One day at Kabukicho #DAY142 - I don't want to carry around cash as much as possible and I don't want to use it, but this city does not allow it.
I usually try to meet up with my friend around 11 or 12 at night, but on this day we met up unusually late at 12:30. I thought maybe there would be fewer people in the streets by then, but maybe because it was the weekend, there were still a lot of people out even at that late hour.
いつも友達とは23時とか24時くらいまでには集合するようにしているんだけど、この日は珍しく24時半集合。ってことでもうちょっと街から人も捌けているかなーって思っていたんだけど、週末だったせいかそんな時間でもめちゃくちゃ人が多かった。
A sign saying they are looking for witnesses to a hit-and-run accident. In Kabukicho, the alleyways are narrow like residential streets, but there're a significant number of people are walking while quite a few cars driving through. In addition, most of the people walking are drunk, and there are many loud noises in the city, making it difficult to notice the sound of engines. There are also many cases where pedestrians are not aware that a car is coming. Even I sometimes don't notice even I'm not drunk.
ひき逃げ事故の目撃者を捜しているって看板。歌舞伎町内の路地はどれも生活道路みたいな幅しかないところが多いんだけど、そこを結構な数の人が歩く中で車も結構普通に走っている。しかも歩いている人の大半は酔っ払っているし、街中いろんな結構でかい音が流れているからエンジン音にも気づきづらいし、歩行者側も車が来ていることに気づいていないなんてことも多々あると思う。自分も酒飲んでなくても気づかない時あるし。
Kabukicho is quite comfortable in its own way, but it's a bit of a hassle that many places still only accept cash for payment. It's surprisingly rare to find vending machines. Also restaurants that accept electronic money, especially ramen shops and such.
さて、歌舞伎町はそれなりに居心地がいいんだけど、支払いが未だに現金しか対応していない場面が結構多いのが少し面倒。自販機とかで電子マネー使えるところが意外に少ないし、ごはん屋さんも・・・特にラーメン屋さんとかは結構電子マネー使えないところあるんだよ。
Personally I don't want to carry cash around or use it as much as possible. So in my daily life, I mostly use Suica payment on my Apple Watch or credit card payment. Even charging the Suica on the Apple Watch is done from the a credit card on the Apple Watch.
個人的には現金ってもうできる限り持ち歩きたくないし使いたくないんだよな。だから普段の生活ではほとんど Apple Watch の Suica 払いかクレジットカード払いばかり。その Apple Watch の Suica へのチャージだって同じ Apple Watch 上のクレジットカードからしているし。
But I think it's a business custom in this city that cash payment is welcome. Downtown areas often have that kind of image. So when I come to this city, I try to accept the fact that it can't be helped. But I usually don't use cash like that, so I think I only use ATMs a few times a year these days.
でも現金払いが歓迎されるのはこの街の商習慣でもあるんだろうな。繁華街ってそういうところ多いイメージだし。だからこの街に来る時だけはそれはそれでしょうがないって割り切るようにもしている。ただそんな感じで普段は現金を使わないから、ここ数年は ATM を使うのも年数回とかになっているかも。
By the way, I can generally know how much I spent on what without keeping ahousehold account book by paying with credit cards. This is convinient. I don't really keep a household account book, but it's still super convenient to be able to see immediately whether something is a work expense or a personal expense by checking the details of the cards. Otherwise, I'm the type of person who often forgets about expense settlements.
ちなみに普段の支払いがクレジットカードだと、基本的に家計簿的なモノをつけなくてもなににどれだけ支払っているのかわかるから便利。まあそもそも家計簿的なものを自分がつけることはないんだけど、それでも仕事の経費なのか私費なのかが明細を見ればすぐにわかるのはめちゃくちゃ便利。じゃないと経費清算とかすぐ忘れちゃう人なので。
I wrote about a hit-and-run accident above, but it's like this. It's a bad thing to hit someone with a car and then drive away, but the driver who hit the person possibly doesn't even realize they have actually hit someone.
さっきひき逃げ事故のことを書いたけど、こんな感じだから。車で人にぶつかって立ち去るのは悪いことなんだけど、場合によっては轢いた方の車の側が轢いたこと自体に気づいていないパターンとかもありそう。
Two circles on the wall. Looks nice somehow.
壁にふたつの円。なんかいい。
This is a place like a bar. Perhaps because it was the weekend night, inside the bar I could see from outside looked crowded. I like looking at this kind of scenery from the outside, but I don't have the courage to step into it myself.
ここはバーみたいなところ。週末の夜中だからか、外から見える店内は人だらけに見えた。こういう景色を外から眺めているのは好きだけど、自分自身で足を踏み入れる勇気はない。
The last photo is somewhere looks like the izakaya next to the bar. I haven't been to anywhere like bar to drink alcohol on night for a long time. Well, it's fine if it's still in the neighborhood, but I find it a hassle to have to move around to get home after drinking. Of course, if I drink, I can't drive and will have to rely on either a train or a taxi to get around. But for someone like me who even finds it bothersome to take those, drinking outside doesn't seem suitable.
See you then.
最後はそのお隣の居酒屋みたいなところ。久しく夜の街でお酒なんか飲んでいない。まあ家の近所とかまだならいいけど、お酒を飲んだ後に家に帰るために移動するって行為もめんどくさく感じちゃうからな。もちろん飲んだら運転はできないし電車かタクシーの移動になるんだろうけど、そういうのに乗るのすらめんどくさく感じてしまう自分みたいな人は、外でお酒を飲むっていうのは向かないんだろうな。
ほなまた。
