Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2016 musings
a long and rather pointless post in which i write out some of my thoughts and experiences along with photos from last weekend’s Pride in Tokyo. this post is photo heavy. for more photos from TRP, see these posts: ☆ ace & nonbinary photos ☆ general photos warning: slurs, scantly clad men and mention of genitalia. this year i went to TRP on both Saturday and Sunday for the first time. while i’m glad i did, i’m really kicking myself in regards to how i did it. i ended up being ridiculously exhausted both days before i’d even boarded the train to Tokyo all because i called myself saving money by not booking myself and Yuki (my hedgehog) into a hotel so that i could spend the night in Tokyo. the result was 5 hrs/day of riding trains two days in a row. i’m still not recovered and this entire post is…
Q&A: “Is there a word for non-binary in Japanese that you know of?”
anonymous said: I’m going to be moving to Japan in a couple of months for work, and I am non-binary. Is there a word for non-binary in Japanese that you know of? Also, I usually use 私 in school/professional settings but I tend to use 僕 and more masculine language around my friends that know Japanese. Is it advisable to use pronouns like this or should I just use female pronouns even though I barely identify with female? I will probably be in a fairly rural area. (would you mind tagging as w so i can find?) hi and welcome to Japan in advance. 🙂 Xジェンダー / x-gender is the Japanese equivalent of non-binary. just as with the word non-binary in English speaking countries, the majority of people in Japan will have never heard of the word Xジェンダー unless you’re in trans friendly / aware spaces. the word exists and…
QAC 38 – Social Media: Let’s Connect!
Queer As Cat the YouTube channel and Tumblr blog have always been completely separated from the rest of my presence on the internet. i want to change that. let’s connect! i may not be the most the most social of people out there, but i’d love to interact with you, my subscribers and followers, a lot more than i have to date. if you’d ever like to chat, see what i’m up to outside of Queer As Cat or check out my art, maybe hit me up on one of the following sites? 日本語もなんとなく話せますので、ご遠慮なく日本語で連絡してください。 mi ankaŭ parolas Esperanton, do bonvolu senhezite kontakti min esperante. ========= SOCIAL MEDIA ======== Twitter: @nighstar Instagram: @nighstar.phogoraphy Skype: nighstar LINE: nighstar Hangouts: queerascat at gmail dot com email: queerastcat at gmail dot com ============================== and of course YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/queerascat
withU: a new Japanese LGBTQIA+ social networking site
withUは「全国のLGBTが一つになれる場所」というコンセプトで運営されています。普段の生活では会うことのできなかった人達と出会い、あなたのコミュニティの輪を広げましょう。サイト内の機能はすべて無料で使うことができます。 withUの中ではあなたがLGBTであることを隠す必要はありません。サイトを通じて本当の自分を理解し合える仲間を見つけてください。 withUの参加者はみんながあなたの理解者です。 just want to signal boost a new Japanese LGBTQIA+ social networking site called “withU” for those of you who speak Japanese and/or live in Japan. so far, the site seems very interesting and promising, having gained over 1,000 members since it became public last month. it’s like what would happen if mixi.jp and OKCupid teamed up and made a Japanese site? lol so far, the site seems to be inclusive of not just the L and the G, but also bisexual, pansexual, asexual, transgender and non-binary (Xジェンダー) people. you’re able to select all of these identifiers in your profile and when searching for people. there are even two asexual groups already! 😀 that said, the site does have some kinks to work out… the site seems to load slowly. also, in your profile you are required to make a selection from a dropdown menu titled 「セクシュアリティ」 (’sexuality’) which…
just got back from a local LGBT meetup…
25 or so people where there, 2 of which were gaijin/foreigners to my surprise! w00t! we went to a national park nearby, saw the sights and had a picnic. i had a great time, much more so than the last meetup i went to. that said, every single time i meet up with a group of cis LGB+ people i’m reminded how much they really don’t understand / know. even if they’re really awesome people who are really kind and with whom you can discuss other stuff with, when it comes to stuff that’s trans and/or non-binary related… yeah. no. now that i’ve successfully gotten my foot in the door with the local LGB community, i really hope to connect more with the T and non-binary/gender variant part of the community… 茨城県ではXジェンダーの人が意外に多いらしい。今から頑張って地本のXジェンダーやトランスの人と繋ぎたいと思う。(*￣ー￣)
NHK Heart Net TV to air feature on non-binary people
for those of you who don’t know, last month (4/30/15) the NHK series Heart Net TV (ハートネットTV) aired an episode that discussed problems that X-gender / Xジェンダー* people face in Japan. more specifically, they: read fanmail sent in by a person in their 40s who’s questioning and was given shitty “advice” from a support hotline interviewed an FtX person who is out in their workplace discussed issues live on air with two guests, an FtM** and an FtX** person aside from Japan’s continuous failure to distinguish between sex, gender and sexuality, it was a good episode, imho. you should definitely check it out if you missed it (and can understand Japanese)! the episode will be reaired tomorrow, 5/7 (Thurs) @1:05PM on NHK Eテル. you can also watch it online here! もし先月に放送されたNHK EテルのハートネットTVのXジェンダーについてエピソードを見なかったら、明日5月7日（木）午後1時05に再放送されますので是非見てください！又はネット上でも見えます！クリックしてね。 * for those wondering, X-gender / Xジェンダー is the Japanese equivalent of genderqueer and/or non-binary in English. **…
frustrations re:Aセクシャル (asexual in Japanese)
so i’ve been halfassedly thinking about making an ace pride sign for the Tokyo Rainbow Pride parade, but i’m torn because discussing asexuality in Japanese seems really difficult… of course the language barrier plays a part in that, but it’s not even just that.
「友情結婚」
今夜 新しい言葉や慣用語を習った：「友情結婚」 mixiのAセクシャルのグループで友情結婚のオフ会についてのメッセージがあって、Googleでその言葉を調べた。そうすると意外にもたくさんのヒットがあって、適当にクリックするとたくさんの面白いBBSが見つけた。 ．．．親から結婚しろと口うるさく言われていて困っていまして・・・自分はゲイなのでそこの所を理解している女性と友達になってゆくゆくは友情結婚出来たらいい ？？？ wow. 信じられないと言うより信じたくない辛い事実だね…それがゲイである日本人の境遇だと言うこと。 i learned a new phrase tonight: “yuujou kekkon” (lit. “friendship marriage”) there was a message posted to an asexual group on mixi about an offline “friendship marriage” meetup, so i googled the phrase and got a surprising number of hits. from that, i stumbled upon one of many interesting message boards. ….my parents keep telling me to get married, it’s so annoying […] it would be great if i could find a woman whom i could marry with the understanding that i’m gay ??? wow. that gay people in Japan feel the need to go to such lengths is a truth that hurts.
neutroisって日本語でなんと言いますか。
while randomly watching videos on YouTube i came across the vlog of a Japanese FtX (their words, not mine) person. i was so happy that i immediately started typing a comment introducing myself, but when it came to saying that i’m neutrois i couldn’t figure out how to say it. see, Japanese kind of sucks…. there is no word to distinguish between SEX and GENDER– the both equate to 性 (sei). i dare say that the entire concept of gender vs sex is lacking in Japan, but that’s a topic for another time. i thought that maybe neutrois could be translated as 無性者 (museisha; literally translates to “person without sex/gender”) but apparently that’s used to mean asexual! wtffffff….. so then i thought that maybe i could say 中立性者 (chuuritsuseisha), which literally translates to “neutral person” but apparently 中立性 (chuuritsusei) is used in regards to having a neutral stance on any given thing and so wouldn’t really be used specifically for gender despite 性 (sei)…
