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 ¡ª along with a shot or three of vodka ¡ª 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.
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