Gay Tokyo – Take A Bow

[TotallyOz]

Gay Tokyo – Take A Bow

It's time to take a trip over to the South Pacific, where rice queens who are tired of Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia can sexperience some hot nightlife and find their own geisha boy to gay the night away with.

That's right, my flaming fags, hunky hustlers, beautiful bears and terrific twinks - today we are going to give you a glimpse of Gay Tokyo, where you can party all night long and find the sticky rice of your wet dreams.

First, let's dispel one rumor about Tokyo right off the bat: It's no longer anywhere near as expensive as it used to be. In the aftermath of currency revaluation, the earthquake and deflation, costs have come down quite a bit. While it's still not an inexpensive place to visit, it's no more expensive than New York, Paris or any other major tourist destination in the West.

And this goes for rent boys as well, so you can always afford your boy toys whenever you want to play with them.

One thing you will have to worry about if you are trying to hook up with cute guys you meet who are not pay for play, though: Tokyo is still a somewhat closeted city, and there are many arranged marriages. Beyond that, there is huge social pressure for people to marry members of the opposite sex.

So many, if not most of the guys you meet in bars and clubs will have an official wife or girlfriend and be hooking up on the down low. In other words, their sausage may taste a bit like sushi.

Anyway, let's get you the low down on how to go down in Gay Tokyo!

The Practicalities Of Getting Laid In Tokyo

Tokyo is one of the most densely packed cities in the world, and apartments are scarce. This means that many people live with their parents until they are in their 20s or 30s. And those that do have their own apartments live in very tiny studios that are not really big enough for two people.

Therefore, if you want to hook up with someone in a bed you'll either need to take them back to your hotel, or else go to one of the thousands of “love hotels” in the city that rent out bedrooms by the hour.

The Gayborhood

The place to go to meet the gays is the Ni-Chome neighborhood. This small district is known for having more gay bars per square foot than any other place in the world. No matter what you are looking for, you'll find it here.

You may, however, have to check out a couple bars and clubs before you start partying. Some of them only admit Asians, and some are Japanese-only. Restrictions are also an issue with the saunas and bathhouses in Ni-Chome – some of them will only admit people under age 30. Others will only admit people who are in shape. Still others are Japanese-only. So, don't be surprised if you are turned away from the first couple of saunas you try to visit – it's not you, it's them.

When in the saunas and gay bars, be careful before someone tries to take you into a darkened corner. Some Yakuza have been known to pretend to be gay men and then rob people when they have them alone. The best way to try to avoid this is to look at their hands before you agree to hook up – if they have any tattoos there, move on to the next dude.

That said, despite the closeted nature of the city and the few gangsters around, Tokyo is not really homophobic at all. It's just that people tend to ignore homosexuality rather than discuss it or bring it out into the open. It's a part of their culture of privacy.

Twice The Pride

For a closeted city, it's somewhat surprising that they have two different pride events every year – Gay Pride in August, and Rainbow Pride in April. Both events are very popular and attended by mostly the same people.

The reason the two events exist is that the original organizers of Gay Pride had a falling out, and some of them split off to create Rainbow Pride. But who are we to complain about double pride happiness?

Daytime Fun

While the clubs and bars are packed with gays during the night, day gay stuff in Tokyo is almost invisible, so you'll want to plan some vanilla sightseeing while the sun is shining.

Luckily there is plenty to do, so you won't get bored waiting for Ni-Chome to come alive and the men to “come out.”

On your first day here, take a ride on the Sky Bus Tokyo. It will take you on a guided tour of the most important neighborhoods in the city, give you a bit of history, and help you get yourself oriented.

Once you've done that, you'll want to go to Asakusa, where you can visit beautiful ancient temples. This is where you want to take the photos you can send home to your straight friends and family members. You'll also want to let yourself be awed by the traditional Imperial Palace.

To get a great view of the city, including Mt. Fuji and Shinjuku, go to the Bunkyo Civic Center. Entrance is free!

Ok, Now You Know Scoop For A Sushi Free Tokyo Gaycation!

Come on down, because you can't just Bangkok forever!

[pauleiro]

Interesting article about gay tokyo.

I was there last month but did not stay long enough to go to a gay place. Last year, though, I went to a chain of gay sauna (kaikan 24 - there is one in Shinjuku ni chome and another one in Ueno and another one in Asakusa.

I went to the sauna in Shinjuku and to the one in Ueno. Not that easy to find, but ok.

There is a strict procedure, to remove your shoes, your clothes, to put them in a locker, to put the key in another locker, to get a dressing gown, to shower, but there are some indications in English.

Lot of action in the whole building. The rooms are indeed, as mentioned below, very expensive. So most of the action is done in the common rooms, under sheets. Lot of noises, very exctiing.

Most of the Japanese have a small cock, even when erect. So they are amazed to see a normal size European dick. They would faint if they were to see a dick in the Rio Saunas lol.

The etiquette in Japan is that normally Japanese do not touch each other. They simply hate that and do not shake end, but bow. Of course in the sauna, the etiquette is different, but you may see people bowing, then sucking or fucking. Very funny.

Japanese are often turned on by hair, since most of the Japanese are totally hairless with only a dense bush around their tiny cock. They were speechless in front of my European size cock and hairy chest.

2 nice evening in Tokyo.

When I was living in Japan, many years ago, I used to go to Shinjuku. I remember a stripping place where after the strip show, the clients were invited to join to fuck the girl or the boy, depending on which type of strip club you went to. If many customers were bold enough to go fuck on stage in front of the public, they were playing "jankenpo" (stone, paper and scisors) and the winner went fucking on stage. There were no internet at that time and no publications in English. I had to spend a lot of time before finding these place. No need to mention that the strippers were not Japanese, but from Korea, which was, at that time, the sex reservoir of Japan (often, good employees meeting their targets were wining a sex tour to Korea at the company's expense).

Some comments on Kaikan 24 :

24-Hour Kaikan is a gay sauna, part of a chain, located at the back of Shinjuku Ni-Chome,
and, with 8 floors, is the biggest cruising premises in the area. As
the name indicates, 24-Hour Kaikan is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week. Foreigners are welcome, and staff speak limited English.



The 2,600 yen entrance fee, payable by vending machine in the entrance,
is for a 13-hour stay: 200 yen-per-hour after that. (A 6-hour “short
stay” on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. is also possible for 2,000
yen: 200 yen-per-hour after that.)



The procedure is: put shoes in locker and change into slippers, buy
admission ticket from vending machine, take shoe locker key and ticket
to the front desk, and receive a clothes locker key and a bag with robe,
face cloth, and bath towel. The reception floor also has a snack room.



There is parking on the first floor (600 yen for first 3 hours). There
is a dry sauna, steam room, communal bath, and tanning beds on the 3rd
floor. There is a video room on the 4th floor, and private rooms on the
5th, 6th, and 7th floors.



Private rooms are expensive (from 3,800 yen to 21,000 yen depending on
numbers and time slot) so most action takes place in the common rooms on
the 4th, 5th, and 6th floors - so much action in fact that if on
weekends you manage to find a space on a futon to lie down, sleep is
often difficult. Being a roomful of scores of guys, there is naturally a
lot of snoring. Being a roomful of guys there for hooking up, there is
also naturally a lot of moaning and groaning, huffing and puffing, and
those on the cruising front lines scouring the scene for hookups with
subtle groping of likely looking sleeping forms.



Foreigners are not all uncommon at 24 Kaikan Shinjuku, and, while most
Japanese guys are not very forthcoming and are unlikely to make the
first move, if you know what you want and stay tuned, your chances are
as good as anywhere else in the world. The easiest Japanese guys to hook
up with are gaisen, i.e. those into foreign guys, but they do not
necessarily form the limits of your cruising experience in Japan. Those
who don't think of themselves as gaisen might just need a little more
effort on your part.



24 Kaikan also has a rooftop floor, equipped with another suntan room and a cold bathtub.

[TotallyOz]

Pauleiro, thank you for that. Much much appreciated. You are certainly a world traveler. I hope you have time to meet up one day as I know I'd love to hear some of your adventures!

I have friends that go to Japan often as well as many places in Asia. There are so many great places to see when you are in that area. Check out this thread from a friend of mine, it has great pics of Taiwan's gay parade 2012.

http://www.gaythailand.com/forums/topic/8083-taipei-gay-pride-parade-2012/

Here is a great post about Japan from the same friend.

http://www.gaythailand.com/forums/topic/7804-tokyo-as-a-potential-stopover-blog/?hl=japan

And Japan in general:

http://www.gaythailand.com/forums/topic/7772-will-westerners-ever-understand-japan/?hl=japan

Please be sure to log in and see his photos. He takes them all and if you want to see what a regular person sees, his photos are amazing. In the Tokyo article, he goes into some great detail on the saunas as well.

[flipao]

thank you TotallyOz and Pauleiro for the reports!

[Lucky]

My assumption is that Totally Oz writes the reports since they are posted under his name. The writer had the task of mentioning racism and discrimination in Japan, while at the same time posting a positive and upbeat report. He did a good job.

It is never any fun to be discriminated against. I once went to the baths in LA with a friend who was turned away as "too old." He was 46. Gay guys taking their sisters to a dance club suddenly learn of rules designed to keep women out. (No open-toed shoes, for one.)

And in Japan, westerners quickly find that their money is so welcome in the shopping mall, but not at the dance club or the sauna. Of course, it is not really their money that is unwelcome, it is them! Japanese like to socialize with other Japanese, and foreigners simply are kept out. And we have not even begun to discuss weight and looks, just skin color. In Bangkok, they have one nice street in Patpong that is devoid of vendors and full of clubs catering to the Japanese-only trade.

It's not to pick on the Japanese that I mention this. Discrimination is practiced widely enough that we don't even notice it when there are no fat people present, or old people, or fill-in-the-blank people. But for gay men to discriminate so widely against other gay men as the the Japanese gays do is really a bit much, I want Asian men to be free of discrimination in dealing with the western world, but the Japanese are not helping.

[BiBottomBoy]

I agree.

[msclelovr]

"for gay men to discriminate so widely against other gay men as the the Japanese gays do is really a bit much"

I wonder: I have limited experience of Japan, Tokyo gay bars and the Japanese but I do not agree. My feeling is that the attitude is not gay-related but simple xenophobia.

I speak very limited Japanese. I only used it in simple exchanges, where I was certain that I had the proper language and honorifics. I found that Japanese strangers or officials most often could not believe a foreigner could express himself in their language.

[Guest EXPAT]

I believe msclelovr is right. I do think it is an across the board xenophobia. I have to say because of that Japan is my least favorite country to visit. I have been many times on business and I did not enjoy it at any time unfortunately. And this "lack of trust" is terrible in the business community. They all agree while you are there and then they ignore you as you leave. It's very strange and shocking actually compared to almost all other cultures in the world including the Chinese and Koreans.

[Lucky]

My point was that the entire culture excludes others, thus yes, it is xenophobia. But were we to try to find a starting point to change it, as gays we would look to our fellow gays to stop excluding gays because of their national origin or any other reason.

I am with EXPAT that I won't go beyond Narita to contribute one dime to this society until change occurs.

[BiBottomBoy]

Word.

[AdamSmith]

And this "lack of trust" is terrible in the business community. They all agree while you are there and then they ignore you as you leave. It's very strange and shocking actually compared to almost all other cultures in the world including the Chinese and Koreans.

All this seems dead on. I've been a few times on business (never pleasure), and while they treat you with the forms of respect and hospitality, the substance of same is rare. In fact one trip when I was the only gaijin at a conference (which my own company organized, even), I finally had some hint of how a black man must feel in much of white American mainstream society.

I did feel I became genuine friends with two business associates there, but both were as they say "wild ducks" who visibly didn't fit in and were subtly ostracized. I noticed both spent as much time outside Japan as possible.

[firecat691614502759]

As a tourist I never felt unwelcome but I can believe the feelings that you all talk about.

I wonder if the Last Sammurai correctly portrays how the Westerners polluted their society many years ago and this feeling has become ingrained?

[Lucky]

Firecat, did you go to Japanese saunas or gay bars that allow westerners to mix with locals?

[BiBottomBoy]

How do they get business done if they are dicks to westerners?

[firecat691614502759]

Firecat, did you go to Japanese saunas or gay bars that allow westerners to mix with locals?

I was only a tourist and I can believe what you say . Just wondering where those deep feelings come from?