Tokyo has an LGBT community.
Contents
Most LGBT institutions in Tokyo are in Shinjuku Ni-chōme. As of 2010 there are about 300 gay bars in this community.
History
See also Kagemachaya
For after World War II, The first gay bar opened in Shimbashi in 1945. Its name was Yanagi (やなぎ).
In 1973 Tokyo's first onabe (masculine lesbian) bar opened in Roppongi. Its name was Kikōshi (貴公子 "young noble").
After a youth recreation house in Fuchū began excluding LGBT members, the OCCUR (アカー akā) group began legal proceedings against it in 1990.
In 2012 Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba announced that it would allow same-sex couples to hold weddings there. The first LGBT couple to hold a wedding at Tokyo Disney Resort did so in 2013. The two women were unable to legally marry in Japan.
Geography
Most LGBT institutions in Tokyo are in Shinjuku Ni-chōme. As of 2010 there are about 300 gay bars in this community.
Tokyo's gay scene is not limited to Ni-chōme. A number of other areas, such as Ueno, Asakusa, Shimbashi, and Ikebukuro, have conglomerations of gay bars, although none as dense as in Ni-chōme. Information about these bars, bookstores, sex shops, and cruising spots can be found in the Otoko-machi Map (Boy's Town Map), a country-wide guide to Japanese gay establishments, or in monthly gay magazines like G-men and Badi. Tokyo also has a great number of gay "circles" including LGBT sports teams, cultural groups, and religious groups.
The number of gay bars in 2013 (Lesbian bar not included)
Reference：Doyama(Osaka)-154, Sakae(Nagoya)-63, Fukuoka-62, Namba(Osaka)-42, Noge(Yokohama)-37, Susukino(Sapporo)-32, Nagarekawa (Hiroshima)-30, Sakurazaka(Okinawa)-26, Shinsekai(Osaka)-25
The number of gay-related businesses: Bar, nightclub, host club, cruising box, sauna, gay book and video store, etc. (Lesbian bars not included)
Reference：Doyama(Osaka)-230, Fukuoka-91, Sakae(Nagoya)-82, Namba(Osaka)-60, Noge(Yokohama)-53, Susukino(Sapporo)-51, Nagarekawa(Hiroshima)-37, Sakurazaka(Okinawa)-36, Shinsekai(Osaka)-32
Institutions
Regumi (short for レズビアン組 Rezubian-gumi or "Lesbian group") is a lesbian group in Tokyo. The use of the abbreviation regumi avoids using the word "lesbian" (レスビアン resubian or レズビアン rezubian) and the abbreviation rezu (レズ), which in Japanese is derogatory.
The Tokyo Gay and Lesbian Deaf Rainbow Alliance, or the Tokyo Lesbian and Gay Deaf Community (TLGDC), is in the city. Taski Tade, who was a member of this group, conducted an interview that was translated into English.
OCCUR has an English name that does not directly indicate that it is an LGBT group.
Recreation
As of 2012 there are two gay pride parades in Tokyo: Tokyo Rainbow Pride (TRP) and Tokyo Pride.
In 1994 the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) began organizing the Tokyo Pride Parade, originally named the Tokyo Lesbian & Gay Parade (TL&GP); it was Japan's first gay pride parade. The event received its current name in 2007. The parade had a hiatus from 2008, ending in 2010. It had another hiatus in 2011. In 2010 Antoni Slodowski of Reuters wrote that "Although the number of participants in the parade is on the rise, it is a small crowd in a city of 12.8 million people and the event is relatively small even by Asian standards."
In May 2011 Tokyo Rainbow Pride was created. The organizers created it to ensure that a gay pride parade would be held in Tokyo in the event Tokyo Pride could not be held. Akie Abe attended Tokyo Rainbow Pride in 2012. Rainbow Pride is a part of Rainbow Week (東京レインボーウィーク Tōkyō Reinbōwīku).