For a few hours on Aug. 31, Odaiba served as Tokyo’s LGBTQ mecca.
That’s when the 2023 Werq the World tour — a massive affair occupying Tokyo Garden Theater, a venue with a capacity of nearly 7,000 people — rolled into town. The official post-show vehicle for the drag queens of television’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” it was the first Werq the World to come to Japan since the COVID-19 pandemic — and excitement was all around.
Attendees had arrived well ahead of the start time, and it isn’t hard to spot them in their brightly colored outfits and extravagant makeup. The line to get in is a veritable who’s who of Ni-chome regulars — Ni-chome being Tokyo’s traditional gay village in Shinjuku Ward. Bartenders from the neighborhood have been recruited to serve drinks to the talent backstage, and out-of-towners make small talk with local drag performers out front.