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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyMay 16th, 2012
Despite once living for a few years in San Jose’s Nihonmachi, I admitedly know little about Japanese culture. But I do know that despite an entire genre of homoromantic manga (yaoi) created specifically by and for female Japanese, actual homosexuality is not socially welcomed and that if some enterprising L. Ron Hubbard type wanted to create a new religion in Japan, Walt Disney might be a good deity choice.
So it is not too surprising that the decision of Koyuki Higashi, a Japanese lesbian activist, to avail herself of Disneyland Tokyo’s Royal Dream Wedding package has taken the media (and the twitterati) by storm. (Reuters)
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Lucrece
May 16th, 2012
There’s also bara, the gay male counterpart to yaoi (bara is much more pornographic, however; the males are chunky and muscular or at least lean, and body/facial hair is more frequent).
In Japan, difference of any sort is not welcome. They’re not particularly violent people, and going out holding hands won’t get you beaten to death like in many other countries, but they do look at homosexuality as an oddity — the only representations are the caricaturesque characters on Japanese shows that live up to every possible offensive gay stereotype.
Also, the Japanese are NOT PC people. I’ve noticed, and some friends who lived there, that the Japanese have no qualms in voicing their racism or dislike for homosexuals in rather casual ways, because you don’t get crucified over there the same way you would in the US/Canada/Britain if you said something along the lines of “I hate Koreansâ€.
Timothy Kincaid
May 17th, 2012
Thanks for the clarification. I love the input from readers on areas where I am not as well informed.
MCB
May 17th, 2012
I could correct your terminology there (yaoi is the denigrating term for “Boy’s Love,” and it basically means “porn without plot”), but instead I’ll add to Lucrece and say there’s quite a bit of what’s called “yuri.” Some of this is flat-out lesbian porn for men, but some of it is made of romances that are as often aimed at girls as boys. Look up Riyoko Ikeda.
But all of that is entertainment, not real life. Japanese media, especially for young people, is rather escapist.
Japan is a solid case study for how disapproval of homosexuality is tied to rigidity of gender norms. Japan isn’t a particularly religious country, nor all that sexually prudish. But there are still clear standards of what is normal for men and women, and that precludes people who don’t fit the mold (this is also why Japan is even worse than the US for conflating homosexual and transgender people). This is probably also why the staff initially said it would be okay, so long as one of them pretended to be a man.
I’ve lived here for about 9 months, and while I’ve avoided discussing gay issues whenever possible, it’s come up in a few of my conversation classes. The few more enlightened comments I heard came from people who knew out foreigners who they had to admit were otherwise totally normal and you’d never guess they were gay. Unfortunately many Japanese are not as internationally-minded as the ladies learning English from me. And even so, I’ve not told them that one of the other English teachers here is gay, because I know it might affect his work in schools. I applaud Ms. Higashi for taking this step; it’s a brave thing she and her partner are doing.
chaz
May 17th, 2012
Japan is a very heterosexist country. Don’t expect LGBTs to be treated with equality there any time soon, especially with a reduced birth rate and high percentage of old people.
Regan DuCasse
May 17th, 2012
Sometimes hets really have no idea what alternative cultures are spawned because a person can’t be themselves.
They are a very conformist culture for sure. Which is why crazy fads can rage in Japan and then fizzle like a firework.
There is a similar tradition among their performers as in other cultures that didn’t at first allow women to act in spoken roles.
Another culture called onnadata (I think) were/are ‘drag kings’. Women who performed and lived full time as men.
Featured in the classic Brando film, “Sayonara”, but even then the leading onna data was portrayed as falling in love with a man. And that didn’t ever happen among them.
This was a means of lesbians participating in their own sort of world, out in the open. It was a means of being accepted without fear of being criminals or violated.
Well, that’s kind of how it’s been for other minorities, or women. Relegated to certain professions, they eventually dominated.
Either a life of being entertainers or servants.
It’s being able to do all the other stuff in between that matters of course.
Well, these women in this picture did what they had to, in an environment that was basically splitting the difference in them having a ceremony at all under Disneyland’s banner. I wish them the best. Pretty cool, all things considered.
Live to fight another day.
MCB
May 17th, 2012
@Regan DuCasse:
There’s definitely a thriving subculture that tries to stay hidden from the prying eyes of the conformist public as much as possible. But it’s true that, as the article states, there are no protections in Japan if your boss decides to fire you for being gay. Well, there would be, given that their constitution has an ERA, but generally no one sues anybody, so those rights remain unrealized.
“Onnagata,” which I think is the word you’re looking for, are men who play female roles in kabuki and other all-male art forms. During the Edo period (1600-1868), they were often male prostitutes. And during that same time period, Japan followed Greece’s pattern of approving of male homosexual relations between non-equals (a samurai and his teenage page, a man and an onnagata etc.). After opening up to the West, they changed a lot to conform to Victorian sensibilities about what was appropriate sexually, and the practice vanished pretty quickly.
It was also interesting to read an article in the English translation of the Daily Yomiuri about a “new half,” i.e. post-operative trans woman, who is an entertainer. She was being very frank about her process of transitioning and I admit I was a little startled to see it in such a mainstream publication, and done without any exploitation. But she also noted that her boyfriend eventually broke up with her due to pressure from his parents. There’s nothing illegal about it in Japan, it’s all about the social pressure to keep up the appearance of being normal, which can be intense.
Which is why I’m glad she insisted on two wedding dresses rather than caving to a faux-hetero ceremony to keep up appearances.
Steve
May 18th, 2012
It’s the same problem in many Asian countries really. The whole culture is based a lot on the family and some kind of honor concept is still important. “Saving face”. Keeping up appearances. So they are under a lot of pressure to start a family, as well as not bringing shame on their parents. That’s exacerbated in China with their one-child policy.
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