Photo Source: Payton Chung via Flickr

I came across the name 2-chome in Antique Bakery, a funny little anime about four guys and a bakery. Actually what grabbed my attention was the reference to a possible world record. Apparently, this area just might be the largest group of attractions aimed at gay culture, at least in Asia. This was surprising as, somehow, I had assumed Bangkok would win that title. Well, I did find out some interesting details about this area.

Firstly, Shinjuku is one of the districts within Tokyo itself. Within this district, you get one specific area (Area 2 aka Ni-Chome aka 2-chome) which caters mainly to the gay culture and thus tweaks their businesses, bars, clubs and other attractions for lesbians, gays as well as sub-cultures within that group. By the way, one site notes that, while 2-chome is purported to have the biggest group of gay-orientated clubs etc., it's really not that big in number. So that title is either a bit of a myth or, and this is more likely, it is a sad indication of how most cities world over don't cater to sub-cultures.

Well, having a sort of unofficial hang-out area for specific sub-cultures is pretty normal. However, it is interesting that the businesses in 2-chome have this exclusivity rule. Hence you will find clubs, bars, etc., which cater specifically to gay young men or folks who are just into S&M or stocky women and so on and so forth.

I was also thinking that, it would make more sense, in this day and age, for such attractions to expand and set up establishments in many other areas. This would mean that social norms are less stringent and it is more acceptable to be true to yourself. And some articles hint at such developments. On the hand, some recent articles state that 2-chome might not be as exclusive as it used to be. In fact, some noted that tough times for businesses have ushered in a new party crowd which has an almost equal mix of straight and gay folks. This in itself is not a bad sign but it does make you wonder - what is the prominent gay scene in Tokyo now? Are attractions more widespread and thus society is even more tolerant? Or is it widespread and people toned down the "exclusive only to" theme due to more conservative views in certain areas?