An Empty Street In Ikebukuro

Where I was walking from

Crossing the intersection and lights were still bright

Noticed a man in his luup passed by but that was it, no more people

After we had a day of relaxation at Spadium Japon, we wanted to eat a good dinner in Ikebukuro but we arrived almost 11 PM. It's that late. Many good restaurants were already closed. For sure the izakayas (Japanese pub) were still opened but it would be a waste to spend a fortune and leave right away because our last trains were almost up. We then decided to spend the night in a karaoke room. After a relaxation, we're stressing our vocal cords hitting those high notes.

In the middle of the dawn, my partner called me and asked me where I was. I told him I was in karaoke together with my friends. He insisted I go home and not wait for the first train. Being the obedient girlfriend that I am, I obliged and left my friends still singing their hearts out.

The time was 3 AM. Is it morning already? It's still dark to be called it a morning. I was walking in Sunshine 60 Street in Ikebukuro and noticed that it's totally different when this is daytime or nighttime.

This street is usually full of passers by, of all ages. Either going to the Sunshine City mall or just shopping around this street. Aside from that, there's a bunch of arcades, karaoke and basically all kinds of entertainment (including night entertainment for busy people). As for that meaning, I'll leave that imagination to you. 😉

One night I was walking here with a friend, it's not yet dawn like this, we saw women dressed beautifully, some look like cosplayers but I didn't think they were, probably working and maid costume was their uniform. As we were passing, we saw a beautiful lady but when she talked, her voice was totally different! The lady was actually a man. I had to avoid eye contact with her for a long time because she might find me creepy staring at her in amusement.

I just got reminded of that incident because I didn't see anyone on the street except for a guy shouting that they had the best karaoke. Seriously, why was he shouting when I was the only one walking? Was he trying to get attention from people on another street? Who knows.

It's just too rare for this busy street in Ikebukuro to be so empty now. If you're wondering how this looks like at night time, you can read this post of mine last year. This year COVID restrictions have already been lifted so there were more people than last year.

If you wanna know if it was safe to walk here at 3 AM by yourself, well, nothing happened to me so probably it was. I wasn't scared but it was definitely something out of the ordinary - I mean walking here on an empty street when it seems Ikebukuro doesn't know the word empty.

Thanks for reading!
See you around! じゃあ、またね！

^{All photos are taken using my phone unless stated otherwise.}

For the best experience view this post on Liketu