Hi there... Since my wife has a gay cousin living in Japan - apparently never mentioned by his parents and no one knowing where exactly he is or what he is doing, I thought maybe I would examined the subject of homosexuality in Japan.
I recall 20 years ago, that the Japanese were quite homophobic. I will assume there has been some change in that attitude, but realistically assume that it still has a long way to go.
I'm not going to poke a finger at Japan for its views. People change as the environment changes. They adapt or they die out. Japan does adapt, and with regards to its views on such matters as homosexuality (yes, Virginia-san, there is a faggot), it will do so at its own speed.
Having said that, here's a piece I found on the Internet.
The Gay Debate: Japan’s Comfy Closet, Part One
The Tokyo Gay Pride Parade in August of 2010.
There are also some critics who complain that entertainers use gay stereotypes to increase their popularity.
According to Aya Kamikawa, a transgender assemblywoman in the Setagaya District of Tokyo, gender identity is highly progressive in Japan and the government implemented laws to protect them.
While Japan, she says, is ahead of most countries including Europe about gender identity, it is behind other Western countries about gay rights.
Five people with different backgrounds discussed with Majirox News how they viewed the gay situation in Japan. While they agreed that most people were not actively hostile to gays, they disagreed about the levels and forms of discrimination against them in society and the workplace.
Catherine Makino talked to them recently in Tokyo and published a two-part series of articles. The first one deals with the Japanese media.
Q: There are many popular entertainers on daily Japanese TV who are gay, transvestite, transgender, or nurture such a public persona, including transvestite Matsuko Deluxe and a transgender singer and personality named Haruna Ai.
How do you think these types of entertainers influence the public’s opinion of gays?
Hideki Sunagawa, a 40-year-old cultural anthropologist and president of Tokyo Gay Pride: It’s true that gay men are portrayed mainly as transgendered people. Even if they are not dressed like women, those who are on TV are very feminine in their behavior and in the way they talk.
Many Japanese people think that gay men are basically the same as transgender people and transvestites. They are extreme and there’s always one who plays a female role in gay couples.
Mariya Goya, a 22-year-old hairdresser in Tokyo: That’s exactly the point. TV portrays gays as overtly feminine, which creates these stereotypes that all gay men have this persona.
Miki Hamano: a middle-aged executive: Sunagawa-san makes a good point here. This is quite true. If Japanese TV is anything to judge by, he is 100% correct.
I involuntarily watch a lot of TV because my wife is addicted. I often glance up from whatever I’m reading and sometimes she’ll say that one of the women is a cross-dressing man. You’ll often see women dressing as men on TV and using male mannerisms. It’s not as frequent as men dressing as women, but it’s frequent enough.
Straight performers on Japanese TV seem to spend an enormous amount of time dressing as women, and some of the more outlandish comedians on TV dress as schoolgirls. Given that many of them are fat and ugly men nobody is going to mistake them for a woman or someone who is transgender.
Q: How about the Japanese entertainer Razor Ramon Hard Gay? In 2005, wearing a leather harness, hat and pants, he danced to the delight of his many Japanese fans. He built a career on using bizarre and extreme antics to parody gays.
Professor, a 30-year-old gay university professor who requested to remain anonymous: Most Japanese knew that Razor Ramon was not gay. We knew he was like most entertainers who wanted fame and to earn a lot of money.
Hamano: And people keep underestimating the sense of humor and the knack for parody that Japanese have. Cross-dressing seems to be nothing more than a cliché of Japanese comedy.
Everyone knows that competition in the performing world is so intense that you have to build a persona different from what any other performer has, and the weirder the better. You’re barking up the wrong tree here.
Q: According to a recent Yahoo News article O-ne-kei (sisterly types) are effeminate gays, transgender gays or drag queens on TV, and they are considered to be in the same group. They are popular because they say things women can relate to.
If they were really women, females would get jealous, but as long as it comes from a drag queen or a transgender person, it’s OK. Gays can get away with being spiteful and not being disliked, says the article.
Sunagawa: While some people realize that O-ne-kei people, who appear on TV, are different, this also enforces a stereotype
Charles Ayres, a media personality and openly gay 33-year-old American in Tokyo: In the United States they are called LGBT, which stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, and people in each of these groups see themselves as separate entities.
And the Japanese public likes gays and transgendered performers as long as they don’t say anything political. I wish the ones in the spotlight would do a little more to focus on civil unions, HIV-infected people, drug abuse or any of the serious topics that affect the LGBT.
Hamano: No Japanese performers say a thing about this. Why should gay Japanese performers single themselves out to make an issue of it? I disagree strongly with his logic. It’s very American.
Ayres: It is their responsibility to bring up important issues to the attention of the public and it’s not an American thing. Japan doesn’t offer any legal recognition of same-sex relationships. There are civil unions in other countries, including South Africa, Brazil, Holland, France and Canada.
Q: Would you say that there is an increasingly realistic awareness about gays today in Japan, especially with the Internet and more information getting out?
Ayres: TV shows such as The L Word and Sex in the City, which were big hits in Japan, have helped in raising awareness in the media, even though some gays find the gay characters in these series overly stereotyped.
Sunagawa: As I mentioned earlier, there is confusion between gender identity and sexual orientation. Still, many people believe gay/lesbian people are immoral for choosing the same sex partners.
he Gay Debate: Comfy Closet, Part Two
The Tokyo Gay Parade in August of 2010
Aya Kamikawa, a transgender assemblywoman in the Setagaya District of Tokyo, has heard from many gay people that they feel discriminated against in Japan.
And yet, she says, “It’s a non-issue here. A government survey on minority groups showed that fewer than one percent of Japanese were interested in gay issues.”
Q: Do you believe Ms. Kamikawa is correct in her perspective that gay rights are not an issue in Japan?
Hideki Sunagawa, 40, cultural anthropologist and president of Tokyo Gay Pride: Gay and lesbian matters are a non-issue because Japanese believe it’s a private matter.
The concept of human rights is different here than in Western countries. Gay people themselves don’t regard sexual orientation issues matters of human rights. If someone were to die or be killed as a result of discrimination, then it would be a human rights issue.
Q: Do you think it’s an issue?
Sunagawa: Some people, myself included, think it’s a social issue. I organized the Tokyo Pride Parade to move the issue more into the mainstream and show Japanese people that being gay is all right.
Miki Hamano, executive in Tokyo: But gay people are generally well integrated into society, and most people are uninterested in others’ sexual orientation. It has little or no impact on their relationships with others. In Japanese society, homosexuality is similar to being left-handed: It is not an issue.
Charles Ayres, 33, media personality and openly gay American in Tokyo: Hamano-san is wearing rose-colored glasses. It is a huge issue in Japan. Most people go to great lengths to hide their sexuality from their families and co-workers.
At an executive level — especially at older, more conservative companies — it is definitely an issue. Sorry, but openly gay men cannot easily join the “good ol’ boy’s club” that spends money at golf courses or hostess clubs in Ginza.
Professor, 30, a university professor who requested to remain anonymous: That’s true. My partner, who works in the travel business, got married because he wanted to climb the ladder and get promoted. He felt he had to protect himself. He had to cover up who he really was or they would block him at the higher levels.
Ayres: There’s also discrimination in housing. If you go to some real estate offices as a gay couple, they will subtly let you know ‘we don’t like your kind.’ That is why most gays move to hubs like Akabane or Nakano in Tokyo.
I’ve heard straight men in Tokyo who, not knowing that I understand Japanese, have talked about how they feel that gay men are disgusting. I’ve known American gay men who have committed marriage fraud (marrying Japanese female friends) to obtain a spousal visa and stay in Japan with their male Japanese partners.
Kenji Sasaki, 31, IT engineer: The bottom line is that there aren’t any merits in coming out to family or the workplace because of prejudice.
Q: Have you come out?
Sasaki: Like most gays, only to my good friends. I’m afraid to tell my father. He’s always asking me if I have a girlfriend and when I’m getting married. He would be so disappointed if he knew the truth.
Q: Is it different in Western countries?
Sasaki: Yes. There’s more solidarity and support groups, and they can vote for political candidates who support them. Of course, there’s also a powerful group that is against them. Japan is about 20 years behind the United States. We need confidence to be gay here.
In a 2008 online survey by Kyoto University of more than 5,500 homosexuals, more than 42 percent said they were depressed. More than 86 percent of those depressed were younger than 39 year old.
Coming Out
Sunagawa: I came out because I don’t like avoiding questions about my partners. I can’t keep pretending to be heterosexual.
I did it in graduate school during an interview test. One of my teachers always made gay jokes. It was painfully embarrassing, especially when the students laughed. However, students outside the classroom ignored the fact that I was gay.
Professor: That’s because Japanese people don’t want to touch this topic. They regard sexual orientation as private and it makes them uncomfortable. It’s polite to avoid talking about it.
Hamano: I’m skeptical about all this. Judging from what goes on with entertainment personalities (see Part One of this series), we are not uncomfortable with it and really don’t worry about the issue at all.
Japan does not share Western perspectives. In the United States, homosexuality and abortion are particular red-button issues, which is not the case in Japan.
Mariya Goya, 22, hairdresser in Tokyo: I disagree. There is a social taboo, and in reality, Western countries have more understanding of this than we have. In fact, my friends and I thought that gays were strange and that men who loved men were weird. My perception changed when I started working with gays and my best friend came out.
I wish the media would handle the subject more sensitively and show that gay people are normal.
Hamano: Why should people have to go out of their way to be sensitive to gay people when there is no visible discrimination or social contempt?
Q: If what Hamano-san says is correct, Professor and Mochizuki-san, why don’t you come out?
Professor: If I came out about half my colleagues would be shocked, and about half of them wouldn’t say anything but would still feel uncomfortable.
Q: Was it hard for you to admit you were gay to yourself as well?
Professor: I knew I was gay in kindergarten; I liked the pretty boys and felt more comfortable being around girls. I had crushes on male singers and actors. I lived in my own world. I didn’t want to talk to my father. I was bored listening to the other boys talk about girls and I eventually became scared to be with other people.
I wanted to reach out to gay men. I was curious about it, but the only ones I knew in school were really feminine and I didn’t want to contact them. It was lonely and I lived in the country side. I’m sure life would have been less complicated had I been born straight.
Sasaki: Today it’s not as lonely because there is a lot more information available to gays. You have the Internet, where you can find a girlfriend or boyfriend, talk to people and go to gay events.
Professor: That’s true. I wasn’t with anyone until I was in my mid 20s. I was in a park in Tokyo and this foreign man — I think he was American — came up to me and said, ‘I’m an English teacher, are you interested in me?’ After that, people said I changed and became more outgoing.
Sasaki: I gradually started realizing I was gay when I was 16 years old and felt isolated. It took a long time and the Internet wasn’t like it is now.
Q: Would you say there is less discrimination?
Sunagawa: There is rarely physical and verbal violence against gays, and many gay people enjoy gay bars and events. There are gay groups interested in music or sports in the urban cities of Japan, so they say they are not oppressed in their daily lives.
But we need to ask why most gay people can’t come out to their colleagues or family members.
Many gay people (especially gay men) say that they are not discriminated nor oppressed in their daily lives. However, oppression against gay people is so strong that many of them don’t even realize it. There aren’t any laws or social systems that protect or recognize gay couples, and that’s discrimination.
Q: Is it true that some gay people get around this by legally adopting their partner?
Ayres: Yes, but the lack of a sizeable movement to change this to a more official bond confirms that they have accepted their status as second-class citizens.
Sunagawa: For example, when a partner passes away, they can participate in the funeral only as a friend. Some say the deceased insist that gay friends not take part in the funeral, as parents and relatives may realize the departed person was gay.
Ayres: Let me also add that I have seen somewhat of an exodus of gay Japanese out of Japan — something of a ‘gay drain’ rather than a ‘brain drain’ — moving to Australia, Canada, France or anywhere the laws protect them to a greater measure. Unless the laws change, I think gays will continue to leave Japan.
Sunagawa: I believe that global solidarity will empower and help us solve the problems we are facing in our culture.
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