The Intervention.
The Intervention of Kabukicho, Japan
Their Story
Human Intervention
City Intervention
Kabukicho is a district in Shinjuku, Japan. Its history dates back to April 1, 1948. Kihei Suzuki, a developer, sought to rebuild the area and focused on creating a moral business district with artistic facilities. He had plans for theaters, cinemas, and dance halls for kabuki performances. Eight years later, his dreams came to life as the first theater was opened, called the Koma Theater. Though there was a central focus on theater and entertainment, prostitution was always a common thread throughout the community. The new Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Act was created in 1965 and drastically impacted the area. While restaurants and late night establishments were closed, erotic services became more prevalent. Even though there were many forms of entertainment, the main objective of business income became prostitution. Increased traffic flow throughout the red light district caused an imbalance in the economic foundation as people now searched for adult entertainment. Businesses included strip clubs and host clubs instead of the original local entertainment hubs. Ultimately the entertainment industry was forced to create a new food services genre, which now allowed prostitution to be hidden not only within hotels and restaurants, but also within clubs. Emerging from this shift in business came the coined term, cabaret club. In 2008, the Koma theater closed. Through the opening of a new movie theater, the Shinjuku Toho Building, the city became a tourist location. This created a new stream of potential customers. Though Kabukicho is always evolving as an entertainment district, it continues to operate by its phrase: “A town is its people.”
Loneliness is something none of us can escape - no matter who you are, who you’re with, or where you are located. After researching Kabukicho, we were tasked with creating a relic that revealed an effect of Covid-19. It was interesting for us to be able to create under these parameters, because loneliness has become a prevalent topic, especially during self isolation as a result of self-quarantine.
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We used the definition of loneliness when creating our relic. We thought to ourselves, “How can we exploit this loneliness?”, “How can we take the characteristics of modern day loneliness and show that in an object?” Our relic is the embodiment of today’s society in quarantine. How many times does one reach for their phone in hopes that they have a notification? We constantly seek out connection and communication from others, but what happens when you pick your phone up, to only find your reflection? It brings you to the realization that though you are trying to fill that void of loneliness... you are still alone.
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For our intervention, we incorporated the feeling of loneliness from our relic as well as the idea of compartmentalization that was introduced in the documentary that we watched.
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The fact that Kabukicho is a famous red-light district means that they profit off of lonely people seeking physical connection. Therefore, our design’s purpose is to call attention to how the Japanese use red-light entertainment as a catalyst for their loneliness.
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​We challenged ourselves to create a space where the red-light businesses on our block would be called out and brought to the attention of all walking the street. Our intervention concept was centered around this idea, when we not only would highlight the businesses in red, but we would pull them out from their respective places, having them protrude into the street.