They say that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. This principle applies to many things in life. What one man finds disgusting may be interesting or amazing to another. Take blowjob bars for example. I was amazed and astonished when I first discovered them. But I’ve heard from some other men who think they are disgusting.
For nearly a decade I have covered the commercial sex industry around the world as it actually exist. I have made a real attempt to paint a balanced picture of all the different people and venues involved. Over the last few months I have started to report on what I would say are some of the weirder places on the scene. But another person may find those same places cool or titillating. Who am I to judge?
Mania Slum Shop in Ikebukuro
Mania Slum Shop is an adult shop in the Ikebukuro section of Tokyo. Located on a well traveled street near the popular Ikebukuro Station the place stands out most for it’s small flashing sign. Outside that is. Inside the place stands out for the wide selection of truly weird stuff that it stocks on its shelves. They don’t call it a Mania Slum Shop for nothing.
There are lots of adult shops in Japan. Most carry a range of porn and sex toys. Mania Slum Shop carries that too. But they are quite focused on what they offer. To put it simply this shop is oriented around things like piss, poop and puke porn. Like I said before this is a strange kind of a place.
Located in the basement of a commercial building the shop is filled with tightly packed aisles. The shop is quite clean but that is not really surprising. It is located in Japan after all. Each aisle at Mania Slum Shop is packed to the max with DVDs portraying all sorts of strange stuff involving various bodily fluids. Apparently there have been hundreds of these videos made in Japan. But don’t worry. They didn’t forget to censor out vaginas and penises with mosaics even if you can see everything else unabated.
Why oh why?
You might wonder how a shop selling hard copies of porn could even stay in business in this day and age. In Japan people still purchase a significant amount of physical media. But that is not the whole story. At least not with Mania Slum Shop in Ikebukuro.
This is the kind of place where you see stuff that you can’t find even on the huge Japanese porn archives like ZENRA. So I can only imagine that people with this sort of fetish might head to this shop to get what they are looking for. I am sure some also enjoy shopping here with cash in anonymity. That has to explain it. Because I simply can’t fathom that someone would walk in off the street accidentally and develop a certain interest in skat loving bikini babes or anything of the sort.
There are actually some regular Japanese porn DVDs on display at Mania Slum Shop. I don’t know how many people buy them. They are sort of off in their own area. And there are much bigger and better general adult shops nearby such as the nearby Meiji Shoten with its multiple floors of fun. Still Mania Slum Shop does bring in enough customers to crowd the narrow aisles inside.
When I visited this place I was actually tempted to ask the guy behind the counter some questions about the shop. Unfortunately I didn’t. When I saw the poor man obscured behind privacy walls and wearing a mask and glasses I could only guess that he was trying to avoid any unnecessary interaction with customers. Since I wasn’t even a customer I really didn’t want to bother the guy.
Perhaps I failed as a journalist but this may have helped the guy maintain some of his dignity. We all deserve our privacy and need a way to make a living. So for him Mania Slum Shop is the answer. Since I am not particularly interested in anything inside I can only give the place one-half star. 
Mania Slum Shop. 1-Chome-42-17, Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan. Click here for a map. Open every day from 10:00 AM until 11:00 PM.
