ゼネラルステッカー


I was wandering through Shinjuku 2-chome tonight, Tokyo's main gay area, and happened in on a shop there.

Just inside the doorway there was a board covered with mostly irreverent little stickers, only about an inch wide by 2 inches high, and this one in particular caught my eye.

Clearly it is a parody of the Nike logo, but replacing the last "e" with a "u" turns it into the Japanese word niku (肉）or "meat," which, in Japanese gay parlance - just as in English-speaking gay parlance - refers to the cock.

Turning Nike's "Just do it" into "Just nine inch" isn't terrible witty, but elaborates on the theme, I guess. The most subtle element, no doubt, is the little nick out of the tip of the line that sweeps up under the "Niku," helping the imagination out that little bit extra!

This sticker, and the many others there, is produced by a specialist sticker company in Tokyo's Ota ward called General Sticker. You can see the General Sticker website here - and, from there, their online shop.

Remember that anything you might want from Japan but can't order directly from overseas can be ordered via GoodsFromJapan.

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２４会館




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.

Condoms (kondomu in Japanese) are available free of charge.

Upon entry, you may be asked to show your passport or alien registration card.

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レインボー祭り　新宿二丁目



2009 was a good year for Tokyo's gay community in that, unlike, last year, a public pride gathering took place - although unlike the very public Tokyo Gay Pride of 2007, this year's celebration was a little less "out" in the sense that it took place on the home turf of Shinjuku Ni-Chome, Tokyo's most popular gay area, part of the all day-all night Shinjuku station district.

This summer has been a cloudy, wet one, and, while the sun chose not to shine on August 30, the day of the festival, like a rainbow, the wet weather only brought out the fun ever more vividly - and it was thronged in spite of being a Sunday and work the next day.

Many bars, including the dance club most popular with both Japanese and foreigners, Arty Farty, the more Japanese oriented Arch, the chic party-animal Rehab Lounge, the causal Dragon Men, the cruisy GB, and the warm, friendly Usagi, among many others, all had special parties or happy hours for the Festival, and made sure the vibe stayed alive.

Unlike the Gay Pride Parade, the Rainbow Festival was not compartmentalized into scenes, but the various scenes were well represented all the same, from the femme to the butch, from the outlandish to the trad.

Ni-Chome buzzes everyday, but the Rainbow Festival brought out the spirit of togetherness more than ever.

2010: be there or square.

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