I like that the sign-up process takes 10 minutes, and that I can keep an eye on what the profiles of people are. It seems to fit my personality, or the personalities I find online. I argue that the ‘virtual connectivity’ afforded by gay dating applications in the Japanese context has ultimately reinforced Ni-chōme’s status as a queer space and led many gay men to actively (re-)participate within the Japanese gay culture. Well, right now, Hinge is the best dating site.
Dating applications, through their use of GPS technology, also draw individuals to Ni-chōme by virtually mapping gay bodies/ presence onto the district. Want to meet single gay men in Japan, Tokyo Mingle2s gay Japan personals are the free and easy way to find other. Utilizing social media allows gay men to virtually participate in the scene at Ni-chōme, fostering a sense of shared community. Drawing upon Soja’s influential theory of the ‘thirdspace’, I argue that Ni-chōme exists as both a real, physical space and a virtual, imagined space that is accessible via gay dating applications and social media services. Reflecting upon ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Ni-chōme between 20, I argue that gay dating applications have instead reinforced the production of queer space. Despite these anxieties, Tokyo’s gay town of Shinjuku Ni-chōme remains a vital space for men to socialise under a limited anonymity. The advent of internet dating and gay dating applications on smartphones has caused anxiety among Japanese gay men who fear that these technologies, by facilitating social interaction between men, may eventually lead to the erosion of queer spaces. My most recent article “ Gay dating applications and the production/reinforcement of queer space in Tokyo” has just been published in Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies. Here is the abstract:
A night-time gathering in front of a gay porn store in Ni-chome