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{{Redirect|LGBT in Japan|LGBT rights|LGBT rights in Japan|Homosexuality|Homosexuality in Japan}}{{essay-like|date=December 2018}}
This article focuses on Japanese definitions of [[gender]] and [[Human sexuality|sexuality]], [[Japan]]ese reactions to [[queer]] life, the clash between traditional and contemporary ideas, and the cultural restraints of being queer in Japan. The Western term “queer,” an umbrella term for
==Japanese definitions of gender and sexuality==
In Japan, gender and sexuality are conceptualized through a spectrum wherein the various social roles of the “all encompassing” group are emphasized. Under this construction, expressions of gender and sexuality are varied, as is evidenced by Japan's [[gender-bending]] communities.<ref>Colonizing sex: Sexology and social control in modern Japan (2003). By: Fruhstuck, Sabine; Tipton, Elise K.. ''Journal of the History of Sexuality'', May 2006, Vol. 15 Issue 2; (AN WMST-125640).</ref>
The concept of transgender originates from [[
With the introduction of [[Buddhism in Japan|Buddhism]], one of the earliest forms of non-heterosexuality documented in Japan is found in young male homosexual practices during the [[Heian period]] (
In modern Japan, it is not uncommon to hear Western terms such as gay and lesbian (''ゲイ'' ''gei'' and レズビアン ''rezubian'').<ref>Discussing Gender and
During the Edo period, for instance, male-female sexual relations were important to secure offspring and social status; however, male-male sexual relations, particularly amongst the [[Samurai]], were viewed as an intricate part of male socialization. The term [[Homosexuality in Japan|''wakashudo'' or ''shudo'']], literally translated as “the way of the young men,” observing an earlier form of homosexuality that focused on the sexual relationship between a Samurai and his pupil. Such relationships established an unquestionable acceptance of same-sex practices and were not restricted to men.<ref>Love of Samurai: A thousand years of Japanese homosexuality (1989). By: Watanabe, Tsuneo; Iwata, Jun`ichi; Robertson, Jennifer. ''Journal of the History of Sexuality'', OCTOBER 1991, Vol. 2 Issue 2; (AN WMST-33096)</ref>
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Dating back to the Edo Period (1603–1867), various literary and artistic depictions of sexual acts between men and young boys exist. Homosexuality in the western sense began during the [[Meiji period]] (1868–1912) and later in the [[Taishō period]] (1912–1925). In the Meiji period, same-sex practices were considered personal preferences. However, documentation and case studies only go back to the 1900s, leaving little room for analysts to distinguish homosexuality as an ‘obscene sexuality.’<ref>Harada, Mashashi. "Queer Japan." Journal of Homosexuality 42.2 (2001).</ref>
In 1975, twelve women became the first group of women in Japan to publicly identify as lesbians, publishing one issue of a magazine called Subarashi Onna (Wonderful Women).<ref name="vice">{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/pajx3m/lesbian-history-archive-artifacts |title=The First Lesbian Porn and 10 Other Revealing Artifacts from Lesbian History |publisher=VICE |access-date=2019-07-11}}</ref>
In the 1980s in Tokyo, a group of lesbians who spoke English began to form, and in 1985 they started having in-person gatherings called uiikuendo ("weekends") as part of the International Feminists of Japan conference.<ref name="vice"/>
Japanese society's view of LGBT and sexual minorities has shifted due to the rapid westernization in postwar period. Consequently, lesbian, gay, bisexual and [[gender variance|gender variant]] identity and behavior have since come to be seen as aberrant or "diseased". In more recent times, however, with the influences of LGBT magazines, research, interviews, case studies, auto-biographies, journals and activism, more people have a relatively accepting and respectful attitude towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. The availability of literature, information and formal representation of queer voices has helped many young Japanese to identify themselves with sexual minority groups. More importantly, awareness has opened a mode of communication between mainstream Japanese society and LGBT people in Japan.<ref>Queer voices from Japan: first person narratives from Japan's sexual minorities</ref>
In the modern world, Japanese LGBT people are facing difficulties such as societal prejudice or discrimination. Often men in contemporary Japanese society express their sexual attraction for other men with a low self-esteem and a lack of self-confidence. The extensive information on queer life-styles has helped to change this and now gay people are more comfortable with their sexual orientation.<ref>[https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CESCR/Shared%20Documents/JPN/INT_CESCR_NGO_JPN_13502_E.pdf JAPAN: Discrimination on the Basis of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity]</ref> In 2017, Japan became the first country in the world to elect an openly transgender man to a public office when [[Tomoya Hosoda]] was elected as a councillor for the city of [[Iruma, Saitama|Iruma]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Chloe Farand |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/japan-first-world-transgender-man-public-office-councillor-iruma-saitama-kanto-a7636641.html |title=Japan becomes first country in the world to elect a transgender man to a public office |work=The Independent |access-date=2017-03-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/03/17/japan-just-elected-its-first-trans-man-into-public-office/ |title=Japan just elected its first trans man into public office · PinkNews |publisher=Pinknews.co.uk |access-date=2017-03-18}}</ref>
Many LGBT people are aware of the negative perception that much of Japanese society has about LGBT lifestyles. University students who openly discuss their problems with fellow students categorize themselves as ‘straight’ to avoid uncomfortable situations when seeking employment. McLelland's article talks about how gay men in the provincial areas face oppressive and condescending remarks. While awareness amongst Japanese society has helped queer people to express their identities, societal restrictions prevent queer people from living freely and contently in regards to employment and public accommodations. Furthermore, the lack of clinical psychologists versed in understanding queer identities does not help the advancement for social acceptance.<ref>Hideki, Sunagawa, and Mark McLelland. "Japan's Gay History." Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context 12 (January 2006).</ref>
The “western modes of promoting activism and visibility, such as LGBT organizations, film festivals and parades in Japanese society have been taken by some as evidence of a ‘global queering.’ In the realm of sexuality, globalization results in creative indigenization and cultural admixture more than it does in any unilateral imposition of western sexual identities.” Thus, “Japan is home to an alternative sexual modernity, a modernity produced by hybrid globalizing processes as much as by the continuation of identities, practices and mentalities inherited from the past.”<ref name="pwia" />
=== Transgender ===
The early 2000s were marked my a new positive developments for trans people. In 2000 the trans author [[Chiya Fujino|Fujino Chiya]] won the [[Akutagawa Prize|Akutagawa prize]] and Kamikawa Aya became the first trans politician who was elected into office and she won a seat in the election of the Tokyo Municipal Council. Small steps towards the possibility of the change of gender were taken as the legalisation of gender-affirming surgery was legalised in 1997 but it was the requirement for a person to change the gender that they were assigned at birth. However, the language used in the law pathologises trans people and only makes the change of the legal gender possible under restrictive requirements.<ref>Kawasaka, Kazuyoshi; Würrer, Stefan, eds. (2024). ''Beyond Diversity: Queer Politics, Activism, and Representation in Contemporary Japan''. Düsseldorf University Press. p. 5. {{doi|10.1515/9783110767995}} {{ISBN|978-3-11-076799-5}}</ref>
==The clash between traditional and contemporary ideas==
The all encompassing term which refers to the non-heterosexual and gender-variant practices and identities that include gay, lesbian, and transgender individuals is "kono sekai" (Japanese). The term literally translated in English means “this world,” and is used to refer to the wide variety of [[sexual subculture|gender and sexual subcultures]].<ref>[https://research-management.mq.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/62601206/Publisher_version_open_access_.pdf The spatialisation of desire in a Japanese gay district through signage]</ref>
Homosexual practice is also found among the Samurai aristocracy in part because of the heavy influence that [[Buddhism]] had on their culture specifically during the early stages of the Edo period (1600–1868). Also during this period, “there was no necessary connection made between gender and sexual preference, because men, samurai in particular, were able to engage in both same and opposite sex affairs without being stigmatized.” Because same-sex relationships were governed by a code of ethics, “elite men were able to pursue boys and young men who had not yet undergone their coming-of-age ceremonies, as well as transgender females of all ages from the lower classes who worked as actors and prostitutes.” Although bisexuality in women was practiced, the notion of lesbianism was not documented and there is “no way of cognitively linking both male and female homosexuality.<ref name=pwia>McLelland, Mark. ''Queer Japan from the Pacific War to the Internet Age''. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005.</ref>
It was not until the [[Meiji period]] (1868–1912) that “Japanese sexuality” was transformed through influence from “the West.”
==Cultural restraints==
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The current social restraints on personal expression and employment opportunities related to being a sexual or gender minority in Japan present a modern challenge. As a represented minority in a country where mainstream conformity is promoted and preferred, the LGBT populace of Japan are ostracized and stereotyped by society; however they are commonly portrayed by media components. The media presents those attracted to the same gender as transgender or transsexual, or vice versa. However, even these representations are viewed as a performance instead of sexual expression, further illustrating the media's refusal to admit the existence of sexual and gender minorities. Mark McLelland stated that “the homosexual man who is transgender and restricts himself to the entertainment world is tolerated, even appreciated. However, the homosexual man who ‘passes’ and turns up to be your boss, your teacher, your neighbor or even your husband occasions a great deal of anxiety; he is a figure to be feared and or despised.”<ref>McLelland, Mark J. Male Homosexuality in Modern Japan. Richmond: Curzon Press, 2000.</ref> This way of thought represents the restraints on personal expression by dwelling on LGBT people as a group that crossdresses. However, as representations of gay sexuality are concerned, only those that are noticeable, i.e. those that crossdress, are wanted while the unnoticeable masses are shunned. These forces press for a common expression of self that likely would not exist if social systems allowed for their personal expression.<ref name =coj>Ito, Satoru, and Ryuta Yanase. ''Coming Out in Japan''. By Ito and Yanase. Trans. F Conlan. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press, 2001.</ref>
The suppressed expression of self is further expounded by the cultural practices revolving around family and marriage. The custom of living at home until marriage presents restrictions of LGBT life in Japan; the belief that
Further national government influence unofficially restricts employment opportunities to those who remain in the closet. “Homosexuality works against the accepted norms of social morality and can be thought of as contributing to the breaking down of the established sexual public order of society. Consequently it should not be sanctioned in modern society.”<ref name="coj" /> This example of government preference on education presents one example of employment opportunities lost to the LGBT populace of Japan. Furthermore, many Japanese organizations are incorrectly informed on LGBT issues which restrain and influence performance reports and promotional possibilities.<ref>''Queer Japan: Personal Stories of Japanese Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals, and Bisexuals''. Ed. Barbara Summerhawk, Cheiron McMahill, and Darren McDonald. Norwich: New Victoria Publishers, 1998.</ref> These problems place pressure on sexual minorities to accept their diminished reputations or leave a company due to unrestrained bigotry from those in the workforce.
== Modern queer studies in Japan ==
Since 2010 the variety of queer studies conducted in Japan increased and includes works on queer theory and critisism,<ref>Works here included are:
Nagashima, S. (Ed.). (2013). Ai no gihō: Kuia rīdingu to wa nani ka [The art of love: What is queer reading?]. Chūō Daigaku Shuppanbu.
——(2019). Yomu koto no kuia: Zoku ai no gihō [The queerness of reading: The art of love 2]. Chūō Daigaku Shuppanbu.
Fujitaka, K. (2018). Judisu Batorā: Sei to tetsugaku o kaketa tatakai [ Judith Butler: A fight for life and philosophy]. Ibunsha.
——(2022). “Toraburu” toshite no feminizumu:”Torimidasasenai yokuatsu” ni aragatte [Feminism as “trouble”: Fighting with “the pressure to not lose control”]. Ibunsha.
Shimizu, A. (2013). Chanto tadashii hōkō ni mukatteru: Kuia poritikusu no genzai [Heading properly in the right direction: The current state of queer politics]. In R. Miura & S. Hayasaka (Eds.), Jendā to jiyū: Riron, riberarizumu, kuia [Gender and freedom: Theory, liberalism, queer] (pp. 313–331). Sairyūsha.
——(2015). Yōkoso gei furendori na machi e. [Welcome to the gay friendly town]. Gendai shisō, 43(16), 144–155.
——(2022). Feminizumutte nandesuka. [What is feminism?]. Bunshun Shinsho.</ref> queer history,<ref>Works included here are:
Akaeda, K. (2011). Kindai Nihon ni okeru onna dōshi no shinmitsu na kankei [Intimate relationships between women in modern Japan]. Kadokawa Gakugei Shuppan.
——(2014). Sengo Nihon ni okeru “rezubian” kategorī no teichaku [The establishment of the category of “lesbian” in postwar Japan]. In S. Koyama, K. Akaeda, & E. Imada (Eds.), Sekushuariti no sengoshi [A history of sexuality in post-war Japan] (pp. 129–151). Kyōto Daigaku Gakujutsu Shuppankai.
Ishida, H. (2019). Anzen na jiyū: Hattenba ni yume o takushita jidai ni okeru [Safe freedom: When cruising spots were places of dreams]. In Kōkai shimpojiumu “‘LGBT’ wa dō tsunagatte kita no ka” [Public symposium: “LGBT” connections over the years] (pp. 23–31). Hokkaido University Collection of Scholarly and Academic Papers. <nowiki>http://hdl.handle.net/2115/74609</nowiki>.
——(2023). Yakudō suru gei mūbumento: Rekishi o kataru torikkusutā tachi [Vibrant gay movements: Tricksters narrating history]. Akashi Shoten.
Mitsuhashi, J. (2018). Shinjuku: “Sei naru” machi no rekishi chiri [Shinjuku: Historical geography of a sex town]. Asahi Shinbun Shuppansha.
——(2022). Rekishi no naka no tayōna “sei”: Nihon to Ajia, hengen suru sekushuaritī [Diverse “sexualities” throughout history: Japan and Asia’s transforming sexualities]. Iwanami Shoten.</ref> queer disability studies,<ref>Works here included are:
Iseri, M. (2013). Furekishiburu na shintai: Kuia negativitī to kyōseiteki na kenjōteki shintaisei [Flexible bodies: Queer negativity and coercive able-bodiedness]. Ronsō kuia, 6, 37–57.
——(2019). “Fuzai” kara no shiza, “fuzai” e no shiza: Disabiritī, feminizumu, kuia [Perspectives from “absence,” perspectives toward “absence”: Disability, feminism, queer]. Gendai shisō, 47(3), 289–298.
——(2020). (Han)-miraishugi o toinaosu: Kuia na tairitsusei to dōin sareru shintai [Rethinking (anti)-futurism: Queer antagonism and mobilized bodies]. Shisō, 1151, 70–86.
Iino, Y., Kawashima, S., Nishikura, M., & Hoshika, R. (2016). Gōriteki hairyo: Taiwa o hiraku, taiwa ga hiraku [Reasonable accommodation: Opening up dialogues, dialogues that open up]. Yūhikaku.
——(2022). “Shakai” o atsukau aratana mōdo: “Shōgai no shakai moderu” no tsukaikata [A new mode of engaging with “society”: How to use the “social model of disability”]. Seikatsu Shoin.
</ref> lesbian studies<ref>Works include:
Sugiura, I. (2007). Lesbian discourses in mainstream magazines of post-war Japan. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 11(3–4), 127–144.
——(2011). Increasing lesbian visibility. In K. Fujimura-Fanselow (Ed.), Transforming Japan: How feminism and diversity are making a difference (pp. 164–176). The Feminist Press.
——(2017). Nihon ni okeru rezubian minikomi-shi no gensetsu bunseki: 1970 nendai kara 1980 nendai zenhan made [A discourse analysis of lesbian zines in Japan: From the 1970s to the early 1980s]. Wakō Daigaku gendai ningen gakubu kiyō, 10, 159–178.
Horie, Y. (2015). Rezubian aidentitīzu [Lesbian identities]. Rakuhoku Shuppan.</ref> and trans studies.<ref>Works included:
Ishii, Y. (2018). Toransujendā to gendai shakai: Tayōka suru sei to aimaina jikozō wo motsu hitotachi no seikatsusekai [Trans people and contemporary society: The everyday life of people with ambiguous self-images and the diversification of gender and sexuality]. Akashi Shoten.
Shūji, A., & Takai, Y. (2023). Toransujendā nyūmon [An introduction to transgender people]. Shūeisha. Shūkan Daiamondo Henshūbu. (Ed.). (2013). Kokunai shijō 5.7 chōen:”LGBT
Yamada, H. (2020). Toransujendā no fuhenka ni yoru GID o meguru anbivarensu no masshō [Erasing ambivalence related to gender identity disorder through the universalization of transgender]. Jendā kenkyū, 23, 47–65. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.24567</nowiki> /00063793.
——(2022). GID as an acceptable minority; or, the alliance between moral conservatives and “gender critical” feminists in Japan. Transgender Studies Quarterly, 9(3), 501–506. <nowiki>https://doi.org/</nowiki> 10.1215/23289252-9836162.
Yoshino, Y. (2020). Dareka no risō o ikirare wa shinai: Torinokosareta mono no tame no toransujendā-shi [You can’t live someone else’s ideal: Transgender history for those left behind]. Seidosha.
</ref> One example is the anthology ''Kuia sutadīzu o hiraku'' (Exploring Queer Studies), edited by Kikuchi Natsuno, Horie Yuri, and Iino Yuriko that features many discussions of topics often overlooked in the recent developments.<ref>Kawasaka, Kazuyoshi; Würrer, Stefan, eds. (2024). ''Beyond Diversity: Queer Politics, Activism, and Representation in Contemporary Japan''. Düsseldorf University Press. p. 8—9. {{doi|10.1515/9783110767995}} {{ISBN|978-3-11-076799-5}}</ref>
== See also ==
* [[Blue
* [[Homosexuality in Japan]]
* [[Human-oriented sexualism]]
* [[LGBT culture in Japan]]
* [[LGBT rights in Japan]]
* [[Newhalf]]
* ''[[Otokonoko]]''
* [[X-gender]]
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{{Reflist}}
{{Japan topics}}
{{LGBT in Japan}}
{{Homosexuality around the world}}
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