Paper short abstract:

Using ethnographic material, this paper investigates the trajectory of Japanese queer nightlife by highlighting the interdependent relationship between Japanese-style gay bars in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ni-chome and competing technologies of service, such as convenience stores and mobile applications.

Paper long abstract:

Amidst the 25-year-long economic recession that has hit Japanese economy at large after the explosion of the bubble and the extensive cut to companies' entertainment budgets (settai), the sector of Japanese queer nightlife (along with its straight counterpart) has witnessed an extensive shrinkage where venues such as hostess clubs and gay bars have progressively reduced their clientele and often closed down. The strenuous competition from the multi-fold growth of the sex industry (sei fuuzoku), the rise of the "healing boom" (iyashi buumu), the development and pervasiveness of convenience stores (konbini) and the use of internet-based dating sites and applications have forced Japanese-style gay bars in Tokyo's "gay town," Shinjuku Ni-chome, the focus of this paper, to reconsider their relationship with other segments of the service industry in order to survive. Using the researcher's ethnographic data, gathered while working as a miseko (bar help) at a Japanese-style gay bar, this paper will focus on the interdependent and often unresolved relationships entertained between gay bars and other technologies of service. In particular, by looking at the bars' ambivalent attitudes towards the frequentation of convenience stores in Ni-chome and towards the use of dating apps, the paper will discuss the trajectory of queer nightlife in Ni-chome and its survival. Furthermore, it will argue against the simplistic view that the decline of traditional models of queer entertainment has been brought about by the aforementioned competing technologies of service, but by a missed opportunity to learn from them and to adapt to the changing economic landscape of the country.