Gaycation

I'm in Tokyo with my best friend, Ian,

to explore the LGBTQ culture of Japan.

You know, there's, uh, supposed to be

an amazing gay district in Tokyo called Ni-chome,

and you also have very mainstream manga

that is, uh, very gay.

The thing that runs alongside that, though,

is same-sex marriage is not legal,

and something far worse than that is

that there's no anti-discrimination laws

to protect LGBT people.

This will be my third time in Japan.

Um, the times that I've been here previous,

I was severely closeted, so,

personally, I'm excited to learn about all these things

and excited to share the experience.

"Gaycation: Japan"! Cheese!

This is Ni-chome.

It's a gay district of Tokyo,

and there are over 300 bars in a five-block radius.

And, uh, this is my first time here,

even though I've been to Tokyo twice,

'cause, in the past, I was too closeted

to come to the gay area.

- Really? - I was too terrified. Yes.

Behind these closed doors lives one of the most famous

gayborhoods in the world.

There are bars that cater

to almost anything you might be into,

each one drawing a very particular crowd,

and we want to check out as many as we can.

So, our first stop is Yo Chan Chi,

one of Tokyo's oldest and smallest gay bars,

to find out about the origins of this area.

So, when did this area sort of start to become the gay area?

Like, how did that happen?

You would say that the area's changing quite a bit?

Do you sort of wish it was that way?

Or are you happy that things have changed

and are more open for people?

The next stop is Cholesterol Bar

- to meet its world-famous owner, - Hi.

Mr. Takuya.

O... kay.

Are you saying that you have a special gift

for giving blowjobs?

- Yes. - Wow.

Oh, wow.

It's your mouth?

- It's your mouth. - My mouth.

- Wow. - 20,000 men

- have a mold of your throat. - Have your...

What?

- Okay, so... - I want to touch it.

Please.

- Inside here is your mouth? - Yes. My mouth.

And then...

- You just stick the erection... - This is the tongue.

Oh, I see.

- Oh, wow. - Wow.

Try.

I'm not gonna try it in...

- Enjoy. Enjoy. - ... in public.

But you don't know what might happen in the hotel room.

How late does this place stay open?

I'm just curious about it.

- Until I come. - Yeah.

I want to have a penis just to try it, honestly.

I do!

We are continuing our gay crawl of Ni-chome.

Bye! I'll see you later!

I want to check out a lesbian bar.

But it's ladies only.

Hi!

Whoo!

Gold Finger's owner, Chiga Ogawa,

is a pioneering member of the Tokyo lesbian scene.

Oh.

Do you think it's harder for women or men,

or do you think it's equal, or... ?

Do you... Just, like, your experience being gay?

Do you think it's harder for women to be gay in Japan?

Um...

- Yeah, you do? - Yeah.

Gold Finger is a bit of an anomaly.

There are way more venues

for gay men to explore their sexuality.

- Bye, guys. - Bye-bye.

- Bye. - Well, that was fun.

I've never been into a lesbian bar in Tokyo,

and I feel like I felt a little shy.

'Cause there's pretty girls.

How could you not?

We have one last stop to make for the night.

We've been invited to a secret club

down a nondescript lane with no signage.

- 4F. - I already like it.

I like to feel like I'm going somewhere secretive.

Oh, cool.

Can I have a tequila on the rocks?

You have a crush on him.

Aww.

Trendy in, like...

like a mainstream way or more of a niche?

Oh, wow. Cool. Oh.

According to the manager,

about 70% of the patrons of this club identify as straight.

It seems like cross-dressing is another niche

or a fun escape from the everyday routine.

Like, does that affect you in any way as a trans person

when someone's saying, like,

"Oh, this cross-dressing thing's become trendy."

Like, how does that make you feel?

Do you find that you can be very open about your gender

and sexuality in Japan

or only in safer places like this?

So, why don't you walk me through the process

of getting ready to hang out here,

- if I wanted to cross-dress. - Okay.

He only likes to wear the maid's dress.

He doesn't have any logical reason.

It just feels good to him.

But actually, it feels a little bit stiff.

So, I'm like, "Give me some, like,

Fleetwood Mac, flowing silk gowns."

So, now, my turn. Yeah?

So, let me choose...

- This is the one. - Good.

I love this place. I mean,

the funny part of this is Ian's more comfortable in a dress than I am,

which is a good example as to why we're forced

to have these stereotypes and ideas attached to us

because I'm born with a vagina and he's born with a penis.

It's just absurd.

Mm.

Oh, not bad.

It feels like the most natural, organic,

welcoming, free, awesome space.

Like, you kind of feel like you're hanging out

in someone's house where people want to do something different.

And it also doesn't feel different.

It actually just feels like a really totally natural,

normal thing to do, which it should be.

Here's how I feel about it.

I feel like, because I didn't do the full immersion...

I didn't shave my beard,

I have a thing that shows my chest hair...

that it's potentially insulting to people,

but I just want to make it known

that I'm having a beautiful experience.

To meet people that are accepting of me,

that love to be here is... is a beautiful experience,

and I think you look beautiful and everyone here is beautiful.

And I feel a little bit beautiful.

So, now what?

We're cute!

See that?

Several bars and countless drinks later,

we've come to the end of our gay-bar crawl.

And believe it or not, our night in Ni-chome

is actually quite tame by Tokyo standards.

And from what we've heard, some of the stuff going on

in the light of day is much more surreal.

Oh, my Lord!

After spending just one night in Ni-chome

it is clear that Tokyo can cater to the most specific fantasies for the gay community.

But despite the variety,

the vibe felt very much "behind closed doors."

But by the light of day,

there's quite a bit of gay culture hidden in plain sight.

So to continue to explore the fascinating complexity

of sexual identity in Japan,

we're hitting up a comic-book store.

Here in the heart of Akihabara,

the anime-lovers district, there is Mandarake,

an eight-floor manga-comic emporium.

We're here to look into yaoi, or boys' love,

which is a genre of essentially homoerotic male comics

written by straight women for straight women.

- Whoa! - Oh, my...

- What is he saying? - Is he giving himself a blowjob?

- I think so. - No... Oh.

Look at that. It's so full-on.

- It makes me finally... - It's hot, honestly.

Sorry.

You can buy one.

I'm gonna go, uh... to the bathroom.

- Take this to the bathroom. - Yeah.

Wait, what? Hold on.

He's like, "Ellen!"

I'm gonna take this as, like, just some sort of sign.

I don't know what the sign is.

- You picked the right one. - What does... What does this say?

"Ellen, you have a boner."

Truly.

This is too much.

And you feel like mostly women would read this?

Straight women?

That's the main demographic?

I just think it's interesting how popular