A distinctly Japanese "gay male literature" has come into being in recent years, drawing more on the literary spirit of Takahashi than Mishima. Several widely read contemporary gay novels, such as Hiruma Hisao's English-titled works Yes, Yes, Yes (1989) and Happy Birthday (1990), resemble the work of modern Western gay writers: confident, proud, exploring what it means to be gay in a sometimes unfriendly world.

Perhaps the only hint that the narratives are by and about Japanese men is in the recurring pattern of relations between an older and younger man, following the tradition of nanshoku. Hiruma's Yes, Yes, Yes, for example, concludes with the protagonist, a gay male prostitute, falling in love with a heavy-set middle-aged patron with whom he finally finds happiness, not unlike the boy actors of the kabuki theater who appeared 300 years earlier in Saikaku's narratives.

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Blending elements from indigenous traditions and recently imported Western discourses of sexual identity, Japan is home to one of the most diverse and dynamic queer cultures in Asia.

Japanese art, from the prehistoric period onward, features images that can be given queer readings as well as a wide range of representations that contemporary viewers would understand to be homosexual.

Offering visions of sexual transgression divorced from Western political correctness and assimilationist civil rights ideals, Japanese queer cinema is unique.

Tokyo is home to a vast entertainment world that supports hundreds of venues for individuals with diverse sexual and gender identities and interests.

The forthrightly gay Allen Ginsberg is probably the best-known American poet to emerge in the post-World War II period.

Kabuki, a classic Japanese theatrical form incorporating fantastical costumes, stylized gestures, music, and dance, originally showcased female and boy prostitutes, but now features all-male casts.

In Japan, manga--or comic books--are an important medium of cultural expression and frequently feature male and female homosexuality.

One of Germany's greatest twentieth-century authors, Thomas Mann encoded his own homosexuality in his novels but thought that homosexuality led to the destruction of social institutions and the death of the individual homosexual.

In his quest for masculinity, Yukio Mishima mythologized himself both in his life and his writings, culminating in his ritual suicide.

Saikaku's The Great Mirror of Male Love is a collection of short stories that depict male homosexual love as it was practiced in seventeenth-century Japan.

Although he has had various embodiments throughout history, Sebastian has long been known as the homosexual's saint.

In his explicitly gay work, internationally recognized poet and playwright Mutsuo Takahashi celebrates homosexual desire.