As any good street tout will tell you, high foot-traffic is the key to success. Sure, he might toss out his chest, flash his best smile and smoothly sell you an explanation for the apparent contradiction between the shapely, high-class ladies he promises and the remarkably low entry price to his establishment, but even a true charmer will not be effective talking to a sidewalk of empty concrete.
So it is conceivable that with the opening of Tokyo Midtown, Tokyo's newest mixed-use, high-rise complex, lucrative business opportunities will be abundant for the throng of hustlers roaming the pavement of Gaien-Higashi- dori just west of the intersection with Roppongi-dori. Or will they?
Standing a mere 50 meters from the doors of the project one recent chilly Tuesday evening, a Nigerian tout turned his gaze upward -- not at any of the development's hulking towers lurking overhead -- but rather at a domed security camera that he said had been installed two weeks before.