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During today’s tutor session with Kisako, we got talking about
homosexuality in Japan and England – it turns out that opinions towards
homosexuality, and the whole “scene” in general is very different in both
countries. Kisako was surprised to hear my opinion that no-one is 100% gay
or straight (I’d say a lot of English people my age hold the same view),
that I have at least 7 good friends who are either gay or bi (although the
number of gay/bi people I just happen to know is much, much larger), and
that I’ve been to gay bars on several occasions. Kisako said that there
are only gay bars in the big cities in Japan, like Tokyo, and that she
doesn’t know anyone who’s openly gay. She said that in England gay people
are far more open about their sexuality than in Japan.
However, if you look at Japan’s history and culture, there seem to be
quite a few examples of pro-gay attitudes, or at least tolerance. For one
thing, before Japan was influenced by Christianity, Japanese literature
was full of sex scenes between men. It was only after the advent of
Christianity that such literature was banned. Moreover, in today’s Japan,
there is a large amount of gay-orientated literature being produced. I
only have to go into the local manga shop, and there will be a large
section devoted entirely to “Boy Love” – gay male romance comics, aimed
not only at gay men but largely at girls. Kisako claims never to have
heard of the genre, however, but then she isn’t into manga.
On top of this, Japan, much like England, has a fine tradition of men in
drag. In traditional Kabuki plays, women weren’t allowed to take part so
men took female roles – and earned much prestige for being a female
impersonator. And now, as J-POP fans will now, there is no shortage of
Japanese visual bands where all the members dress in drag or at least look
very feminine. A good thing, in my opinion!
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