Gay Japan Tour | Featurg Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo

Contents:

• THE 10 BEST TOKYO GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS TOKYO
• BL / GAY - NEW MOVI AND DRAMAS 2020-2021
• JAPAN GAY TRAVEL
• MEET THE MR GAY JAPAN 2019 FALISTS
• GAY MALE MOVG TO JAPAN

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

When I first me to Japan the 1990s, the gay muny seemed visible. There was no annual gay-rights para of the type seen many parts of Europe. There were no openly gay natnal lawmakers or sports figur.

BL / GAY - NEW MOVI AND DRAMAS 2020-2021

On televisn, gay stereotyp and discrimatn were mon: the word "okama" was still wily ed a rogatory way. So, I was taken aback when I was missned later to wre a feature about 2-Chome Tokyo's Shju district and found one of the world's nst and most diverse ncentratn of gay bars and clubs: roughly 300 bs squeezed to a uple of blocks, cludg sex shops and waterg hol terg to a wi array of tast -- known as kei (specialty). "I've even heard of one place that is for baiku-kei" (ugly men), Taq Otsa, thor of several books on Japan's gay told me, lghg.

While 2-Chome was emergg as a refuge for homosexuals what was formerly a red-light district, Brish police were still arrtg gay men toilets and public parks. Unlike many other untri, Japan did not have an anti-sodomy law (sce the enforcement of the old Penal Co 1882, ) nor did have what Mark McLelland, thor of "Homosexualy Morn Japan: Cultural Myths and Social Realti" lled the "anti-homosexual rage" of many Christian cultur, the lethal fuel for homophobia and gay-bashg.

JAPAN GAY TRAVEL

Though tated by the ual agoni of personal inty and need for secrecy, gays and lbians Japan didn't suffer the same outright reprsn as other parts of the world (Bra's anti-sodomy law was not repealed until 1967). While Japan has been paratively laidback about s sexual preferenc, however, has also lacked the polil and social mpaigng that has helped transform the liv of homosexuals elsewhere.

Gayns was and is still largely seen as a personal liftyle choice, not somethg to be flnted or argued over on the streets and parliament. That's one reason, I gus, for Tokyo's relatively low-key gay rights para. Yet, many gay people still face hardship, bullyg and discrimatn.

Taiwan, not Japan, beme the first Asian untry to legalize gay marriage 2019.

MEET THE MR GAY JAPAN 2019 FALISTS

" It's not clear how much support this bizarre old discreded trope, argug that homosexualy n be "cured, " has wh Japan's lg party. 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.

GAY MALE MOVG TO JAPAN

”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. 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. 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.