Monday, December 21, 2009

Ni-chome

Shinjuku Ni-chome is Tokyo's gay entertainment district. There are like 300 gay bars and clubs packed into like a five block area. In the last 20 years it's been maturing as an LGBT social and cultural hub, with pride parades, an LGBT community center, and other events and hot-spots for queers in Tokyo.

I finally made it out to Ni-chome a couple of weeks ago for an electro party at a small club I liked a lot. Like most such neighborhoods, Ni-chome isn't exclusively LGBT. It's got a festive reputation and attracts a wild, open-minded crowd. The area is compact and it felt like a block party, noise and movement in the narrow streets all night until dawn. But all I have to show for my first night in Ni-chome is this creepy restroom photo. I take an awful lot of self-portraits in restrooms, you don't have to tell me.

3 comments:

J said...

God. Memories of ni-chome I don&t want to remember, involving me, a club and a pole... merde.

Beth Roeser said...

I'm so glad ni-chome lives up to its reputation. My night was pretty ultimate, too. I found the softest parking lot I've ever found in my life. It was like a cloud in heaven.

J said...

I think you might have defined a "must-have experience" for me in 2010: find a soft parking lot. Kip in it.