Shinjuku ２丁目， Castro District of Tokyo

Sunday, April 18th, 2010 in: News, Travel

I had an action-packed Friday that can’t be summed up in bullet points. Also, I believe 2-chome is a bit of a special topic that deserves a bit of explanation…

Shinjuku 2-chome is a small section of Tokyo to the southeast of  the train station, and is one of the few places where people are comfortable being openly gay. Every year, there are several gay exchange students, and for the most part, they have to learn for themselves what it means to be gay in Japan. When we rewrote the student experience report, Billy put some good information into a special section on the subject, but we decided not to be too specific about things so as to avoid living the students’ lives for them. We just wanted to give them basic guidelines, but it was up to them how their year would go.

This year, it seems there are four gay students, and they’re having a hard time adjusting to Japan. Mark in particular is having trouble with the ambiguity of Japanese guys, misinterpreting signals etc. He wants to go to 2-chome, but doesn’t feel comfortable organizing an expedition or going on his own. So of course, he deferred to me, the straight guy who has only been there once. Oh well, I’m generally game for whatever, so I agreed to show him around.

I shot out an e-mail to Billy and Reed to ask about their experiences, 2-chome and the LGBT group on campus (GLOW). They responded quickly with a wealth of tips and information. “Culturally, Japan has a very deep closet,” Billy warned,”Your friends are very unlikely to feel comfortable being “out” away from 2chome or GLOW… Your friends can expect to be invisible in the larger culture because queer stuff just isn’t talked about. Most people would never imagine they could be gay because it’s so invisible. They’re American–how can they be gay?”

They also had some fun suggestions for 2-chome: “There are over 300 bars in 2chome. Many of them are “gaijin kinshi.” Again, they can overcome this sometimes if their Japanese is really good. Some are genre specific and don’t allow those outside the genre i.e. chubby chaser or tranny bars. For a great giggle, tell them to look up Cholesterol, the tiniest bar I saw in Japan (3 seats) and it’s a chubby chaser bar! Oh the irony!”

So after a full day of slacklining in the park and climbing at Pump, we all gathered in Shinjuku for dinner at La Pausa and headed off to 2-chome. We got Don some coffin space at a local capsule hotel (that he would end up not needing anyways) and saw Sosha and Shinobu off, for they both had an early morning ahead of them. The final crowd was myself, Mark, Kaoru, Don, Odaya and Masato; quite a motley crew for a 2-chome excursion, but whatever!

Our first stop was Advocates, a small pub on a popular corner on the main drag. I actually remember pulling one of Hans’s friends out of there all those years ago. Don and I were standing by the bar, enjoying our proper gin-tonics, and the foreigner couple behind us muttered “straight guys gotta go” to each other. I guess my traveler’s fashion gave me away, or my lack of a wandering eye? Or maybe it was Don’s Aeropostale polo?

Next we hit up Arty Farty’s, a club on the outskirts of the district. I’ve only been to a handful of “clubs” in Japan, and Arty Farty’s has been by far the most fun experiences. The vibe is so much more positive and uplifting, especially when everyone knows the words to the songs. I hate to generalize, but in my experience, straight clubs in places like Roppongi and Shibuya are just full of upset-looking foreigners mad-mugging you for being in the same country. This is the kind of foreigner who can’t get any back home so they come to these clubs to meet the kind of Japanese girls who come to meet foreigners (read: easy pickins for Fugly McMugface). These guys have no redeeming quality capable of getting them laid beyond their ethnicity. I’ve met enough clubbers to be satisfied with this assessment; I’m just a bit grossed out by these people and the kind of people who are attracted to them, so I tend to stay away from that crowd altogether. And I don’t really go out dancing so it’s rarely an issue!

But gay clubs, muah! Arty Farty is like a rave without the drugs. Sure people are there for similar reasons, but no one is giving you the stink eye. In fact, most of them are just checking you out.

And so it was this particular night. I’ve now officially been hit on more times at Arty Farty’s than anywhere else on this planet. Granted, that’s still not very much, but it counts for something in this book! I even had a GIRL come dance up on me in an inappropriate way. I had to call out to Mark to get him to come rescue me by dancing interference. We eventually made it out to the dance floor and I even had some fun, though it was totally by accident. Odaya was having a gay old time (old English definition), grabbing asses left and right.

We tried to go to GB, a more down-key bar just around the corner for a nightcap. But the sign (and the bartender) said “no girls allowed,” so we had to give up on it and head back towards the station. Odaya led us to a highball bar he frequented, where if you drink a liter highball in under 25 seconds, your next drink is free. He actually cleared it, and talked me into trying it too but after the first 10 seconds I knew I couldn’t finish it; all the ice made the drink so cold it hurt my teeth. I’d rather just drink it slowly and enjoy it. I’m not a student anymore!! We stayed WAY longer than expected, drinking and talking and trying to get the bartender’s phone number for Odaya (which we DID, finally). A fun way to spend a Friday, though the following day I will have wished I’d drank way more water.

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