Despite there being an honourable tradition of male homosexuality in Japan, with some ancient Buddhist sects believing that love among men was preferable to love between the sexes, modern gay life in Japan is very low-key compared to that in similar industrialized countries. There is still a huge amount of pressure put on men and women to marry, this being an almost essential step along the career ladder at many corporations. Such expectations keep many Japanese gays in the closet and, outside of the main cities such as Tokyo and Osaka, the gay scene is all but invisible.

This is not to say that nothing is happening. On the contrary: if you know where to look, the Japanese gay and lesbian scene is alive and kicking. A recommended Japanese source of information is the travel guide Otoko Machi Map : ask around in the gay neighbourhoods of Tokyo and Osaka for where to buy it.

In recent times homosexuality has come to be seen as trendy, particularly in the major cities and among the all-important, cash-rich group of young working women known as OLs or "office ladies". Comic books and movies with homosexual characters have been a huge success with OLs, who swoon over the gay romances. Gay and transvestite celebrities are the in thing on TV and there are even bars in Tokyo staffed by cross-dressing women, who flatter and fawn over their female customers in only a slightly more macho way than bona fide hostesses do over salarymen . Whilst you're highly unlikely to encounter any problems as a gay traveller in Japan, you may find it difficult to break into any local gay scene without having some contacts.