Shju Nichome: Stretchg Your Yen Tokyo's Gay District | Tokyo Cheapo

Contents:

• SHJU NICHOME: STRETCHG YOUR YEN THE GAYBORHOOD
• GAY MOSW · CY GUI
• THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW
• GAY TOKYO

SHJU NICHOME: STRETCHG YOUR YEN THE GAYBORHOOD

The lg is fal and nnot be has fallen behd s global peers regnizg gay and transgenr rights.

It is the only member of the Group of 7 natns that has not legalized same-sex month, the Japane Parliament passed a bill that outlawed “unfair discrimatn” and promoted “unrstandg” of gay and transgenr people, a measure that rights advot emed sufficient and watered down om a bill submted natn’s urts have been more sympathetic to gay and transgenr rights. Ne stat have laws banng transgenr people om g bathrooms or other facili that align wh their genr inty at least some settgs, acrdg to the Movement Advancement Project, a thk liberatns over the bill promotg unrstandg of gay and transgenr people the Diet, as Japan’s Parliament is known, nservative policians raised ncerns that the law might enable men to barge to women’s bathrooms and asslt Tuday after the cisn was released, some nservativ objected. ”She said pendg on how the language and spe of the cisn is terpreted, the se uld affect other rights for gay and transgenr people.

GAY MOSW · CY GUI

Activists said that the Supreme Court cisn uld help nudge other pani and lol ernments to change their own l erng the e of rtrooms by transgenr lg uld help “lol ernments to make their own policy or their own ordanc, and many pani will follow the judgment, ” said Gon Matsunaka, a director and adviser to Pri Hoe Tokyo, a support center for the gay and transgenr muny. Shju Ni-Chome, Tokyo’s gay district, is famed for s high ncentratn of bars, clubs and eateri terg to the entire LGBT muny.

Run by Japane gay culture pneer To Ogura, a wrer and magaze edor who is known as Margarette drag queen circl, ’s quickly bee the talk of the town.

THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW

An avid rear of Adonis, Japan’s olst gay magaze that once unted lerary tan Y Mishima among s ntributors, Ogura sat down wh to talk about his extensive archive of gay publitns. ‘That number might surprise you, but gay lerature is such a broad ncept.

GAY TOKYO

Ogura has been an avid bookworm sce childhood – ‘I read Y Mishima books as a kid, spe not havg any ia what he was talkg about, ’ he says – and always had wi-rangg terts, but he only turned to llectg wrg on gay culture after the ath of his lleague Ben Kimura. After years of ntributg to gay magaz, popular illtrator Kimura passed away 2003. ‘One day, a ctomer me to me lookg for the first gay-themed book he had ever read, ’ reunts Ogura.

‘Many gay people first start alg wh their sexualy through books, so the emotnal element is very strong, ’ he says. Rints range om outrageoly out-there, alien, and genr-bent to culturally tradnal and polilly nservative (though 's worth notg that the past few years have seen LGBTQ activists elected to ernment offic cludg Kanako Otsuji, the first openly gay member of the Hoe of Reprentativ, and 2019, Taiga Ishikawa to Japan's Hoe of Councillors). To w, some of the most popular genr of manga and anime are gay-themed "yaoi" and "BL" (short for "boylove") romanc, which sell like gangbters among Japane femal and have spired dozens of live-actn movi the same ve.

" about a gay uple and the wonrful food they nsume (which has spired viewers to create those dish at home). The center of Japan's gay universe his pla sight, smack dab the 7-square-e district (or ward) of Shju, Tokyo.

A 10 or 15-mute walk om btlg Shju Statn brgs you to a quieter, more rintial feelg sectn of the cy lled Shju Ni-chome, which is home to at least a hundred LGBTQ bars and clubs, a sna plex, and gay-centric shops brimmg wh clothg, accsori, paraphernalia, and adult goods. 2, " which offer a ep dive to Shju Ni-chome's history and how beme the "gayborhood" is today, wh glimps behd the closed doors. And 2019, Queer Eye dispatched s Fab Five to Tokyo for a season to dig to the culture and gay life.

Queer men n also get the si sop on Tokyo gay life, and possibly make a iend (or more), via the app 9Monsters: s chat functn nveniently to translat English to Japane and vice versa, and there's a b of Pokemon cutens to the way assigns a kd of creature (or Monster) to the er and the type of guy they seem to like. GaijPot Travel, a webse for English-speakg expats (and would-be expats, also featur a helpful page of Tokyo LGBTQ plac to check out, om f to nightlife, pl Japane gay bar etiquette and other helpful cultural hts.

), and Shju Ni-chome's 24 Kaikan Shju adds a whole lot of gay cisg and actn to the mix, wh eight floors of facili cludg steam room, dark rooms, and private bs (for a premium). Kick thgs off wh the misleadgly named New Sazae, which is actually Tokyo's olst gay bar— opened 1966—and pays plenty of homage to s past wh s r and "funky dis" and soul mic nights.