Okazu turned 22 this past week! Happy birthday to everyone here at Okazu! Every year I like to do some piece of research and this one is very special to me, so I thought it would make a great birthday present. ^_^
This past spring saw the introduction of the Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures Symposium held online. I had recently visited the Yuri Cafe Anchor in Tokyo and wanted to introduce it to more people so I proposed a research article on the cafe. The founders of the event were very supportive and encouraged me to get something in. Willow Nunez volunteered to be my contact on the ground at Anchor and did an interview with the cafe manager, Chibiko.
Since the Symposium, Yuri Cafe Anchor has been updated, and some changes were introduced that I consider very positive. Here is our research, with a new final piece on Anchor’s new evolution.
Originally presented at the Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures Symposium, April 2024.
by Erica Friedman & Willow Nunez
Yuri Cafe Anchor Research Project
1.0 Introduction
In Tokyo, Japan, cafes are among the several gathering spaces used by various subcultures. Alongside consumer-oriented, corporate- and fan-run subculture events, media events, bars and clubs, cafes serve as gathering places for community. These are, generally, not quite a “third space,” a term coined by critical theorist, Homi K. Bhahba, for spaces in which community is realized, since they require buying a drink, snack or paying a cover charge, but they do provide a semi-public space for people to relax and participate in their preferred subculture.
Western Otaku are familiar with these spaces in the form of “maid” or “butler” cafes, a place where, for a fee and/or the cost of food and drink items, customers will be catered to within a set menu of behaviors – from being addressed in a formal manner to having one’s meals served, embellished and ritually made more delicious through the use of a “magical” chant. Beginning at the turn of the 21st century, these cafes, like Cure Maid Café, which remains the oldest continuously running maid cafe, are specifically designed to give introverted customers treatment to make them feel special and important. These cafes are relying on a transactional friendship, performed in much the way Renaissance Faire vendors or other “actor sales” roles do. They are not your friends but, for the cost of a coffee and cake combo (or a new item of clothing or sword,) they will make you feel that they are, indeed, your friend. Because there has been a great deal of research into the place of maid cafes in Japanese and otaku culture, I’m not getting into that here.
Otaku are also used to the idea of media-themed cafes. These began in the late 1990s, with Welcome to Pia Carrot!!! Café, based on a Visual Novel series of the same name in 1996. Years later a cosplay maid café opened with the Pia Carrot name. One of the oldest, longest running of the themed cafes catered to fans of the Sakura Wars series of visual novels, games, anime, manga and the many live-action stage musicals based on the original stories, which were themselves a mashup of the Takarazuka Revue and mecha series. The last of these, Taisho Romando (太正浪漫堂) store and café closed in 2008 after ten years in operation. The other long-running series-related café most people are familiar with is the Gundam Café which lived in Akihabara from 2010 until it closed in early 2022.
Temporary pop-series cafes based upon popular media are a common feature of the otaku landscape. Perpetually popular series like Sailor Moon or Card Captor Sakura have new temporary cafes that appear in various cities, only to close again after a new stage show or movie has passed into the body of work. Especially popular series may also get themed cafes at larger venues like Universal Studios Japan, which has seen themed areas – including cafes – for Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on Titan and Sailor Moon, among others. At the time of posting, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is the featured anime property, with a “Demon Slayer Food Cart” offering snack foods. In these cafes, food and drink offerings tend to be coded to match with certain characters, allowing fans to collect limited goods item along with their orders. Of course, the more orders, the more drink coasters, or other items, are collected.
While male fans of anime are often exhorted to visit maid cafes and series themed cafes in Akihabara, female Boys Love fans are likewise sent to Ikebukuro to experience businesses catering to their interest – that is, stories that focuses on love between beautiful boys. Cafes come and go…often connected, however tangentially, to popular media franchises.
Otaku are not the only people who require spaces in which to be able to act as their true selves. Long before otaku culture was even a glimmer in a marketing manager’s eye, LGBTQ+ folks were given room to be themselves and explore their identities safely in clubs, bars and cafes in Shinjuku 2-Chōme. Gay teashops and bars popped up there in the years after World War Two (Gregory M. Pflugfelder, Cartographies of Desire: Male-male Sexuality in Japanese Discourse, 1600-1950.) As sex workers was criminalized with the new constitution, a gay club scene began to appear in Shinjuku 2-Chōme.
The oldest lesbian bar in operation is Gold Finger, which has been open since 1991, but arguably, lesbians have had a presence in Ni-Chōme since the 1990s when Onabe bar Kikoushi bar was established in 1973. Gay bars have always outnumbered lesbian spaces – and again, there is a ton of research on why that is, so I’ll leave that unexplored for the moment. ^_^
“Bian” bars could be very relaxed places to meet people. Takashima Rica, in her semi-autobiographical manga Rica ‘tte Kanji!? speaks of lesbian bars as a welcoming space, where she could meet people like herself in years before the Internet made it simpler to find other queer people to speak with.
Things of course changed. The Internet made it easier to meet people with like interests. Drinking is a bit more policed, fewer people smoke. Bars, like cafes, come and go, although a few established bars weather the years. But for otaku, who can be introverted or, like myself, neurodivergent, parties aren’t always our idea of fun.
The question I am lead to ask is: Where does a queer otaku find a place for themselves?
Both Boy’s Love and Yuri genres were born in the explosion of manga by women in the early 70s. Once again, I’m going to leave unexplored the concept of queerness in BL, but for Yuri, I can say that queer women have been driving the genre since it first appeared on the scene at the turn of the 21st century, along with queer characters in popular franchises like Sailor Moon’s Haruka and Michiru. If you’re interested in the history of Yuri, we have a lot of resources for researchers on the Yuricon website.
For Yuri fans, visiting a maid café can be a surreal experience. Catering to male ideals of cuteness or sexiness, one finds oneself paying for the attention of a little sister who needs you to be constantly entertained. Butler cafes make one feel taken care of, but it is the wrong gender wearing those suits! Series cafes can carry a lot of water in this space-within-a-space. When I went to the Sailor Moon restaurant, for the 100 Years of Yuri tour, our group was delighted when the popular subtexual ‘ship between Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus was played out by the actresses of those respective roles during the after-show portion of audience interaction.
All of these interactions are transactional – as real life maids and butlers are. ^_^ Until a few years ago, Yuri fans who were not looking to be sung to or served by a person in costume had nowhere to gather to just sit and have a drink surrounded by other queer fans of Yuri.
Now, queer Yuri fans can, in a small corner of Shinjuku 2-Chōme find a café that celebrates the Yuri genre for queer fans of manga and related popular media that centers love between women. Yuri Café Anchor.
In a city where pop culture is mostly carved into niches that separate people’s fandoms from the rest of their lives, Yuri Café Anchor creates a community space where people can acknowledge their otaku identity alongside their queer identity.
***
At the symposium, my co-presenter, Willow Nunez, presented a truncated version of this interview, but has graciously given me the entirely of the text to present here.
2.0 History of Yuri Café Anchor and Interview with Chibiko
A few months ago, specifically on April 9th, I got to sit down with Chibiko, who manages the then-titled “Yuri Cafe Anchor”. Though the name and concept of the quaint shop that hangs above the main street of 2-chome has changed, since the interview took place, Chibiko is still the manager. In this interview, I got to ask her a little about her own history, as well as how Anchor came to be. In the background throughout this interview, the one who facilitated this meeting, Ayumi Fujishiro, is there, listening and enjoying the conversation.
It’s worth noting that the person who actually owns Anchor is not Chibiko, but Yukko, who owns a few different bars in 2-chome, two of which are considered “lesbian bars”. She frequently stops by Anchor, has a few drinks and talks to people there, a bubbly and kind personality.
Chibiko is there most days, though sometimes one or two part timers join her, or work in place of her. The more relaxed hours, she’s often there alone. We got the chance to meet before the store opened on a rainy and quiet afternoon, when 2-chome is still dormant – a very different sight than the lively, people filled streets and alleys that are there in the evenings and nights.
The interview is as follows:
WN: “Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?”
C: I’m Chibiko, the manager of Yuri Cafe anchor…!
WN: “How did you become a Yuri fan? What series was the first one that inspired you to read or watch other Yuri series?”
C: I get asked that from time to time! The start of it all was… Well, back when we had flip-phones (no smart phones yet!), I would read on my phone. I’ve been coming to 2-chome since I was 20, but I didn’t actually know yuri very well. Where I lived, there wasn’t a good bookstore, and going to one would take over an hour. For that reason, I ended up first reading yuri on my mobile-phone! I don’t remember exactly how I stumbled upon my first series, “少女美学 ” (Shojo bigaku). I would browse lesbian forums online and likely came upon it on one of those
sites… probably. It was 20 years ago *laugh*. Those types of websites would have various information for/about lesbians in Japan – and sometimes yuri was posted too.
WN: “Did you read lesbian books or other things before that?”
C: Not at all.. I had never got a chance to encounter them, it was hard to find those sorts of books. Cell phones back then had really, really tiny screens… *laughs*. But that’s how first got to read it. Shojo Bigaku was my first and I really loved it.
WN Note: *We got into a tangent discussion about how in highschool, she only knew of boys’ love which was significantly more popular. She was not out to her friends in highschool, but after graduating came to 2-chome.*
WN: Can you tell us how the Café was created? Did you come up with the idea on your own, or was it a group effort? What was your goal in creating the café?
C: There’s a bit of information listed online, but basically: 2005 was the first version of Anchor. It wasn’t in the place it was now, but in 2010 it moved here. “I see…. How come the name Anchor was decided upon, out of curiosity Well, anchor means the same as the Japanese word “ikari”. When you’re on a boat, once you lower an anchor into the sea, it becomes a place you can relax and take it easy. A boat makes its
home with an anchor. Laughter It makes us sound like pirates a little! The owner at the time when Anchor was established was actually a gay man, different from the person who owns the current Anchor.
Anchor was something called a “Gay-mix” bar/cafe. At the time in 2-chome, there were lots of gay bars that only men could go to – conversely there were lots of lesbian bars that were women- only. Gay-mix places were rare, and Anchor was one of them. It was also one of the first cafes here, rather than strictly being a bar. After that, cafes began popping up here and there in 2chome. After moving it was quite busy. Lots of people would come, especially after the club next door’s events finished. Drag queens, lesbians, and all sorts of people would come here
afterwards to eat together and relax! Later on, we were looking for some sort of special feature to make this place stand out. The current owner really was troubled by what sort of theme we could make the place.
She was living in Singapore at the time, coincidentally at the same time Ayumi, another person who helped this place come to life, was. She started Yuri Times (A website with bilingual English/Japanese information for yuri manga) because she loved yuri, and her way of thinking is that when she has something loves, she wants to help preserve it in her own way… In her case, with her background in business. She talked to the boss and me, and we decided to make the new “Anchor” a place for yuri as well. We soft-opened the new “Yuri Cafe anchor” in 2020 – right about when Covid-19’s quarantine was about to happen. We were delayed, but were able to prepare a little more as a result. The layout was a bit different at opening. We were also talking with a few different Yuri authors (Inui Ayu, Namaniku) when making this cafe. It was a team effort.
A lot of the books were recommended/sent by a famous yuri-related website’s owner. Yuri authors were also consulted on what books would be good to have around the store.
WN: Is there something that you like best about the Café?
C: We’ve created a place where people who like yuri, regardless of gender or country, can come together. “You know, until now, BL cafes and other manga cafes were in places like Ikebukuro and Akihabara. This alone is in Shinjuku 2-chome” Yes! And I’m really glad it’s here in 2-chome…
WN: “So I guess this isn’t just a community of yuri likers… It has more of a…”
C: Yes, that’s true. I’m a lesbian, someone who likes the same sex. So yes. I suppose there is more meaning in the location.
WN: Can you tell us a little bit about the community you’re building at the café?
C: Well, like I said earlier, we’ve created a place for people who love yuri. More specifically, we’ve created a place where you can make friends, community. A place you can visit and think “maybe I can make a friend today”, or maybe even a lover. People do offline meetups, and there are all sorts of events to make friends at. A place where “firsts” happen. People have even met their girlfriend here!
WN: What does the Café represent to you?
C: Well, I love that I love my job – I love the environment. I used to work at a place, outside 2-chome, that was all men, mainly, and that was quite different. This is a fantastic place to work and just be in – there’s this sense of freedom not only here but in all of 2-chome. You can say
what you want and be whoever you want. Tokyo really is amazing. If you have blonde dyed hair, or look different, people aren’t going to
go up to you and ask “Why did you do that?” *laughter*. Anyways… You know, I never imagined myself cooking a lot, haha. But after practicing lots and having people compliment my cooking here, it really motivates me. I love working here and getting those compliments, and trying new recipes.
But most importantly… It’s the case with the sister stores too (Like Agit and Adezakura, lesbian bars down the street, owned by the same owner) but.. Well we aren’t family, but we are close. I feel like I’m here because of Yuri Cafe anchor, that it’s a part of me.
“百合カフェアンカーあっての私”
WN: “What’s the intersection between your sexual identity and your love for yuri? Is it a ‘I’m a lesbian so I like yuri’ sort of deal or is it more complex than that? How would you describe it?”
C: I’ve read other romance stories and liked them, but I guess when I’m reading yuri I can actually feel my heart beat a little faster because I love women. There’s a lot of guys who like yuri, “yuridanshi” out there but.. It’s possible that we do enjoy it in a different way. I love reading stories with students and such, or stories with OLs (office ladies) because I never got to experience love in that way. I was never an OL, and didn’t have that kind of love in high school. Some people enjoy stories they can relate to in that way but I think what makes my heart beat is stories about romance that I’ve never experienced. There’s also women who aren’t lesbians that love yuri too! People who love the story, and
illustrations. You can look at yuri as just a normal romance that happens to be between women. But of course, when I’m reading other types of romance I don’t feel my heartstrings pull in the same way!
WN: “Would you say there was a goal you had in mind when making the cafe?”
C: A place where both yuri-lovers and sexual minorities can enjoy themselves. There’s a lot of people who come to visit from abroad that are queer. There was a drag king from Vancouver that talked about how back home there are some gay spaces, but they’re limited. On the other hand, to them, 2-chome is filled with events and places you can enjoy yourself, such as Yuri Cafe anchor.
WN: “That’s true. In California, the “lesbian bar” has largely gone extinct. Either they turn into just general gay bars or have closed down… There seemed to be more “niche” hangout places back in the day that have had to generalize and appeal to a broader audience or just close their doors entirely because they’re geographically isolated.”
C: Right, but in 2-chome everything is right here, next to one another. You can just hop from one queer place to another in a few steps, and there’s always events going on. This cafe is just another one of those I suppose. Another good thing about this cafe is that it’s a place where you can openly say that you like yuri, as well as that you’re a lesbian, and you don’t have to fear having silly questions asked to you or hiding your sexuality. There are other places you can talk about yuri to other women, but you definitely wouldn’t explicitly say that you are or are not a lesbian. But here, you can say that and likely the other person will go “oh ok!”, haha.
WN: “Exactly. And if someone asked you “why are you a lesbian” in 2-chome no one would take well to that. It’d just be an instant “get the hell out of 2-chome!”
C: *laughter*
I guess I’ve tried to make it a place where people feel welcome to talk and enjoy yuri!
WN: “I feel like you’ve done a really good job”
C: Thank you so much!
WN: “No, thank you so much for taking time to interview today. I really appreciate it!”
As we were putting away the tables and packing up belongings, in exchange for the interview and as a gesture of good will, I gifted Chibiko some souvenir confectioneries that I had recently purchased on vacation. We chatted a little bit more about the cafe decorations, events, and then she brought up that she was planning a “big change” for the place in the near future. She said that, while the yuri theme has been really fun and a success, she wants to make a place where people a little older can come and feel welcome as well.
3.0 Conclusion: A Third Space for Yuri fans
Willow ended her piece with this, and I’m really excited to share it with you all.
Soon after the interview took place, Yuri Cafe anchor had a campaign, offering no initial 1100 yen cover charge. Their logic was that if there was no cover charge in exchange for 30 minutes of all-you-can-read yuri manga, there would be less pressure to read books during that time, and instead people could focus on relaxing and making friends. Before this change, you paid for as much time as you spent in the cafe, or could extend your time through purchasing food and drinks. This no-charge system that encouraged a more social atmosphere also served as a test run for the new “ANCHOR rainbow port tokyo”. Hoping to incorporate her wishes to make a more social, all ages/all genders third place, the store has been rebranded and refurbished. The yuri books are all still there for those who come for the manga, as well.
***
I first encountered Yuri Café Anchor as a name on social media. They’ve had a presence on Twitter since 2010 – of course, I followed the café and occasionally retweeted their announcements when I could. It was always a goal to visit.
I was able to visit Anchor in December of 2023, after I met Chibiko-san and Ayumi-san of the YURI TIMES at Comitia. My wife and I both found the café charming, very welcoming – it was a little oasis of Yuri in a world of fandom that tended to assume women’s interest in anime, manga and related media is BL.
Since then, the cafe has undergone a refit, as Willow says. Now, the books are all together along one wall. The furnishings and fittings have been upgraded. More importantly – ANCHOR rainbow port tokyo’s description states that “ALL GENDER” are welcome and the change to no-charge in the afternoon makes it a true third space – in fact the phrase “third space” was even used in the announcement about the rebrand.
For some years now, I have referred to fans of Yuri as Yurijin, i.e., “people from the country of Yuri.” I proposed this term to remove Yuri from the kind of gendering BL fans have with Fujoshi and Fudanshi, and also to give us a sense of belonging to a place, a world of Yuri.
At ANCHOR rainbow port tokyo people can visit, read and make friends, set down an anchor in a port of Yuri and just feel at ease.
At last, Yurijin have a place to just “be.”
Acknowledgements
My sincere thanks to Ayumi for introducing me to Chibiko and Willow. Thank you Chibiko for your time. Thanks to Megan Catherine Rose and Aurélie Petit, of the organizing committee for the Symposium for your support. Of course, many thanks to Willow Nunez for her time and translation skills. I appreciate everything you did to make this happen, Willow!
If you’d like to follow Anchor Rainbow Port Tokyo, you can follow them on Instagram, or X. Buy their goods and publications through their Booth.pm page or support them on Pixiv Fanbox – and don’t forget to visit when you’re in Tokyo!
