a little boring. But I got a free spectacle that certainly made excellent entertainment.There is a phenomenon in Japan that is called "Nanpa". It generally means something along the lines of "flirting", see the following link for a more historical background on the term : http://neojaponisme.com/2007/12/05/nanpa-a-history/. These days it is used for pick up lines on the street and there are certain areas that are especially popular for this, eeh, sport... Tokyo`s main spot would probably be Center Gai in Shibuya where all the male and female fashion dolls like to spend their time at. Or the square in front of Shinjuku`s South East Exit. And definitely the Ikebukuro station area. Ikebukuro as a nanpa spot has even found literary mention in Ira Ishida`s novel and manga "Ikebukuro West Gate Park" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikebukuro_West_Gate_Park). As one of the more seedy areas of the city and with an abundance of love hotels it seems an obvious choice
for nanpa...So there was this group of guys standing at the East station exit. Excuse the poor quality of the pictures, I took them in a as unobvious as possible fashion with my mobile phone... Quite clever, three guys representing three distinctly different types and tastes. There was a) the epitomy of the Japanese Male Doll or "Gyaru-O" (girly guy) with the "Tina-Turner-in-the-80`s" hairstyle dyed in blonde, super tight trousers, long pointed shoes, all sorts of bling bling and a stupid "I`m so hot" expression on his face. Then b) the Macho Guy. Short hair dyed in sand blond, heavy fake tan, baseball cap and a intentionally manly body posture and facial expression, the internationally recognized "I`m the man" type. And then c) a less obvious candidate, the Nerdy Guy or "Otaku" as they are called here. Next to his friends an obvious lack of fashion sense, glasses, undefined haircut. Still, unlike the typical Otaku definitely not of the shy stay-at-home-and-play-video-games type. In a refined approach that would have made anyone working in Sales jealous, those guys
scouted the area for girls to tackle and chose the appropriate team member to address her instantly. I seem to be the macho type target - lol. When I arrived the guy too a closer look at me and seemed to consider addressing me. But they are cowards, so the risk of me not speaking Japanese seemed too big I guess. It was really funny to watch and they were very busy as the approach of Nanpa is not class but mass. Chat up as many girls as possible and try to get their phone numbers. Most will probably be annoyed and leave, but if you approach enough you will get SOME phone numbers. That is the philosophy of Nanpa I guess. The girly guy targeted the dolly girls, the "Hime" gal, princess girl and the super fashionistas. The macho targeted the more streetsy but still fashionable type. And the nerd the shy, office girl type. Despite the obvious stupidity of the endeavour as such I thought their way of approaching the "market" was kind of brilliant. 
I failed to count the number of girls they chatted up during these 25 or so minutes, but there were quite a few. They were insistent too, so if the girl kept on walking they would just walk with her for a bit to still talk her into handing over her phone number (or ideally go straight for the love hotel I guess). They did not chat a lot with each other, though obviously being there as a group. In between the chat-ups they would be checking their mobiles to keep track of past success stories I guess and scout the area for new "customers".
The most clever of those guys combine nanpa with a job. A popular form of ads is the hand-out of small items like handkerchiefs or a hand fan with a marketing message printed on. They are handed out in high-density pedestrian areas, usually by students. Quite a few of those guys seem to use this job that requires approaching people anyway for nanpa. Making money while picking up girls, I guess that is smart...
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