[A]sexuality,  Gender[queer],  Japan[ese],  Queer[ness]

Ie Uru Onna Gyakushuu S2E3: “A home that is accepting of all [kinds of] love?!”

the video above is the commercial for season 2 episode 3 of the popular Japanese TV drama 家売るオンナ逆襲 /“Ie Uru Onna Gyakushuu” (”Your Home Is My Business! Counterstrike”), which just aired tonight. there are no subtitles, but i don’t think that you need them for it to be obvious what the episode is about.

for those unfamiliar with the show itself, it’s a Japanese real estate dramedy about a woman whose motto is that she can and will successfully sell Any Property– which she does time and time again, totally schooling everyone else’s ass despite her hardass exterior and comedic ‘lack’ of interpersonal skills.

despite being essentially an LGBT 101 episode geared towards a broad audience, thus lacking in any sort of ‘real’ content that 当事者 or people who are LGBT themselves might enjoy beyond sheer representation– the episode ended up being a lot better than i’d allowed myself to even hope it would be, given Japan’s rather poor (imho) track record of LGBT representation, awareness, or education on TV.

considering that Japan as a country and society is still very much at a place where such mainstream efforts to raise even basic awareness of LGBT people and the legal struggles that they face regarding marriage and even simply renting or buying a home is wholly necessary– the episode was both timely and (more or less) well executed. the fact that a very popular tv drama on a national television network even devoted an hour to the topic– and not even just the L or the G part of it– and explicitly promoted the episode as being LGBT-focused in TV spots for a week leading up to the episode– something that i have yet to see any other show do for more than the novelty of it– is in and of itself noteworthy.

i’m sure the episode will be fansubbed and made available online in no time, but for those who do happen to understand Japanese and / or live in Japan, the entire episode is available for free on Ni Tele’s website until January 30th at 21:59, right before the next episode airs. the entire series is also available on Hulu Japan.

and if you happen to follow me on Snapchat, my sincerest condolences for any lost time my incessant ‘live snapping’ of thoughts-and-reactions-that-nobody-asked-for may have caused you. m (_ _ ; )m

YouTuber and Blogger, Vesper is an American expat currently living in Japan.

Leave a comment?