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Queer As Cat

gender・ sexuality・ race ・intersectionality

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  • Home
  • About
    • About QAC
    • About Vesper
  • Photos
    • Instagram
    • Tokyo Rainbow Pride
      • 2014
      • 2015
      • 2016
      • 2017
      • 2018
  • Resources
    • Asexual POC Resources
    • #LGBTQIA in Japan
  • Contact

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Instagram

  • 「迷い道」 . ...i really miss the 雰囲気 of urban jungles like Tokyo... ;( . . . . . . . . #tokyo #japan #igersjp #urbanexploration #urbanphotography #urbanjungle #citylife #citylights #nightlife #cityview #bw_captures #bw_lover #bnw_society #bnwmood #bnw_captures #新橋 #東京 #光 #夜景 #モノクロ #白黒
  • Hitachinaka Matsuri 2018 . i think this was the last 祭り/festival that i got to see before leaving Japan... but at least i got to see it with @nonbinaryish.
  • STORMcell . . . . . . . . . . . . #clouds #cloudscape #storm #weather #sky #ig_skylovers #instasky #instaclouds #blackandwhite #bnwmood #bw_captures #bnw_society #bw_photooftheday #yokohama #桜木町 #横浜 #モノクロ #白黒
  • Gender[queer],  Japan[ese],  Queer[ness],  YouTube[r]

    QAC 61 – Non-Binary Gender Identity Disorder (GID) & HRT in Japan | The T Files #001

    December 4, 2017 / No Comments

    after years of whining and moaning about it, i’m finally doing it; i’ll be starting HRT soon– and in Japan, no less. 2014 Vesper, who made an entire video about NOT “transitioning” in Japan, is eating their words. what’s made me change my mind now? how does one start HRT in Japan? as a non-binary person?? Gender Identity Disorder??? in this video, i talk about all the above, as well as recap the “highlights” of my recent appointment with a psychologist to get diagnosed with GID; a necessary first step to [legally] starting HRT from scratch in Japan. [ cw: vague sex mention @ 11:27 ~ 11:55; reproductive body stuff ] …took me long enough to get this video up, geez.

    continue reading
    Vesper H.

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  • Gender[queer],  Japan[ese],  Queer[ness]

    re: one step forward, zero steps back?

    November 27, 2017 / No Comments

    queerascat: so, after going to an appointment with my psychiatrist and blabbering about how much being around my family fucks me up whenever i go “home” for the holidays, which i’d be doing in less than a month’s time, causing him to be like “but what if you relapse??? consider upping your meds before you go???” and me being like “at least i’m on meds at all this time around so lolololol nah”– i felt the need to just…. really DO something yesterday. so i did the something. and the something will happen 4realz for realz tomorrow. so yeah, Anxiety word vomit blogging at 9:35pm at Starbucks. over the past three weeks or so i’ve been emailing a clinic that had been recommended to me by a friend re: starting HRT. after three weeks of no response to said emails, i decided to sneak out of work yesterday (because the clinic is seemingly…

    continue reading
    Vesper H.

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    my collection…

    March 7, 2013

    Ash Hardell’s “The ABC’s of LGBT+” in Japanese!

    November 25, 2017

    …mmm, so.

    March 24, 2017
  • Gender[queer],  Japan[ese],  Mental [Un]health,  Queer[ness]

    one step forward, zero steps back?

    November 26, 2017 / No Comments

    so, after going to an appointment with my psychiatrist and blabbering about how much being around my family fucks me up whenever i go “home” for the holidays, which i’d be doing in less than a month’s time, causing him to be like “but what if you relapse??? consider upping your meds before you go???” and me being like “at least i’m on meds at all this time around so lolololol nah”– i felt the need to just…. really DO something yesterday. so i did the something. and the something will happen 4realz for realz tomorrow. so yeah, Anxiety word vomit blogging at 9:35pm at Starbucks. over the past three weeks or so i’ve been emailing a clinic that had been recommended to me by a friend re: starting HRT. after three weeks of no response to said emails, i decided to sneak out of work yesterday (because the clinic is seemingly only…

    continue reading
    Vesper H.

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    November 14, 2015

    genderfuck

    February 7, 2013

    ? QAC 78 – 1yr+ on T: Japan vs America | Planned Parenthood | Intermusc vs SubQ Injections || The T Files #011

    September 8, 2019
  • [A]sexuality,  [Random] Thoughts,  Gender[queer],  Japan[ese],  Queer[ness]

    Ash Hardell’s “The ABC’s of LGBT+” in Japanese!

    November 25, 2017 / No Comments

    …..annnd look what i randomly* stumbled across at the bookstore tonight. Ash Hardell’s “The ABC’s of LGBT+” in Japanese! even Amazon Japan doesn’t seem to have it yet, but somehow Kinokuniya has it? which makes absolutely no sense, but hey! not complaining. it’s a complete translation of Ash Hardell’s book, including a lot of ace and non-binary terminology such as aceflex, quoiromantic, genderfluid and maverique transliterated phonetically into Japanese approximates.** even the [English] pronouns section is translated into Japanese, which i kinda have feelings about as to how helpful that and / or phonetic translations will be for Japanese people who will be approaching this book from a cultural and linguistic context that is not the same as that of a native English / germanic or romance language speaker. that said, at a glance, there does seem to be added explaination of English grammar to help non-English speakers better understand gender…

    continue reading
    Vesper H.

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    QAC 39 – Biromantic + Panromantic Pride! | Being Both Bi & Pan

    September 23, 2015

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    May 11, 2017

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    October 13, 2013
  • [A]sexuality,  [Random] Thoughts,  Gender[queer],  Japan[ese],  Mental [Un]health,  Queer[ness]

    on coming out to my psychiatrist

    September 3, 2017 / No Comments

    ※ cw: dysphoria, genitalia mention ….so, in typical me fashion, i ended up coming out as non-binary to my psychiatrist the other day. i’d had no intention of coming out to him, but at the same time i had no intention of making any effort to not come out to him, so. *shrugs* i’d already come out to him as queer / bi / ace during my first appointment, so i already had some means of gauging what his reaction might be like. also, this is the same guy who is overly focused on “results” and “remission” to the point of being laughable / uncomfortable at times, so i already had reservations about the guy from the start.

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    Vesper H.

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    January 24, 2019

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    April 29, 2017
  • Gender[queer],  Japan[ese],  Q&A,  Queer[ness]

    Q&A: “what does Xジェンダー mean?”

    August 31, 2017 / No Comments

    anonymous said: Heya! Sorry to bother you, but what does Xジェンダー mean? Is it literally the Japanese translation of non-binary? Or has the same meaning? Thanks according to 「Xジェンダーって何?」, Xジェンダー (”x gender”) is: 性自認を表す言葉の一種で、出産時に割り当てられた男性もしくは女性の性別のいずれに二分された性の自覚を持たず、自己の性別に関し、男女どちらでもない、あるいは男女どちらでもある、さらにはそれすらもどちらでもないっといった認識を自己の性に対してもっている人々のことを指す日本独自の呼称です。 a word that refers to a gender identity; a term unique to Japan to refer to people who do not identify as either of the two genders, male and female, that are assigned at birth, but rather self-identifies as neither male nor female, both male and female or as a different gender entirely. while i don’t have any sources to link to at the moment, i’m fairly certain that Xジェンダー was coined in Japan completely independent of “non-binary” in the English language. in fact, i’m also fairly certain that it was coined before usage of “non-binary” in reference to gender in English, but again, no source links because i’m too tired to dig for them. either way, Xジェンダー is…

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    Vesper H.

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    May 11, 2017

    QAC 24 – Labels: Why They’re Important + Why I Use Them

    March 17, 2014

    QAC 52 – Non-Binary vs Trans Identity | “Transitioning” | #NonBinaryYT

    August 16, 2016
  • Gender[queer],  Japan[ese],  Q&A,  Queer[ness]

    Q&A: “I just saw how to say you’re non-binary in Japanese and it was super exciting for me…”

    August 30, 2017 / No Comments

    anonymous said: Hi. I just saw the ask you answered about how to say you’re non-binary in Japanese and it was super exciting for me to see. I’m a non-binary teen living in Japan, and it’s amazing to see that because it’s a sign that there is an active community of non-binary people that is large enough for these words to exist. It’s wonderful. ( re: this post ) hello, anon. thanks for stopping by to drop me this ask because it’s exciting for me to hear that my post was able to reach someone like you. awesome! while awareness of Xジェンダー people still has a long way to go in Japan (as it does for non-binary people around the world), there definitely are active Xジェンダー people in Japan. in Japanese, many describe themself as MtX, FtX, Xジェンダー or any of the other terms i mentioned in the post that you…

    continue reading
    Vesper H.

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    QAC 09 – The Binding Dilemma

    June 24, 2013

    *scribble scribble*

    September 15, 2016

    …one of many examples of why navigating セクマイ / LGBTQIA spaces in Japan can be painful at times.

    October 7, 2016
  • [A]sexuality,  Gender[queer],  Japan[ese],  Q&A,  Queer[ness]

    Q&A: “Would you mind telling me some basic LGBT vocabulary in Japanese?”

    August 30, 2017 / No Comments

    hush-hush-little-heart said: Hi! I just found out about your blog, and I’d like to ask you something. I’m part of the LGBT community, and next year I’m going to study a Japanese Philology at the university. Would you mind telling me some basic LGBT vocabulary in Japanese? Just so I can understand and talk a bit about it, please ♡ (I’m a trans boy, and pansexual btw :3) oh also! (sorry i forgot to write it in the other ask) Do you know anything about getting hormones (testosterone, in my case) in Japan? Is it easy? Just in case, because I’d like to have a job/live there in a future, at least for some time   hi. 🙂 sorry for taking so long to get to your asks. regarding LGBT terminology in Japanese, it’s a little hard to answer that question because it’s so broad…. so instead, i’m going to…

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    Vesper H.

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    an example of intersectional acephobia if ever there was one…

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  • Japan[ese],  Q&A

    Q&A: “I showed a friend your post about how to say you’re nonbinary in Japanese, but he’s a demiboy…”

    July 17, 2017 / No Comments

    anonymous said: I showed a friend your post about how to say you’re nonbinary in Japanese, but he’s a demiboy and there wasn’t anything for demiboys specifically on the list. I was trying to figure out what would work (barring katakana), and I came up with 半男、やや男、and 男の一種. Which of these would be better (or is there already a Japanese term?) (re: this post) sorry for taking so long to respond to your ask! i’m afraid that i haven’t come across a Japanese equivalent (or even approximate) to “demiboy” (or to demigenders in general). the closest thing that i can think of is the commonly used: FtMよりのXジェンダー / FtM yori no x-gender /(an) FtM-ish non-binary (person) 男よりのXジェンダー / otoko yori no x-gender /(a) mannish non-binary (person) ………mmmm, yeah. *cough* as i said, these phrases are commonly used in Japanese, but your friend may not feel comfortable using them. understandably so. i would caution…

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    Vesper H.

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  • [A]sexuality,  Japan[ese],  Queer[ness]

    Japanese gender / queer theory, anyone?

    May 22, 2017 / No Comments

    …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.

    continue reading
    Vesper H.

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12345

VESPER H.

YouTuber & Blogger

Queer As Cat is the blog and YouTube channel of Vesper, an American expat currently living in Japan.
reoccurring topics include: #asexuality, #nonbinary, #queerness #blackness & #mentalhealth

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Recent Posts

  • literal “social distancing” from the ace community April 1, 2020
  • legalized weed in America: one of many chips on my Black shoulder March 7, 2020
  • willpower, sweat, and tears January 30, 2020
  • 🎬 QAC 79 – The Neverending Queer-y: My Queer Ace Journey || LGBT YouTube & COPPA January 4, 2020
  • #YouTubeIsOverParty: COPPA & The Hypocrisy of YouTube December 15, 2019

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Instagram

  • Hitachinaka Matsuri 2018 . i think this was the last 祭り/festival that i got to see before leaving Japan... but at least i got to see it with @nonbinaryish.
  • STORMcell . . . . . . . . . . . . #clouds #cloudscape #storm #weather #sky #ig_skylovers #instasky #instaclouds #blackandwhite #bnwmood #bw_captures #bnw_society #bw_photooftheday #yokohama #桜木町 #横浜 #モノクロ #白黒
  • 「迷い道」 . ...i really miss the 雰囲気 of urban jungles like Tokyo... ;( . . . . . . . . #tokyo #japan #igersjp #urbanexploration #urbanphotography #urbanjungle #citylife #citylights #nightlife #cityview #bw_captures #bw_lover #bnw_society #bnwmood #bnw_captures #新橋 #東京 #光 #夜景 #モノクロ #白黒
  • Z i G . . . . . . . . . . #urbanexploration #urbanphotography #stairs #geometric #lines #shapes #minimalism #grainisgood #bnw_society #bw_captures #bnwphoto #bw_lover #bnw_zone #階段 #散歩 #お出かけ #モノクロ #白黒
  • 六本木ヒルズからの雰囲気 . . . . . . . . . . #roppongi #roppongihills #cityscape #skyline #tokyo #tokyotower #citylife #tokyolife #contrast #bnwmood #bnw_society #bw_lover #blackandwhitephotographylovers #instablackandwhite #bw_photooftheday #blackandwhite #igersjp #六本木ヒルズ #六本木ヒルズ展望台 #東京 #上から目線 #東京タワー #モノクロ #白黒
  • "Changing Rooms" by Leandro Erlich . . . . . . . . . . . #moriartmuseum #leandroerlich #dressingroomselfie #changingroom #mirrors #artappreciation #exhibition #iloveart #bnwmood #bnw_society #bw_lover #blackandwhitephotographylovers #instablackandwhite #bw_photooftheday #blackandwhite #igersjp #鏡 #アート #美術館 #モノクロ #白黒
  • "Pulled by the Roots" by Leandro Erlich . . . . . . . . . . . #moriartmuseum #leandroerlich #house #roots #sculpture #artappreciation #exhibition #iloveart #bnwmood #bnw_society #bw_lover #blackandwhitephotographylovers #instablackandwhite #bw_photooftheday #blackandwhite #igersjp #家 #アート #美術館 #モノクロ #白黒
  • "The Room (Surveillance I)" by Leandro Erlich . . . . . . . . . . . #moriartmuseum #leandroerlich #perspective #surveillance #mirrors #artappreciation #exhibition #iloveart #bnwmood #bnw_society #bw_lover #blackandwhitephotographylovers #instablackandwhite #bw_photooftheday #blackandwhite #igersjp #部屋 #アート #美術館 #モノクロ #白黒

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