More and more municipalities adopt the partnership system, but…the true feelings of homosexuals living in “Shinjuku 2-chome, Tokyo

Click here to read the first part of his article about the overtourism (tourism pollution) occurring in Shinjuku 2-chome now.

New Insights from the “World’s Largest Gay Town

Masayuki Ono, 42, who runs the bar “ONO” in 2-chome, has lived in this town since he ran away from his parents’ home in Nagoya at the age of 17. The bar’s clientele is 60% female, 30% straight, and 10% gay. Many of the female customers used to be sex workers and cabaret girls after work, but he feels that the percentage of office workers and university students has increased.

Mr. Ono has always liked women. He had some experience dating women when he was a student, but after moving to Tokyo, a man who took care of Mr. Ono, who had no home and no work experience, was gay. It was in this town, 2-chome, that Mr. Ono, who had developed a liking for him, was accepted.

Ono says that the neighborhood is characterized by a relatively high incidence of flirtation and one-night stands. Although the number of municipalities that have adopted the partnership system has increased, he believes that the weak legal power to bind a particular partner, as in marriage, is the reason for the high rate of affairs.

‘I had a boyfriend 20 years younger than me whom I dated for five years. He was going to graduate school in Oxford as a researcher, and he proposed to me, saying, ‘Let’s get married in England, where same-sex marriage is recognized. He said, ‘I’ll provide for you,’ but I couldn’t leave my current life behind.

I was afraid he would change his mind because he was young and I didn’t want to live a miserable life dependent on the other person, so I refused his marriage proposal. I was shocked when he sent me an invitation to his wedding a while later.”

Anna (pseudonym, 40s), who has been going to Nichome for the past eight years, is a mother of two and self-identifies as bisexual. Her husband was an elite overseas branch manager of a major conglomerate trading company, but he fell in love with a woman who was an acupuncturist and divorced her. As a single mother trying to raise her children, Anna exclusively goes to gay bars.

There was a time when I went to a lesbian bar, but the customers’ sense of being a minority didn’t sit well with me. I am not pessimistic about liking women. That’s why I like gay bars, where I can drink in a lighthearted, bottomless atmosphere without having to hide my sexual orientation.”

Worries about “being gay” and “coming out

The world of male prostitutes, known as “uri-zen,” has also changed. The park adjacent to 2-Chome used to be swarming with “tachimbo” prostitutes at night, but that area is now closed. There are now only a few bars that cater to prostitutes. Hatenba or brothels have become the main means of satisfying sexual desires.

Naoya, a college student, and Koji (both pseudonyms), a first-year working adult, have a history of working at “uri-zen” as number one and top-ranked super-successful girls. The purpose was to pay their tuition fees and earn money for entertainment. Naoya says.

I only have vanilla sex (sex without penetration). The unit price is lower than that of female sex workers, about 13,000 yen for 60 minutes. The most profitable month was about 750,000 yen.

Rather than wanting to have sex, many of them were looking for someone to talk to who understood their sexual preferences. The higher the social standing, the more so. I left after about six months because I had saved up enough money for school, but I rarely had a bad experience.”

Koji, who had suffered from not being able to come out as a homosexual, came to a realization during his two years working at the uri-zen.

He had been unable to come out, but during his two years working at the uri-zen, he came to a realization: “Many of the people I met at the uri-zen had accepted their homosexuality as part of their identity. Seeing this made me realize that I was the one who was hiding my gay identity, and that I was in fact subconsciously discriminating against gay people. After working at Uri Specialty School, I felt like a fool for having lived my life being more concerned than necessary about what people around me thought of me.

In a town that opens up, friction is born, which eventually matures into what is called culture. At the same time, there still exist human connections and stories that have been nurtured over a long period of time and are unique to this town.

From the January 30/February 6, 2026 issue of “FRIDAY