera, when a man in different colored slippers stumbles up. He's drinking vending machine sake. It's not even noon.

"What are you doing?"
"Taking a picture."
"Why are you taking a picture of that?
"Is that alright?"
"Strange."
"I know."

I snap off a few pictures. The man with different colored slippers is sipping his vending machine sake. I put away my camera and make a beeline for the station. He still stands there, watching me the entire time. Muryou Annaisho. Brian Ashcraft

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