18 days and two near anxiety attacks later, the ball is finally starting to roll again after having been stalled for weeks because of Japan’s love of Red Tape™. now that it’s finally rolling again, gravity has it rapidly gaining speed down a sharp incline of 15 days until i officially move out, with smaller finish lines in the form of various deadlines along the way. sigh!
navigating any job market as a non-binary and / or gender non-conforming person can be tough, especially given the current void of information and resources available on the subject. since i’ve recently found myself having to navigate Japan’s job market, i figured i might as well threw my own personal experience out there into the void. perhaps it’ll help someone else out there. please note that this video is not a ‘how-to’ on finding a job in Japan. rather, i talk about my own (limited) personal experience the job market in Japan in terms of navigating names when your actual name differs from your current legal name, navigating Japanese standards of “professional attire”, being forced to reevaluate things like HRT and “activism” outside of the workplace, etc. long video is long, so here are some jump points for ease of viewing: ?00:56 – disclaimers ?02:26 – background information ?03:19 –…
anonymous said: actually I’ve been wondering for awhile what “I” word you use in Japanese, I’ve been learning Japanese and just wondering as far as queer communities in Japan if they ever step out of the (w)atashi is for girls/neutral and boku/ore is for boys thing. Could a fairly feminine looking person get away with boku? just wondering about what the situation actually is surrounding those words usage. i don’t use any particular set of first person pronouns ( i / me / my / mine) because i’m not comfortable using any of them. rather, i use various different pronouns or no pronoun at all depending on the register i’m speaking in, the situation i’m in, who i’m speaking to, how i’m feeling that particular day at that particular time, etc etc. thankfully Japanese is a very flexible language when it comes to pronouns in general and doesn’t even require usage of…
anonymous said: I’m so sorry that terfs hijacked your post like that omg. I’m a big fan of Japanese culture and I want to visit one day and I had no idea that they had any sort of queer events since it seems pretty taboo in most Asian countries. Despite terfs soiling it, I actually learned something new so thank you so much! (re: this post) no problem, anon. no matter how taboo or even illegal it may be, there will always be queer people in any given country who do more than survive; they live their life and at times come together to support each other and enjoy each others company, just like anywhere else. it’s more a matter of how private or well-known such information happens to be and i’m more than happy to help if i can re: Japan.
…mmm, that feel when you’re getting an influx of notes because a certain post of yours is being circulated among TERF lesbians praising Japan for its trans misogyny. edit: oh joy, of course someone had to go there. trigger warning for all of the links in this post, but rape warning for that last one.
as a follow up on this post about losing my job and a general life update, i guess: after a month of what felt like running a 40km marathon of creating multiple resumes, writing cover letter after cover letter, waking up at 4am to catch the 6:20am train to Tokyo and back for interviews and such all before going to work for 8 hours that same day– i’ve finally got a new job…! and not just any job, a job that’s better than my current job in every possible way minus paid vacation– ouch. the new job is going to be really challenging for me because while i have experience teaching high school students, i have never actually taught at a high school let alone an international one! as much as i could jump out of my own skin right now out of anxiety, among other things, i’m also excited…! except for the…
…once again i get home from work, turn on the TV to see a panel show doing a special featuring trans women. despite the title of the special, shown on the top left of the screen as「13人のオネエ大集合」 / “Gathering of 13 Trans Women”, it was actually 13+ guests divided into three groups: gay men, cross dressing gay men and trans women. click the photos to see translations / context in the captions.
just got the Japan edition of National Geographic’s special issue “Gender Revolution”. bearing in mind that i haven’t actually sat down and read through it yet, here are a few snaps along with my initial impression. prior to getting my hands on this magazine (and in fact, before it had even been released), i already had a general idea of what to expect based on snippets of featured articles that i’d come across online. plus, you know, the fact that it’s NatGeo. as such, i feel like there was never any chance of me being pleasantly surprised in any way, even though i’d set my expectations low to begin with. well, i’m glad i did, because i’m nitpicky as all hell. but we all already knew that. at a glance, there are some great things going on in this magazine, such as the increase in awareness of trans, intersex and non-binary…
anonymous said: I read your post about transphobia of Japan. I identify myself as genderqueer and MtF lesbian. I tried to join the event for lesbians in Tokyo, but they rejected me at the entrance. Because, I have my beautiful beard and my ID says I am biologically male. I was there with my classy black dress, but they didn’t think me as woman! This is so transphobic! Also, I think the term lesbian itself is very transphobic. TERF lesbians should go to hell. We need safe space for queer and non-binary in Japan! i’m really sorry to hear about the shitty experience that you had, anon. sadly, it’s not the first time that i’ve heard of someone having this experience and i suspect that i might even know the event that you tried to go to. it’s incredibly frustrating how a lot of LG(BT) spaces / events in Japan…
anonymous said: Hiya there, fellow Japanese-speaking asexual non-binary person! I’m planning to apply for the JET Programme in two years and I’m not sure what I should do with the “gender” section of the application. Should I select 女 (my DGAB) or is it possible to get an X in that section somehow? How did you approach this? Thanks in advance! hello, anon. 🙂 when i applied to JET i had no means of understanding my gender let alone communicating it to someone else, so i was still defaulting to my DGAB at the time. that was 10 years ago (unbelievable how time flies), but i imagine that that part of the application process hasn’t changed since then, unfortunately. speaking only for myself and what i’d probably do if i were to apply again today, i’d probably err on the side of caution and put my DGAB on the application…
