For 121/2 years, I lived within a 10-minute walk of Shinjuku Ni-chome. "Ni-chome," as most habitues refer to it, is synonymous with gay, even though every neighborhood in Tokyo has an area called Ni-chome, which, roughly translated, means "Sector 2." One should even be careful not to refer to an escapade in Shinjuku without knowing that everyone present will probably start placing mental bets on whether you were in Kabukicho (the red-light district), or Ni-chome -- at a gay bar. Eyebrows will rise . . .

But there I was living pretty much in Ni-chome, which, of course, means I got to know it rather well -- so well, in fact, that "Nongay Bars in Ni-chome" was my dream Jeopardy category. There were some real gems -- like 69, a reggae classic; Birdland, a jazz dive; and Boogey Boy, a dance joint that rocked.

The latter is where I first partied with Tara, when she started working as a bartender at Kinsmen, a defunct mixed bar one floor below. I still bump into Tara -- not just in the neighborhood, but at the funky little clubs in Tokyo. Ni-chome's main attraction is undoubtedly its committed, free-spirited mizu-shobai community, with more than enough personality to fuel the party engine. Like a drag queen tap dancing in stilettos on a keg of gunpowder, it could go off at any minute.