Boys for Sale is not a comfortable watch. From the documentary’s very first scene in which a former straight male sex worker reveals how he could bring himself to have sex with men (“Money makes you hard”) to the heartbreaking sentiment of one boy who has not yet turned 20 but states, “I don’t want to live a long life,” the shocking revelations stack themselves tall from start to finish. The film, which documents the experiences of a group of fresh male urisen (rent boys) who live and work together in Shinjuku Ni-chome, not only exposes one of the darker sides of Tokyo’s famed gay district, but also unearths a plethora of related issues in the process.
“We could have made five different films,” says executive producer Ian Thomas Ash. “In the three years it took to produce, we did all kinds of filming, and there were so many things we could’ve focused on, for example gay rights in Japan or the fact that men having sex with men for money is not illegal in Japan, whereas female sex work is. But in the end, our original idea still felt like the strongest.”
Making Boys for Sal
Image and text borrowed from The Japan Times, 11/23/
There is a story in the November 23, edition of The Japan Times about new documentary film about urisen(rent boy) in Shinjuku's Ni-chome gay district.
The subject of urisen is at the center of a film titled &#;Baibai Boizu&#; (&#;Boys for Sale&#;), whose production was led by two foreign Japan residents. Since its release earlier this year, the documentary, directed by the singularly named Itako, has been screened in over 25 film festivals around the globe, including London&#;s Raindance and Los Angeles&#; Outfest.
Many urisen interviewed for the film, whose more intimate on-the-job moments are cleverly represented by often-explicit animation sequences, are uneducated, occasionally homeless young men who cite financial hardships, even crippling debts, for taking on the work. It also highlights how some bar owners and managers willfully conceal crucial information about the nature of the work and potential health risks.
&#;I think the film tells a lot about the vulnerability of young people, particularly when the
Entertaining potential customers in an urisen bar. Image courtesy of &#;Boys for Sale.&#;
The new documentary &#;Boys For Sale&#; explores male sex work, or &#;urisen&#; (ウリ専) as it is called in Japanese, in Tokyo's biggest hub for gay culture and nightlife, Shinjuku's &#;2-chome&#; neighborhood.
The film features candid interviews with young men who operate in bars and brothels and are paid to have sex with other men and touches on topics such as sexuality and sexual consent in Japanese culture. At times, the documentary uses animation to protect the identity of some interviewees and illustrate what happens during a sexual encounter with a client.
Different men interviewed in the documentary have slightly different explanations as to what urisen is: &#;Spending time with a boy&#;; &#;We offer opportunities for people to meet people. And if a customer likes one of us, it might lead to something else&#;; and &#;Urisen is selling and buying&#; We trade our bodies and men obtain us.&#;
Many of the young men interviewed in the documentary tell they fell into the operate becaus
TOKYO (TR) &#; At the opening of the documentary &#;Boys For Sale,&#; a look at the underside of the trade in young boys in the 2-chome gay quarter of Shinjuku Ward, a former male prostitute says, &#;I guess if you&#;d never experienced this, it would be complicated to understand.&#;
Such a summation could not be more accurate.
The film, which will make its Japan premiere at the Tokyo AIDS Week this weekend, includes interviews with urisen, who are adj guys who engage in sex with men. The film presents a rare view of this underground business through the unsettling stories of the boys in candid interviews.
&#;I think, in general, people are surprised by it,&#; said American executive producer Ian Thomas Ash during an interview in Tokyo earlier this month. &#;I think especially because the guys are so frank, they are so frank.&#;
That is obvious from the start. The aforementioned former prostitute, who later went on to manage an urisen bar, says that boys seeking work at his establishment would ask him how he could get an erection. He answered, &#;Money. Making money will verb yo