anonymous said: I heard that “nonsexual” means non-aro ace and “asexual” means aro ace in Japan. I’m still confused about general Japanese terms in the ace community. If you don’t mind, could you please explain the most commonly used terms? hi, anon. you heard correctly, “asexual” (Aセクシャル) doesn’t mean what it means in English in Japan.
ever so aptly timed with YouTube’s second attempt at spotlighting LGBTQIA YouTube with the hashtag #ProudToBe, the first ever Pride Academy was held at YouTube Space Tokyo today. the name of the event itself being a play on one of YouTube’s programs for creators, Creator Academy. the event was aimed at encouraging and offering support to LGBTQIA people in Japan who might be interested in creating a channel on YouTube– regardless of the content that they chose to put on their channel. another aim of the event was to host a 交流会 (networking event) after the presentations in the hopes of fostering community among LGBTQIA youtubers in Japan by giving them a chance to meet each other. to that end, Google promoted the event at its booth during Tokyo Rainbow Pride this past May and i was pleasantly surprised to see the turn out, given the current state of LGBTQIA…
…so i randomly went to Book Off (used bookstore) today after work and happened to find two used books on gender studies / gender theory that not only ① explicitly discuss binarism and how society ignores those who are neither of the binary genders (male / female) nor either of the binary sexualities (gay / straight)– there’s also ② explicit mention of asexuality and the alphabet soup where the acronym LGBTIAQ is used and I is defined as “Intersex”, A as “Asexual” and Q as “Queer”. notably, these books were published in ① 2013 & ② 2006 and are original works by Japanese authors rather than books imported into Japan and translated into Japanese. below are super rough (because i’m starving, exhausted and need to go to bed damnit) English translations for the above snippets.
when you turn and see someone’s face as they lose composure while looking your way as you approach them, you know it was all worth it. (featuring photos by: @7a6u3, @gonoi and @mom1615) see also: TOKYO | FESTA | ACES & ENBIES
if only ten photos or even four posts of photos were enough to capture the spirit of #TRP2017. see also: TOKYO | PARADE | ACES & ENBIES
random glimpses of rainbows around Shibuya & Shinjuku. should’ve gone to Odaiba too, チェッ… see also: FESTA | PARADE | ACES & ENBIES
ie. that time when a women’s sex toy store promoted much needed awareness of diversity at Tokyo Rainbow Pride, but due to incredibly poor research on their part as well as a language barrier that is not their fault, inadvertently ended up spreading damaging misinformation about intersex people, polysexuality and ‘skoliosexuality’, among other things. and of course i kind of went off on Twitter about it because that’s what i do when i’m not going off about something on Tumblr instead. like every year, Love Piece Club, a very well known Tokyo-based shop and website for women, had a booth at Tokyo Rainbow Pride this year. at past Prides that i’ve been to (both in and outside of Tokyo) they have been one of (if not The) Only booth(s) selling miscellaneous small goods (badges, stickers, etc) in more than just rainbow flag colors. because of that, i know that they have…
to everyone who made it out to Tokyo Rainbow Pride today and metup with us (many of whom aren’t photoed above), otsukaresama deshita! it was great to see you all and i hope everyone had as great a time as i did. without going into a long-winded spiel because i’m exhausted (and might do it later), today was the highlight of Pride: the parade through Shibuya / Harajuku. imho, it’s safe to say that this year’s parade was the best yet in terms of asexual representation and visibility. not only that, there was also more non-binary, genderqueer and pansexual representation and visibility than in years past thanks largely in part to the NPO にじいろ学校 (formally にじいろ小町) whose group and float Ace Spec Japan walked with this year. more information and a lot more photos will be posted hopefully within the next week, so stay tuned. (original photo courtesy of @mom1615 via…
…it’s that time of year again. time for Tokyo Rainbow Pride! since 2014 myself and other aces in Japan (now known as Ace Spec Japan) have come together during Golden Week to raise awareness of asexuality by walking in the annual Tokyo Rainbow Pride Parade, followed by a casual meetup elsewhere in Tokyo. this year will be as awesome as ever and anyone interested in joining us– or even just stopping by to say ‘hi’– is welcome! walking in the parade is optional, of course. date: Sunday, May 7th, 2017 time: [parade] 10:30 ~ 14:00? (parade itself sets off at 12:00) ——- [meetup] 16:00 ~ ??? location: contact me for details even if you can’t make the above times, contact me and i’ll help you find us. i’ll also be around for the Festa on May 6th (Saturday) if anyone wants to meetup then. either way, ハッピープライド！ (photos from Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2016) […
…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.
