Gays in Japanese Media

< Black Lizard > (1968)
Starring Akihiro Maruyama(Miwa)
Japan's most Famous Drag Queen

Some Gaijins are surprised to see some,
not many but more than a few, gay or gayish TV personalities on Japanese TV shows.
Some of them are comedians, some are actors/singers,
some are commentators, some are critics,
some are choreographers, some are flower srrangement artists
yes, you see them much more than on American TV shows.

However, this does not mean that they are more liberated than in U.S., not at all.

A few years ago, I was watching Ed Sullivan show on PBS and shocked to see a female impersonator was doing "Judy Garland."
Even today, you rarely see any drag queens on a primetime network TV show.
Then how could that be possible in '60s before the '70s gay movement??
I was puzzled,
but eventually I realized that he was not a drag queen
but a female impersonator.

This guy was introduced as a female impersonator,
and impersonated Judy Garland,
surprisingly he sang well, not lip-synched as today's drag queens.
He was a man who had a special skill to impersonate Judy Garland,
not supposed to be a drag Queen,
therefore his sexuality was not question.
That's why he could be on the National network show in '60s.

Despite of the fact that there have been so many protests to improve their situations from gay community throughout '70s to the present day, there are a very few celebrities who came out as gay and a network TV do not have much gay themes shows and they are usually comedies if you find them, like "Will and Grace."

Why are comedies Okay?
Because if they are funny, someone you can laugh about,
it is easier to accept them than a strong, intelligent and handsome,
who can be threatening to a mojority who is White in this society.
In other words, you better be a novelty if you like to be accepted by the majority.



Peter aka Shinosuke Ikehata

Easily I can count 13-14 of them,
who sell "bing gay" in Japanese showbiz.
And all of them are either drag queens or very feminin types
I do not say all of them are sell-out
but most certainly they are stereo types
and that's why they are accepted.
They are mosdef novelties,
they are not the people who can threaten
the Japanese traditional value of family and social structure.

I have to mention that this does not include
Onnagata of Kabuki which is a Japanese traditional theatre,
where men do female roles.
Probably one reason
some drag queens can be accepted by Japanese media
is that Japan has a long history of gender bending in their showbiz.
Yet, asking them about their sexuality has been a big taboo.
They can do that as long as their sexuality is not in question.

There are many Japanese male celebrities
who got rumores to be gay,
and as they are musculine types,
they will never come out
because they know that would be ends of their career.


Tamasaburo Bando
The biggest star of Onnagata, Kabuki's actor who specialized in female roles

In every aspect, well, probably besides issues of recycle,
Japanese have a very low awareness on any social issues
compared to Americans.
And when it comes to a gay issue and a woman's issue,
they are more than 30 years behind.
Why?
Because almost nobody protest about them.
I do not say nothing
because I do remember some womanlib activities in late '70s in Japan.
Also I heard there was some gaylib activity in '90s as well,
which probably was inspired by AIDS activism of U.S.
However, they faded away eventually just like any American trens
Japanese love to immitate.


Carousel Maki
She was even in a '70s str8 porn film.
Who saw it?, who knows!

In Japan, violent gay bashing does not happen very often,
but being gay is something you rather hind in order to fit in.
Actually, if you are a gaijin,
you are already different because of your skin color,
being gay does not add much more,
especially Japanese have a stereo type images of
the western countries filled with gays,
which means they are not going to fall off from their chairs
if you tell them you are gay.
However, you still better not say about it if you become a teacher,
especially in rural areas.


Peter / Shinosuke Ikehata


Ai Haruna
Japan's Newest Drag Sensation

Are Japanese perverts? #2

Now the new stereo type about Japanese is "Kinky."
Probably those "Hentai" videos(adult anime) have conributed to that,
something like a girl is raped by an incredible monster.
However, I also remember seeing lots of bootleg copies of
Japanese S&M porn films at New York porn shops in '80s.



During '60s and '70s, Japanese major film studios lost their audiences
to TV and Hollywood films so much that they were threaten to be bankrupt.
One of them called Nikkatsu decided to make a drastic change to survive
that they allowed their young directors to do anything
as long as they put several sex scenes in their low badget films.
At that time and still now, Japan has the strict law
not to show any genitals on any media.
therefore those Nikkatsu films were soft core porns,
or even less than today's standard of soft core.
However, young directors tried so hard to be creative
about how to provocative sexually and artistically.
Those films were called "Nikkatsu Roman Poruno(Romantic Porn)"
and one of their specialties was S&M.

At that time, I was a kid in a rural area of Japan,
but still I saw lots of posters of them with bare boobs of women
on my way to school every day
which could never happen in the U.S., I guess.
And those films were so controversial that TV asked
their actress to be on the talk shows very often.
However, until recently I had never seen them.

I bought a DVD box set called
"Masaru Konuma: Debauched Desires" a while ago,
and it contains four films of one of the most famous
Nikkatsu Roman Poruno directors, Masaru Konuma.
And one of the film "Wife to be sacrificed" caught my attention.
It is a very very disturbing film, very S&M,
lots of humiliations and even some suggesting elements of
child sex abuse without showing actual scenes.
Yet this is a beautifully photographed film
and made me think about this kind of human sexual behaviors.



In Japan, generally speaking, the awareness of
any kinds of social or political issues are very low,
including feminism.
Therefore nobody protests about the films contains lots of scenes
of abusing, tormenting, torturing and raping women
shown in the neighborhood theatres,
which is unthinkable in the U.S.
However, I do not think that means the rate of raping women
is much higher in Japan.
Probably the reality is the opposite
though I cannot say I am sure because rape victimes
tend not to report about incidents especially in Japan
to avoid further humiliations.

Are Japanese perverts #1

"Ame Nochi P Shimasho (Let's do P after the rain!)"
by Ike Ike Girls

NO, you do not read like Ike of Ike and Tina Turner.
It is more like Ekay Ekay Girls.
"Ike Ike" was the popular term in the early '90s,
which means literary "Go Go"
and could be a noun or an adjective describing
girls who loved to play around with dresses of revealing body lines.

"Ame Nochi P Shimasho"

I am so wet because of rain
But I cannot sleep because of you
You are the kind of guy who does not move quickly
In your arm, I have to sigh again
Girl's mind depends on weather
That kind of kiss just does not do me
Let's do P after the rain
Let's do it passionately
If it turns out to be a fine weather
Please love me more like sending to paradice
Let's do P after the rain
Let's do it until we lose control
Hold me like a burning flame

Because I love him more than before
I wanna feel it like crazy more than before
After I get a very nice tan
Though it might be painful
I want you to hold me tighter
The uncertain rainy cloud started to move
I just can't wait, I am about to explode
Let's do P after the rain
It's about a time to do it
With my burning skin, I am swayed to paradice
Let's do P after the rain
Let's do more & more
Hold me till I melt away

Let's do P after the rain
Let's do it PPPPPPPP
If it turns out to be a fine weather
Love me more like sending me to paradice
Let's do P after the rain
Let's do it till we lose control
Hold me like a burning flame


This P means of course, SEX,
and tha rain is the metaphor of, hmmmm, not sure.
But It is totally a sex song.
They are pretty girls but what a hell are they wearing?
Those bottoms looks like diapers, don't they?
And at that time, so many girls like them on TV.



"Stand UP" by T-Backs

T-Back is a thong.
Japanese call a thong "T-back"
because it look like T
when you look at someone wearing it from behind.
And this clip is from the show on morning hour.
Can you immagine to see something like this on "Good Morning Ameica"?

Jikan Desuyo (1970-1973)

It is an interesting fact that
even when I was a young kid in early '70s, we could see
woman's bare boobs on a prime time TV show in Japan.
That show was called "Jikan desyo(It's time)" and
it was about a family who ran a Sento
(Japanese style public bath house)
and almost everytime, they showed boobs in a female undressing room.
My mother complained about that but she did not change the channel
because she knew everybody enjoying the show.
Something like this simply cannot happen in U.S. even in this day.
But in Japan, showing genitals in any media
is still strictly, well probably not so much, prohibited by law.

I still remember my teacher said not to watch
Sally Field's "Flying Nun" because it was on the air
after 10:00PM in the area I lived
So I did not watch it as a model kid.
But still I could watch this bare boob show
and teachers did not say anything about it.

And one other thing I remember is that
every summer there was a TV special that
many young stars gathered and did swimming competitions.
And the during the show, every time without a fail,
some girl's bikini top fell down accidentally,
well that's what they said, bare boobs were exposed
and always they were caught by a TV camera clearly.
Those were prime time shows with many celebrities
who were adored by kids.

To be continues

gender bending culture in Japan part 1

In Japan, there is a very famous
all female musical troupe called TAKARAZUKA
which has nearly 100 years history.

This is wiki's entry Takarazuka revue.
And this is their English site, Takarazuka.

All female means that girls play male roles.
And yes, they do "love scenes"

Of course, the other famous mono-gender troupe is
Kabuki which is all male and has 400 years history.

Not only in these troupes
but also in many other forms of entertainment,
gender bending has been prominent in Japanse culture
and not considered abnormal unlike in U.S.
because Japanese thinks it is nothing to do with
homosexuality.
Is that true?
To some extent, yes.
And to some extent, no.

This is the clip that
the legendary singer, Misora Hibari,
performing one of her most popular song
called "柔 Yawara" means Judo 柔道, way of Yawara,
Japanese martial art, in DRAG.
This song is about the spirit of performing Judo
and how a man should pursue for the manly way to live his life.
And a manly man should not fall in love with a woman.
If he does, he should throw that away, shake that way,
dump that away without any mercy even hiding his tears
in the sake of pursuing for the manly way to live.
It is very bizarre concept
especially considering a woman singing this song
but Japanese do not think so.



This idea is very very prominent in Samurai(and Yakuza) films.
Samurais were supposed to be manliest men of all
and they should not fall in love with women
because romance is meant be for the weak minds like women,
not for manliest men like Samurai.
They better pursue the manliest way to live,
which is to be a great worrior with an iron mind
Women have to endure any pains caused by that
and do their best to support men to reach their goals.
This is the extream case of gender role playing
and also the sexism.

This mentality is still very much evident
in the modern Japanese society
though younger generation are changing.
Men are supposed to work so hard,
almost dedicate their lives for their companies
which replaced Samurai masters
that they should choose work over their families.
Since this leaves many Japanese women emotionaly unsatisfied,
they need some sort of outlet.
when I was a kid,
I saw three wives of famous authors chatting on TV
and one of them said
"After the marriage, a son is a woman's lover"
two other wives nodded.
Because Japanese women tend to love their sons too much,
many Japanese men has a strong tendency of oedipus complex.
That works as one outlet for women.
But there are many others and one of them is Takarazuka
where men are pretty, men do not smell,
men do not have hairy legs, men whisper sweet words,
men cry for women, men understand women
and men think women are the best thing in the world.
So Takarazukais like romance novels
that many American women love to read.
In Takarazuka, women creat ultimate fantasy of ideal men
for women.
So Takarazuka has nothing to do with homosexuality.
Do you believe that?
If you say yes, you are too naive.
even it is not very obvious and upfront,
there is definitely undertone of fascination
for homosexulality in Takarazuka.

Next time I will talk about
this undertone of homosexuality and homophobia
in Japanese culture.

To be continued

In a mean time, please enjoy
this fantastic performance by Tamasaburo
the best Kabuki female role actor.