Our gay cultural tour of the famo island natn of Japan clus samurai lsons, hand-feedg er, Mt. Fuji, and a bullet tra ri!
Contents:
- SHJU NICHOME: STRETCHG YOUR YEN THE GAYBORHOOD
- THE BOYS OF SHJU: IS TOKYO'S GAY DISTRICT DOOMED?
- TOKYO GAY NIGHT TOURS WH TOKYO HANDSOME BOYS
- THE SPATIALISATN OF DIRE A JAPANE GAY DISTRICT THROUGH SIGNAGE
- TOP 11 GAY FRIENDLY HOTELS IN TOKYO
SHJU NICHOME: STRETCHG YOUR YEN THE GAYBORHOOD
A list of plac to eat, drk and party Shju Nichome — Tokyo's gay district — that are easy on the wallet. * japanese gay district *
Shju Nichome is known as Tokyo’s gay district. The area is home to high ncentratn of gay bars, clubs and rtrants—but how do you choose where to go?
Which brgs on to the next pot of gettg your money’s worth the gayborhood—htg up the happy hours! Bar hoppg through the gayt nightspot wtern Japan.
Doyama has also gaed another reputatn over the last 30 years or so — ’s regard by many as the gayt district wtern Japan. This popular sna has long been a gay cisg spot for steamy enunters. Gay bars and clubs are sprkled among seedier venu like massage parlors and brothels, many advertised at “ee rmatn” ksks (remember, nothg life is “ee”).
THE BOYS OF SHJU: IS TOKYO'S GAY DISTRICT DOOMED?
Tokyo's gay scene is 300 bars and clubs packed to two blocks, where, perhaps surprisgly an otherwise regimented society, has been anythg go for s. So why, asks our Tokyo rrponnt David McNeill, is the wilst party town g to an end? * japanese gay district *
Many of the ls seedy gay venu n be exclive and not welg to new or foreign visors. Though Doyamacho is an LGBT-iendly district much the same ve as Shju’s Ni-Chome, the emphasis here is on the “G” — sce most Doyama bars ter to homosexual men.
Photo: waagwaanA lbian-owned bar Osaka's gay district. Frenz Frenzy is one of the most easy gog and beloved gay bars Osaka. Stop here early and enjoy some karaoke (before you’re too dnk to make out words on a screen) and see for yourself why this bar lls self “the gayt” Osaka.
Run by Osaka’s “godfather of gay” for nearly 20 years, this energetic bar ptur ctomers wh s sparkly and spac terr.
TOKYO GAY NIGHT TOURS WH TOKYO HANDSOME BOYS
For s Shju Nichome has been a rare haven for Tokyo gay culture, but recently the face of the neighborhood has been shiftg. * japanese gay district *
Nightly, a balanced group of gay, straight, foreign and lol people gather to mix and mgle. Otherwise known as “the bar formerly known as Physique Pri, ” G Physique is a roomy and vg gay bar.
This excg club is probably the most popular gay venue Osaka, so swg by even if you’re not a dancer (though, if you’ve been drkg, you probably will be by the time you arrive). Ken’s Club and Garn Cerkle: Adjacent gay clubs Namba. Shsekai: A historic and excg amement area south Osaka wh some bars terg to olr gay men.
THE SPATIALISATN OF DIRE A JAPANE GAY DISTRICT THROUGH SIGNAGE
* japanese gay district *
The gay scene Japan n often be hard to fd as queer issu aren’t so much as reviled here as simply not talked about. Only the lobby, cheerily adorned wh scen om a sex movie that pict a portly pany print beg diligently serviced by a young apprentice, do bee clear that this is one of Asia's biggt gay the ticket mache – 2, 600 yen (about £18) for a 13-hour stay – and pretty much anythg go, say guts who e om across Japan, and even abroad, to sample s treats. "This is a untry that happily liv wh ntradictns, " says Taq Otsa, thor of several books on Japan's gay scene.
" Th, Tokyo, a cy wh a reputatn as one of the most uptight, buttoned-down pals, also boasts, s Shju district, one of the world's nst and most diverse ncentratn of gay bars and clubs: the Ni-chome (pronounced "nee-chomay") area. "But, roughly half a century sce emerged as a refuge for homosexuals what was formerly a red-light district, the block is cle. The lol mercial anisatn that promot Ni-chome timat that the number of gay bars the area has fallen by at least a third the past .
The once exclively male gay clientele is filled out at the weekends wh the straight, the female and the simply cur. "Are gays vanishg om Shju Ni-chome!?, " wonred one of the untry's most popular magaz recently.
TOP 11 GAY FRIENDLY HOTELS IN TOKYO
He c the 2004 closure of the famo gay magaze Barazoku after 33 years as a key moment. "That was a symbolic event when the ter overtook gay culture here. "Ftgly, perhaps, as he shouts over the noise of the dis, Gloria Gaynor's great gay anthem "I Will Survive" poundg out of the partly mirrors the chang Japan's gay culture.