Let's Talk About the Time I 'Missed' at GINGIRA☆TOKYO

ElonA blog that only writes up the good experiences is useless. If you don't also write about the times you miss, you're no help to the reader. But "I missed" doesn't mean the shop rates low — I want to get that across precisely.

Post-COVID Shinjuku

September 2021. Tokyo, fresh off the lifting of a state of emergency, had a distinctive way of refilling its entertainment districts. Shinjuku and Kabukicho came back fast. It's always been a strong neighborhood, and a pleasure quarter is exactly the kind of place that bursts back to life after a stretch of abstinence.

GINGIRA☆TOKYO ~Gingira Tokyo~ is one of the long-running delivery health (deriheru) operations in the Shinjuku–Kabukicho area. Its hours, 11 a.m. to 7 the next morning, are cut for the entertainment district and capture late-night demand well.

This wasn't my first time using the place. I'd used it once a few years back, and the impression then wasn't bad. So this time I called feeling relatively relaxed about it.

Where the Mismatch Happened

The girl who came over wasn't a bad girl. Let me say that up front. It wasn't that there was a technical problem, or that her attitude was off. It's just that she was a slightly different character from the "bright girl who keeps the conversation going" I'd ordered over the phone.

She was a quiet girl. Composed, polite, and her service was passing-grade or better. But the conversation didn't flow. Whatever I said, it ended at "Oh, is that so." Not a bad thing. Just not what I was after that particular night.

ElonAn order like "a bright girl" or "a girl who keeps the conversation going" is tough. The front desk is working off little more than a photo, an age, and a comment, so your "bright" and the shop's "bright" don't always line up. I should have ordered more specifically over the phone, or used the nomination system (requesting a specific girl). A lesson learned.

Sorting Out the "Miss"

I said I "missed," but sorted out it breaks down like this:

• A problem with the shop itself? → Almost none. The front desk was courteous.
• A problem with the girl who came? → No issue with technique or attitude. A mismatch of character.
• A problem with order precision? → This is the big one.

In the end, 70 percent of the cause of a miss comes down to order precision. Instead of saying "a bright girl," I should have said "a girl who laughs a lot" or "a girl who asks a lot of questions."

For the record, I later called the same GINGIRA☆TOKYO on a different day, ordered more specifically this time, and drew a winner. The shop's potential is high. The problem was in the way I ordered.

The Bottom Line

I wrote about a miss, but GINGIRA is a shop you won't regret choosing in Kabukicho. Just make your phone order more specific. Keep to that one thing and it will exceed your expectations.