==JAPAN: KM== [Crisis]

We were now in an awkward situation. My instinct told me that I should escape without a moment's delay. In front of us, a naked woman of middle age was putting on her dress she had taken off a little while before. However, I couldn't care less about her. I thought of nothing but how I could get out of there. Why had I gotten caught up in this situation? Everything originated from our foolish decision about our destination....
My high school was an eccentric boys' school where you could watch all-male synchronized swimming in the school festival. Moreover my school gave us much freedom. We could decide anything for ourselves. The destination of our school excursion was not an exception. Then our group didn't decide where to go. We just got on the Yamanote line without specific aim and got off at Shinjuku station.
Outside the station we went shopping first of all. After shopping, one of my friends suddenly suggested going to Kabuki-cho, in which there were many obscene places. Since we had never been there, we had intense curiosity and wild fancy. The place was a paradise for boys in those days, so the proposal was adopted unanimously. Was the destination of a school excursion Kabuki-cho? What a stupid idea it was! But we put the idea into practice without any hesitation. Then none of us dreamed that the decision would cause a terrible incident.
Despite the rise in our determination, we timidly walked along the streets of Kabuki-cho. For we had spent almost all our money on shopping and were overwhelmed by the atmosphere. Most people feared the region, for there were various crimes, such as cases of bloodshed, traffic in drugs and prostitution.
When we were nervously walking, a stranger spoke to us. The man was a barker of a striptease and invited us to come to his theater for five thousand yen. As soon as we tried to refuse his invitation, he suggested that he would reduce the charge to half. We discussed for a while whether we should go or not. Then he consented to reducing the charge to only one thousand yen because we were students. When we listened to him, the Devil in our mind whispered, "No problem. Let's go!" Unfortunately we yielded to the whisper and entered the obscene building.
After we paid the man one thousand yen at the entrance, we were taken to the back of the room and each of us was handed a card with a number on it. The numbers were all different and a tall and thin guy ordered us to sit down on the seat with the corresponding number. The guy had a sharp look in his eyes. We were all seated in different areas and he followed two of us who were seated relatively close. Suddenly he told us that we had paid one thousand yen in advance, but we had to pay nine thousand yen more after the show. At first I couldn't understand him, but after a few moments my brain worked quickly and I reached a conclusion that we were cheated. I began to sweat with fear and breathe hard and besides, I found my heart beating fast. Anyhow, we had to get out of there because all we had was no more than three thousand yen. I didn't know what they would do if we kept staying there as we were. When I was thinking about how to contact my friends, the lights of the theater went out except for the stage. Then a stout middle-aged woman who had been near me a little while before was standing on the stage. At first glance I had considered her to be a cleaning woman. However she started to take her dress off, so I could not believe my own eyes. She had a loose stomach and was overweight, so I couldn't help averting my eyes from her. I didn't care about the striptease any more. What I had to do then was just get out of there. When she stripped herself stark-naked, I noticed that there was an emergency exit near me. Then I signaled to my friend who was near me to go out from the door. The moment all the lights came on after the show, we began to run out of there. We desperately ran as fast as possible. I felt like Harrison Ford in "The Fugitive." If we were caught, we might be killed. Though we intended to go straight to the outdoors, we couldn't find the exit of the building. The building felt like a maze.
At last we found the light of the outside, but we kept running after we had escaped from the theater because we feared that someone might be chasing us. When we reached Shinjuku station, we worried about the other friends and called them on their pager. In spite of our worry, they appeared coolly. They said that nothing had happened to them and that they had gone out from the exit normally. Even now I don't have any idea what happened to us. I don't know whether the guy who had a fierce face was serious or joking. However I learned two important lessons. One is that if the Devil in my own mind whispers something, I should never listen to him. The other is the proverb that there's safety in numbers is a downright lie.


"Getting It Together"

In boyhood everyone has curiosity about dirty things, don't they? We had it, too. We didn't understand the adults' world, so we had such a terrible experience. But thanks to the experience, we learned fear in the world. After we have known fear, we will never think of stupid ideas. We might grow up a little by fear not pleasure in the adults' world.