Tokyo is separated into different wards, with Shinjuku being the most well known and the most crowded. Though there are a few gay bars or gay nights spread throughout the city, the heart of gay Tokyo lies in Shinjuku and Ni-Chome. Ambiguity and identity haziness are the stereotypical theories of being gay in Tokyo, but behind the blurred lines there is a thriving nightlife and gay community, all housed within the confines of their friendly neighborhood of Ni-Chome.
The gay scene is much like these dueling ideas of calm and chaos. There are temples surrounded by blooming sakura blossoms and secluded udon shops, filled with bowls of brothy noodles served by waitresses in kimonos. There are mammoth towers that paint the skyline with splashes of neon, and there are quaint, tree-lined streets where passersby glimpse into Tokyo's past and away from the chaos automatically associated with this metropolis.
From ganguro girls with painted faces to stern businessmen clad in suits - their days spent behind a desk and nights behind a bar, Sapporo in hand - to young men celebrating with style a new spirit of gay liberation beginning to emerge in this conservative culture, this is a place of vast contradictions.