What is the Fresh Meat Charity Drag Show Project?
Tokyo’s drag scene, while not as thriving as those in some other global cities, does have a tight-knit and enthusiastic community. For many of the drag houses based here, supporting their local community is of utmost importance. For nobody is this more true than for the Haus of Schwarz, who regularly hold a number of Tokyo drag shows, including the iconic Casket of Horrors.
But today, we’re discussing the 13th Fresh Meat event! Fresh Meat is the Haus of Schwarz’s premier charity event, and is the brainchild of founding members Le Horla and Angel Heart (who we’ll discuss a little more below!) where all proceeds go to worthy causes — and typically those that directly affect the queer community in Japan. Their next event, which will be held 12 April, at the Silkroad Cafe in Sumida, will be no exception!
The Fresh Meat events, like many of the drag queen shows hosted by the queer and gender-inclusive drag collective, will feature performances from drag queens and drag kings with a distinctly edgy, goth flare. It often features live musicians, burlesque performers, and pole dancers, all of whom will be bringing their signature brand of counterculture to keep audiences entertained, while knowing that they’re doing good!
“Fresh Meat is a more community-focused show than our bigger, clubbier event Casket of Horrors. Fresh Meat of course always has a charity fundraising angle (usually, but not exclusively, involving an LGBTQ rights issue such as Trans Housing Coalition), and for our cast we reserve a few slots for baby performers,” La Horla tells us. “It’s a good place for people just starting out their drag as well as experienced performers who want to try something more strange and experimental.”
What Cause Will I Be Supporting?
All the proceeds will go towards the Li Kotomi Support Group, the legal fund of the award-winning Japanese-Taiwanese transgender writer, Li Kotomi. The winner of the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 2021 for her novel, Higanbana ga Saku Shima (The Island Where Red Spider Lilies Bloom in English).
Shortly after winning, however, she was publicly outed as transgender by malicious people online, and was subjected to a campaign of harassment. Now, she is filing suit against the perpetrators, and the Li Kotomi Support Group has been established to help raise funds in her legal battle. As La Horla explains, this also has wider ramifications for all of Japan’s LGBTQ+ community.
“Besides being an incredible writer, Li-san is also an important member of the queer community. The issues she’s facing battling transphobic harassment and defamation are not just personal problems but set a precedent for other LGBTQ people (it means others will have a stronger case for defending themselves legally from doxxing, malicious outing, and other forms of cyberbullying),” they say.
“It’s important for us to support Li-san because trans women are the most vulnerable members of our community, while also historically serving as the movement’s leaders. There is also a strong overlap between drag queen and trans woman circles so it’s important we honour them!”
Who Will Be Performing at the Drag Show?
The show promises a wide array of performers, but here are a few stand-out stars to look forward to!
Vivvi the FORCE
A special guest for the event, you may be familiar with Vivvi the FORCE from the TV show The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula, and derives her name from “V” being her favorite letter, and “Fuck Order and Resume Chaos Everywhere.”
On the show, she acted out her “extermination” through being smashed by a hammer and being injected by rat poison. So expect big things from her performance at Fresh Meat!
Nattmara
Haus of Schwarz’s haus mother, Nattmara, whose previous drag persona Die Schwarze Frau is where the troupe takes its name from. They had performed drag for over a decade before starting the Haus of Schwartz, and is known for giving intense and moving performances, having told TW: “I want people to feel something after my performance… And I want people like me to know that there is an escape and it’s OK once you find your tribe.”
Le Horla
Channelling a “a genderless pre-Lovecraftian creature,” Le Horla is not only a graduate of gender studies at Waseda University, but is also an acclaimed journalist with many years experience writing in and about Japan. They got into drag after watching Ru Paul’s Drag Race to relieve stress during language school, before becoming a founding member of Haus of Schwarz in 2020. A non-binary person and performer, they sum up the philosophy of the collective by saying, “we are all meat suits ground through the gender pasta maker anyway.”
This is also an extra-special event for Le Horla, as it will be their final drag performance in Tokyo before they relocate to London later this year!
Angel Heart
Another founding member — and a former classmate of Le Horla — has a persona that walks the line between an angel and a devil, describing themselves as a “demon bitch princess,” and is sometimes thought of by others as “the big tits of the Haus.” Angel, along with Le Horla, is the brains behind Fresh Meat, and her skills as a Japanese-English translator and interpreter have helped the Haus of Schwarz liaise with a number of charities and organizations.
Moche Le Cendrillion
A contemporary artist as well as a drag performer, they specialize in creating self-portraits that deconstruct gender and sexuality. As a performer, they create shows based on their identity as an aro/ace person, as well as exploring other gender identities and dynamics.
Who are Haus of Schwarz?
Founded in 2020, Haus of Schwarz is, as mentioned, an inclusive drag collective that wishes to go beyond the stereotypes of drag performance, where typically cisgender men perform in stereotypically hyper-feminine personas.
“We are a countercultural queer drag collective, championing goth and horror aesthetics and nonconformity above all else,” Le Horla explains.
It also defines itself against other drag houses through its darker aesthetics, which are more suited for those with radical, iconoclastic sensibilities. For example, given it was formed during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was unafraid to host online performances with “plague” themes, bringing glamour and queer joy during what were very difficult times.
So make sure you make the time to come to Fresh Meat, for fun and to help a gifted Japanese writer!
As Le Horla says, “Get ready for a fun, quirky show!”
Event Details
Name
Fresh Meat #13
Date
12 April, 2026
Time
Opens at 19:00, begins at 20:00
Location
Silkroad Cafe
3 Chome-2-8 Taihei, Sumida City, Tokyo, 130-0012
Entry fee
¥2,500
