While there are many gay and lesbian establishments in Tokyo, the gay community in Japan is not a vocal one, and in any case, information in English is hard to come by. The International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA; tel. 800/448-8550; www.iglta.org) is the trade association for the gay and lesbian travel industry and offers an online directory of gay- and lesbian-friendly travel businesses. Above and Beyond Tours (tel. 800/397-2681; www.abovebeyondtours.com) is the exclusive gay and lesbian tour operator for United Airlines.
The following travel guides are available at most travel bookstores and gay and lesbian bookstores, or you can order them from Giovanni's Room bookstore, 1145 Pine St., Philadelphia, PA 19107 (tel. 215/923-2960; www.giovannisroom.com): Out and About (tel. 800/929-2268 or 415/644-8044; www.outandabout.com), which offers guidebooks and a newsletter ($20 per year, 20 issues) packed with solid information on the global gay and lesbian scene; Spartacus International Gay Guide (Bruno Gmunder Verlag; www.spartacusworld.com/gayguide) and Odysseus: The International Gay Travel Planner (Odysseus Enterprises Ltd.), both good, annual English-language guidebooks focused on gay men; the Damron guides (www.damron.com), with separate, annual books for gay men and lesbians; and Gay Travel A to Z: The World of Gay & Lesbian Travel Options at Your Fingertips by Marianne Ferrari (Ferrari International; Box 35575, Phoenix, AZ 85069), a very good gay and lesbian guidebook series.
