Tokyo has always had a thriving expat writing community, but often the diverse array of voices that populate this artistic limbo get lost in translation, or more likely don't even make it to the printed page to begin with. Not Japanese enough to be picked up by the domestic audience yet too foreign for the English-language presses back home, there is a danger that a lot of Tokyo's expat literary talent will just slip through the cracks.
Then, just when you would least expect it, poetry, already somewhat of an outlier in the writing world, throws out a safety net: the spoken word. Leading a revival in spoken-word performance is Drunk Poets See God, a monthly open-mic event held at Bar Gari Gari in Ikenoue, Setagaya Ward. Drunk Poets provides a much-needed stage — along with a shot or three of vodka — to help Tokyo's English-language poets get their voices heard.
Established in early 2013, Drunk Poets takes place on the last Friday of the month, and each event is loosely based around a theme. The night is co-hosted by Australian singer/songwriter Sorcha Chisholm, whose husband Tomio Watanabe has been running Bar Gari Gari since 1993, and Tokyo-based musician Samm Bennett.