Each bar has a different clientele some have a specific theme or serve a particular sexual fetish, but all of them have bar owners who are called “Momma” and who are the center of the bar. Many of them are smaller than 40 square feet, the size of a walk-in closet, and seat only four to 10 people. The book Shinjuku Story is a result of interviewing gay and lesbian bar owners and bartenders over the past three years.īars in Shinjuku Ni Chome are like living rooms, through often even smaller than those you’d find in homes in the United States. Shinjuku Ni-Chome, or second district of Shinjuku, has the highest concentration of gay and lesbian bars in the world, with an estimated 350 bars in one city block, providing for every different kind of taste. Shinjuku, in Tokyo, is one of the busiest neighborhoods in the world 3.4 million people travel through Shinjuku station every day.
