Homosexuality in Japan?

HAX IM A LION · 19 Apr 2008

Okay, I know this seems like a strange topic and a strange way to start my contribution to the community. Anyway.

This is really more of a question aimed at people residing in Japan, currently, or people who've been around the block.

Is homosexuality scarce in Japan? I was reading something the other day that talked about two girls' friendship that, to say the least, made me raise my eyebrows. When I mentioned it to a friend of mine out of curiosity he said that over there intimate or very affectionate relationships between young girls is something they "grow out of." Is this true? What about in older women? What about the male side? How RARE is this?

nice gaijin · 19 Apr 2008

I think it's unusual for people to be openly gay, as it's a personal matter. For that reason, it's not easy to say exactly how rare it is, but since Japanese are human like the rest of us, you could expect homosexuality to be about as "rare" as it is in the US or anywhere else. A trip to Shinjuku 2-chome would help illustrate this point, and show that there certainly are homosexuals in Japan, and in the right venue, are quite open about it.

But is this what you are asking about, or are you asking about affectionate friendships between people of the same sex (like bosom buddies?). This is not homosexuality.

Tokis-Phoenix · 19 Apr 2008

I heard that in the olden days in the Edo period no-one batted an eyelid at gay guys, but then during the Meiji period Japan took to western views that being gay was not something to be proud about and ever since then its never been as sociably acceptable as it used to be.
I think now days though that most of the younger generation of Japanese are cool with gay guys and lesbian women, although i'm not sure how seriously they take them or how acceptable it is to be openly obviously gay etc. There does seem to be a big market for boy love manga though right now, although i've heard that its biggest audience is with women rather than guys (perhaps Japanese women are curious or turned on by sensitive manly love, i dunno?).

nice gaijin · 19 Apr 2008

There were several gay people on my exchange program and the single ones managed to have relationships with locals. I should ask them about this, but their experiences are anecdotal, not empirical.

Incidentally, there was a LBGT club at our school and during the school club "rush" week, some flamboyantly dressed/cross dressed people were handing out flyers. One of my friends approached one of them and asked "are you from [the name of the club]?" and the person, despite being dressed in a way that would remove any doubt, was very hesitant to openly talk about the club. I'm not sure what this says about the way homosexuality is viewed in Japan, but I found the juxtaposition noteworthy.

tokapi · 19 Apr 2008

HAX IM A LION said:
Is homosexuality scarce in Japan ?

I was reading something the other day that talked about two girls' friendship that, to say the least, made me raise my eyebrows.

松本清張の指 Japanese TV dorama " Yubi " featured " lesbian love "

Uncut English-subtitled version,enjoy

pipokun · 20 Apr 2008

HAX IM A LION said:
...
I was reading something the other day that talked about two girls' friendship that, to say the least, made me raise my eyebrows.

What would you do to see the English message by a yaoi or boys love publisher?
http://www.b-boy.jp/info17.html

tokapi · 20 Apr 2008

Oda Nobunaga (織田信長) was a gay.Oda and Mori's lord-vassal relationship followed the shudo tradition, and was widely admired in Japan for its strength. In fictional works featuring him, Ranmaru is often depicted as having an extremely feminine appearance.

Mori Ranmaru - Wikipedia

Shudō ( 衆道 ) is the Japanese tradition of age-structured homosexuality prevalent in samurai society from the medieval period until the end of the 19th century.

Shudo - Wikipedia

HAX IM A LION · 21 Apr 2008

tokapi said:
Oda Nobunaga (織田信長) was a gay.Oda and Mori's lord-vassal relationship followed the shudo tradition, and was widely admired in Japan for its strength. In fictional works featuring him, Ranmaru is often depicted as having an extremely feminine appearance.
Shudō ( 衆道 ) is the Japanese tradition of age-structured homosexuality prevalent in samurai society from the medieval period until the end of the 19th century.

Interesting. I'd heard about something like that, before, but never about these Oda and Ranmaru guys.
Also, that movie was pretty awesome. Not what I'd expected at all.

pipokun said:
What would you do to see the English message by a yaoi or boys love publisher?

Uh.. what? I think I get what you're saying, but not quite. I'm quite used to seeing yaoi and boys' love stuff already.

Homosexuality in Japan?

HAX IM A LION

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nice gaijin

Resident Realist

Tokis-Phoenix

先輩

nice gaijin

Resident Realist

tokapi

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pipokun

先輩

tokapi

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HAX IM A LION

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