Bt tourist-iendly gay bars Shju Ni-chome | Time Out Tokyo

Contents:

• THE 10 BEST TOKYO GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS TOKYO
• THE 10 BEST JAPAN GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS JAPAN
• THE 10 BEST SHJU GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS SHJU
• BT TOURIST-IENDLY GAY BARS SHJU NI-CHOME
• THE BEST FUOKA GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS FUOKA
• THE BT GAY BARS SEOUL
• 4 SHJU GAY BARS WH A RELAXG FOREIGN-FRIENDLY VIBE

THE 10 BEST TOKYO GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS TOKYO

15 plac sorted by traveler favorDner Theaters • Gay BarsWhat travelers are saygMiguelLos Angel, CA26 ntributnsExplorg the area I ma up my list and we had the Mcle Bar Black Nu on our list, the staff is very iendly and we had a nice eveng wh them and the other ctomers even if we don’t speak Japane, we drk, we sg and left happy! MiguelLos Angel, CA26 ntributnsEagle is a pretty ol bar the gay block at Shju, the staff is very iendly and sce s a place wh a lot of ternatnal visors they speak English!

THE 10 BEST JAPAN GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS JAPAN

25 plac sorted by traveler favorDner Theaters • Gay BarsGay Bars • Theatre & PerformancWhat travelers are saygMiguelLos Angel, CA26 ntributnsExplorg the area I ma up my list and we had the Mcle Bar Black Nu on our list, the staff is very iendly and we had a nice eveng wh them and the other ctomers even if we don’t speak Japane, we drk, we sg and left happy! Shju Ni-Chome, or send district of Shju, has the hight ncentratn of gay and lbian bars the world, wh an timated 350 bars one cy block, providg for every different kd of taste.

The book Shju Story is a rult of terviewg gay and lbian bar owners and bartenrs over the past three Shju Ni Chome are like livg rooms, through often even smaller than those you'd fd hom the Uned Stat.

Bars Shju are also secret livg rooms where we n share our stori, where everyone n be who they want to Senju is a Brooklyn-based photographer who recently published his book Shju Story, where more than 45 gay bar owners om Tokyo were terviewed and photographed.

THE 10 BEST SHJU GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS SHJU

One day while he was middle school, his father accintally brought him to gay sna Asaka after a horse race, thkg was a regular sna. His father grabbed his arm and walked out, gmblg "It's a homo sna.

Pretty much every gay man Tokyo has some fond memori of Kuo. Margaret llected more than ten thoand gay, lbian, homosexual, and drag queen theme books. Toshiyi's first gay experience was durg summer mp, when he was 14.

Growg up on Okawa island, Maily Moo knew he was gay, but uldn't e out to his father when asked about his sexualy.

BT TOURIST-IENDLY GAY BARS SHJU NI-CHOME

In 1980, a gay man hid two journals above a light fixture a stiflg apartment Tokyo. It was a vtage issue of the Japane gay magaze Barazoku, and two journals wh serene, waterlor vers, wrten between 1980 and 1984.

The diari belonged to Noriyi, a young gay man who had lived here alone, the sixth buildg of the first street of the fourth subdivisn of Nishishju nearly thirty years ago. By the 1980s, when Noriyi would have equented the gay bars and ffee clubs of Ni-chōme, the area had bee the center of gay life Tokyo, and, by extensn, Japan. In a cy of mosts (most rtrants, most people, most vendg mach), Ni-chōme was no exceptn, boastg the hight ncentratn of gay bars, clubs, and f Asia—over 300 crammed to five square cy blocks.

THE BEST FUOKA GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS FUOKA

For young gay men like Noriyi, would have been the center of the world. The days, wh the rise of ter datg and the greater acceptance of gay rights Japan, Ni-chōme’s role as a rare safe space for LGBT Japane has dimished, although is still the premier LGBT nightlife district the untry. By 1980, he’d found a job at a gay host bar, an eratn of the peculiar Japane stutn known as the hosts club, self a cheaper, grtier eratn of geisha culture.

THE BT GAY BARS SEOUL

The hosts, particularly women and gay men, are stigmatized for what is generally seen as improper work. Noriyi’s ia of fun was to take dgs—ually speed, acid, or MDMA, always phemistilly scribed as “medice”—and go dancg at his favore gay dis Ni-chōme, New Sazae, which is still around today, half a century after openg 1966. The days New Sazae and s effervcent, crisply drsed bar-master, Shn, who plays ‘70s and ‘80s dis for a middle-aged, not-entirely-gay crowd, have the aged grace of stutns.

Japan’s cultural norms and s attus around homosexualy are difficult to terpret. LGBTQ+ travel expert Ed Salvato shows around the gayborhood and shar his safety tips. Sexualy – homo or hetero – is nsired a private matter; It’s not flnted public displays of affectn or discsed.

4 SHJU GAY BARS WH A RELAXG FOREIGN-FRIENDLY VIBE

Bee of this, much of lol gay life is not jt hidn – ’s accsible.

That said, homosexualy is legal Japan, wh small protectns for gays, lbians and even transgenr people enacted mostly on a lol level. Japane travel provirs are also startg to regnise the gay travel market.

Tokyo has hundreds of gay bars, but only a handful wele foreigners. As openly gay travelers (who ed the word hband, but didn’t hold hands public), we felt pletely fortable and wele.

Tokyo gayborhood. This is where you’ll fd the gay neighbourhood and the most ncentrated dose of queer travel Japan offers.