Okama

[Dogen Z]

Although they are often made fun of, okamas (gays) are well accepted in Japanese society. Some are even celebrities on TV for no other reason than being gay with personality. If you watch Japanese TV enough, you'll soon recognize several. This is not like the States where such openly and even flambouyantly gay people wouldn't be tolerated regularly on prime time TV programs. Japan has a much more relaxed attitude about this matter than Judeo-Christian cultures.

 

[Astroboy]

Although they are often made fun of, okamas (gays) are well accepted in Japanese society. Some are even celebrities on TV for no other reason than being gay with personality. If you watch Japanese TV enough, you'll soon recognize several. This is not like the States where such people would never be tolerated on regular TV programs.

I think .... "Okama" is rooted from "Oyama" (ﾂ鞘?版蛋), which is very important part of Kabuki .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyama_(Japanese_theatre)
It is known that "Oyama" is more feminine than true woman.

 

[Hezam]

Some are even celebrities on TV for no other reason than being gay with personality

In Japan TV ?
I think being gay is genetic problem and it's not new like some people think.

 

[MadamePapillon]

This is not like the States where such people would never be tolerated on regular TV programs.

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
Will and Grace
Queer as Folk
The L Word
Torchwood
OZ


There`s more but to be honest I don`t keep track. Plus there`s openly gay personalities like Trevor Boris, Elton John, Adam Lambert, Clay Aiken etc etc etc....
Not to mention all the shows that purposely add sexual tension between male characters to please fans that are into that (House and Supernatural instantly come to mind) and all the random gay characters and relationships that are scattered throughout different programs in the States.

Japan isn`t doing anything new in that department.

 

[Damicci]

Real World ALWAYS has atleast one homosexual housemate. Yeah it's probably as open hear as it is in Japan if not more.

 

[akaitsume1]

I noticed something interesting when I was in Japan. Although Japan has the yaoi/yuri culture, where you can purchase books, etc. featuring same sex couples, very few Japanese seem to openly admit to being gay; as opposed to the US, which is the exact opposite. Ask almost any group of Americans if they know gay people, and every hand will go up. But if I asked a group of Japanese people, the number of people who will raise their hands is dramatically less. I've actually tried this.

 

[Dogen Z]

You've got smart students. I wouldn't admit to anyting that was difficult to explain to a foreigner with western, ethnocentric biases and erroneous assumptions; someone who doesn't/can't understand Japanese society and is easily critical and ready to spread derogatory comments at his/her first possible chance. You should give your pupils a star for being so bright.
********
Jan. 4, 2010- Sorry, that rant came out after drinking cheap champagne left over from New Year's and recent dealings with disgusting types. Not really directed at Akaitsume, but to those who fit the description - you know who you are. Anyway, I think Japan is less concerned about the homosexual issue than the West.

 

[akaitsume1]

Wow, if that comment was directed at me, it was extremely confusing. Where was the derogatory comment? Where was I being critical? Why is it that I can't "get" Japanese culture?

All I was doing was pointing out my own surprise at how few people I met in Japan who either knew someone gay or admitted it. My own Japanese teachers, who were natives born and raised in Japan, first pointed out the phenomenon to me, and I carried out my own experiment to see if they were right. Was I saying that the Japanese are intolerant? No. Obviously not, given Ikko and the aforementioned yaoi/yuri cultures. Was I saying that I don't like Okama? Heck no. When my school in Japan did an Okama Cafe during the Gakusai, I was first in line. I happen to love Japan, and I have no issue with its differences from my home country. Some things are easier to do in Japan, other things are easier to do here.

Personally, I wish the US were as blase about same sex couples as Japan is. The most tolerance seems to be in places like San Francisco or in bookstores over by the manga section. But we do have a very strong, open gay community (not that everyone is happy about that, sadly). From what I could see, in general, Japan does not. That's all.

 

[MadamePapillon]

You've got smart students. I wouldn't admit to anyting that was difficult to explain to a foreigner with western, ethnocentric biases and erroneous assumptions; someone who doesn't/can't understand Japanese society and is easily critical and ready to spread derogatory comments at his/her first possible chance. You should give your pupils a star for being so bright.
********
Jan. 4, 2010- Sorry, that rant came out after drinking cheap champagne left over from New Year's and recent dealings with disgusting types. Not really directed at Akaitsume, but to those who fit the description - you know who you are. Anyway, I think Japan is less concerned about the homosexual issue than the West.

Hey now, the West is a very big place and includes a lot of very different opinions. If you mean America then just say America ... lumping a large group of people that span the entire world into having one (American) mindset is just ... well, ignorant.

 

[Chidoriashi]

Although they are often made fun of, okamas (gays) are well accepted in Japanese society. Some are even celebrities on TV for no other reason than being gay with personality. If you watch Japanese TV enough, you'll soon recognize several. This is not like the States where such openly and even flambouyantly gay people wouldn't be tolerated regularly on prime time TV programs. Japan has a much more relaxed attitude about this matter than Judeo-Christian cultures.

I am sorry but I cannot agree with the idea that Japan has a relaxed attitude toward gays. I believe Japanese who are gay tend to not be openly gay. I also have gotten the impression from Japanese that I have talked to that you will not get lynched for it or anything over here, but it is not really looked upon as a good thing, and some tend to almost have a fearful attitude towards gays. In fact, my one gay Japanese friend says that his mom has told him if he turns out to be gay, she will disown him, or as his best English put it, "if you are gonna be gay, you are not my son" she said. That does not sound very relaxed to me.
Maybe the air is different in Tokyo, but I am guessing the less cosmopolitan places of Japan take a much more traditional, rigid attitude.

 

[epigene]

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
Will and Grace
Queer as Folk
The L Word
Torchwood
OZ


There`s more but to be honest I don`t keep track. Plus there`s openly gay personalities like Trevor Boris, Elton John, Adam Lambert, Clay Aiken etc etc etc....
Not to mention all the shows that purposely add sexual tension between male characters to please fans that are into that (House and Supernatural instantly come to mind) and all the random gay characters and relationships that are scattered throughout different programs in the States.

Japan isn`t doing anything new in that department.

I generally agree.

Japanese TV has become very tolerant toward openly gay personalities and artists. Now, some of them appear on the most conservative NHK TV. For the most part, they are exceptional artists or specialists in artistic fields (fashion, handicrafts and culinary art) or people from the nightclubbing world who are outstanding and enteraining talking heads.

But, I don't see any significant change in attitude toward homosexuals in the real working world, unless it is show business related.

Of course, we know better now that homosexuality may be the result of genetic makeup or something environmental that happened during childhood and so don't have blind prejudice toward them as we did in the past.
Still, I've heard people in my generation say privately that they were relieved that their children didn't turn out to be homosexuals.