This ethnographic study of the Tokyo gay neighborhood Shinjuku Ni-chōme uses real-life case studies to shine a light on contemporary Japanese gay culture, ideas of masculinity, and the politics of desire.

In the morning, the Tokyo neighborhood of Shinjuku Ni-chōme looks like an ordinary commuter district. But as the day goes on, a host of gay shops, cafes, bars, and saunas open to transform it into the hub of Tokyo's gay community.

Internationally, Ni-chōme is known for having the world's highest concentration of gay bars.

Thomas Baudinette is a cultural anthropologist and senior lecturer in Japanese and international studies at Macquarie University in Sydney.

For Regimes of Desire, Baudientte spoke to fifty gay men in Ni-chōme over the course of five years about how participation in Ni-chōme's community and consumption of gay media shaped their identities and desires.

Baudinette's research finds a community in flux, in line with global LGBTQ+ trends but with a specifically Japanese identity.