Consequences of reading through bOING bOING story summaries too quickly:

I mentally conflated the previous story with this one, and for a moment imagined those German shepherds in a girl’s school uniform. (Would that make the dogs more or less intimidating?)

Priceless.

http://www.bty.cm/cmpttn/f576d6/fnnst-sgn-n-s/ntry/410474/my-jpns-mght-b-bttr

My second thought was “no, that’s not true; that could happen here in the US too…”

My third though “…and the Phelps Klan would be running it.”

Link asks questions.

Guiltiness (talkin’ ’bout guiltiness)
Pressed on their conscience. Oh yeah.
And they live their lives (they live their lives)
On false pretence everyday -
each and everyday. Yeah.

These are the big fish
Who always try to eat down the small fish,
just the small fish.
I tell you what: they would do anything
To materialize their every wish. Oh yeah-eah-eah-eah.

Say: Woe to the downpressors:
They’ll eat the bread of sorrow!
Woe to the downpressors:
They’ll eat the bread of sad tomorrow!
Woe to the downpressors:
They’ll eat the bread of sorrow!
Oh, yeah-eah! Oh, yeah-eah-eah-eah!

Guiltiness
Pressed on their conscience. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
These are the big fish
Who always try to eat down the small fish,
just the small fish.

I tell you what: they would do anything
To materialize their every wish. Oh, yeah-eah-eah-eah-eah-eah.

But: Woe to the downpressors:
They’ll eat the bread of sorrow!
Woe to the downpressors:
They’ll eat the bread of sad tomorrow!
Woe to the downpressors:
They’ll eat the bread of sad tomorrow!
Oh, yeah-eah! Oh yeah-e-e-e-e-e!

Guiltiness. Oh yeah. Ah!
They’ll eat the bread of sorrow everyday

Just curious how many of the previous posters live in Tokyo and or have ever been on Center Gai in other than a Gee Wilikers tourist context? My bet is zero but of course I could be wrong.

yep, you’re wrong. i’ve lived here for years and i’ve walked the streets of shibuya hundreds of times. it’s seedy as hell, yeah, but it still feels 50x safer than the equivalent in any western city i’ve lived in. loitering teenagers and touts don’t bother me. people who verbally or physically threaten me, bother me.

Its a nickname I picked up years ago from listening to Peter Tosh constantly. Does yours refer to the pickle or the monk?

Antinous,

“Edo”? Are we in a time warp or something? Should I be booking a passage on a sailing ship to New Amsterdam?

O Fortuna O Fortune,
velut luna like the moon
statu variabilis, you are changeable,
semper crescis ever waxing
aut decrescis; and waning;
vita detestabilis hateful life
nunc obdurat first oppresses
et tunc curat and then soothes
ludo mentis aciem, as fancy takes it;
egestatem, poverty
potestatem and power
dissolvit ut glaciem. it melts them like ice.

Sors immanis Fate – monstrous
et inanis, and empty,
rota tu volubilis, you whirling wheel,
status malus, you are malevolent,
vana salus well-being is vain
semper dissolubilis, and always fades to nothing,
obumbrata shadowed
et velata and veiled
michi quoque niteris; you plague me too;
nunc per ludum now through the game
dorsum nudum I bring my bare back
fero tui sceleris. to your villainy.

Sors salutis Fate is against me
et virtutis in health
michi nunc contraria, and virtue,
est affectus driven on
et defectus and weighted down,
semper in angaria. always enslaved.
Hac in hora So at this hour
sine mora without delay
corde pulsum tangite; pluck the vibrating strings;
quod per sortem since Fate
sternit fortem, strikes down the string man,
mecum omnes plangite!

Become unofficial District Attorneys.

Cheer them on with relentless cheering and enthousiastic undersized paper flag waving.

Call the real police station and ask for them, by name. Explain that they are “ace detectives”. Refer to them as the “New, hardworking officers on the street”.

If you wanna live
Treat me good
If you wanna live, live
I beg you treat me good

I’m like a walking razor
Don’t you watch my size
I’m dangerous
Said I’m dangerous
(2X)

If you are a bully
Treat me good
If you are a bully, a bully
I beg you treat me good

I’m like a stepping razor
Don’t you watch my size
I’m dangerous, dangerous
(CHORUS)

If you are a chucky
Nobody chucky from me
If you are a chucky, a chucky
Nobody chuck from me, Yea

CHORUS

I’m like a chopping razor
Don’t you watch my size
I’m dangerous, dangerous

If you eat asphalt
I beg you treat me good
If you drink lead soup
You better treat me good

CHORUS

If you are bull bukka
Nobody buk from me
If you are duppy
You move away from me

CHORUS

I’m like a stepping, walking
I’m dangerous, dangerous

If you wanna live
Treat me good
Warning you if you wanna live You better treat me good

I’m like a stepping, walking, cutting, flicking,
jumping,chopping, walking
I’m dangerous(2x)
I’m like a stepping, jumping, flicking, bumping, boring
I’m dangerous(2x)

If you drink mortal
Treat me good
And if you eat brick
Treat me good

I’m like a flashing laser and a rolling thunder
I’m dangerous(2x)
I’m like a stepping razor
Don’t you watch my size
I’m dangerous, dangerous

Treat me good
If you wanna live
You better treat me good

Talking: …You don’t through a fifth of the trilliation
I go through…
O

Consorting with upstart mercenaries? I think not.

I didnt say it wasnt safe, just that its dirty and has gotten worse in the last few years. Any thoughts on that matter?

Having spent many a night drinking on center gai (yes, even sitting on those supposed ‘feces and tampon’ strewn streets) I can say you’re over-exaggerating.

First off, I’ve not seen ANY of the filth you’ve mentioned there any more than in any other part of Tokyo, which even then is negligible (aside from salaryman vomit).

Even if Center Gai were a cesspool, overrun with hustlers (Wouldn’t deny that one), the SCGP don’t tackle any of those issues and are instead concerned with people smoking and loitering. Hustlers here, and you should know, don’t loiter, they prowl. Really the SCGP is out harassing young people from having a good time on the street and creating scenes that deter traffic flow. Which is a shame.

On the other hand, I totally agree with your asessment that they’re pathetic and the video was set up. Here’s what has happened any time the SCGP or their Shinjuku equivalents (or the cops, for that matter) have come up to one of our streetside drinking parties.

them: hey, move on. You’re creating a disturbance.
us: fuck off!
them: *fucks off*

Really you only move if you don’t want to get nagged. They have no real authority and the police don’t normally want to bother with it.

How do the real cops feel about a bunch of yahoos roaming the streets? They must give tacit approval.

If you take a really authoritative tone in response and use the appropriately demeaning vocabulary and syntax, will they become submissive? Or does the uniform trump the social cues.