Kodo’s calling
With a side gig as a respected makeup artist, Kodo Nishimura is a monk like no other. One of Japan’s champions for LGBTQ+ rights, here he talks about his memoir and spiritual guide, The Monk Wears Heels, being queer in Japan and his country’s slow progress towards equality
Words Markus Bidaux
STYLE: Nishimura is a fashion icon
Like millions of others, my first exposure to the Japanese monk Kodo Nishimura was on an episode of Netflix’s Queer Eye: We’re in Japan, in which he appeared in a segment with Karamo Brown to give that episode’s hero some guidance. The short clip of the 33-year-old wearing his formal monk robes in a park while discussing racism on gay dating apps propelled Nishimura to fame, especially after people learned that the softly spoken monk was also a high-heel-wearing makeup artist.
When I meet Nishimura, he looks like a fashionista with a black beret atop his shaved head and dressed in a flowing outfit which he proudly points out includes one of his father’s old monk’s robes tied around his waist. We are in Pantechnicon, a six-floor, Grade-II listed building in London’s Belgravia, which is filled with restaurants, cafés and shops all influenced by Nordic and Japanese design and culture. It hosted a series of events to launch Nishimura’s publication The Monk Wears Heels, although ironically for today’s interview he is wearing traditional Japanese sandals. Published earlier this year, the book is equal parts autobiographical, self-help and spiritual guidance.