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Q&A: “I was wondering if you know of any articles or websites about what it’s like being ace in Japan…”
anonymous said: Hi there….I was wondering if you know of any articles or websites about what it’s like being ace in Japan (especially from the perspective of any ace people who are natively Japanese). I’m just interested in reading people’s experiences, where they learned about asexuality, etc. I tried searching google, but so much acephobic garbage came up that I had to finally shut down my browser. D: aside from the things that @harris-hijiri writes, which aren’t necessarily about the experience of being ace in Japan, i’m afraid that i don’t know of personal writing on being ace in Japan as a Japanese person that’s written in English. i tried searching for some, but i swear if i come across another article on herbivore men or ‘the japanese sex/population crisis’ written from a Western-centric point of view i’m going to throw my laptop out the goddamn window. everything that i could…
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Q&A: “I have a question regarding the Japanese use of the terms asexual and nonsexual…”
anonymous post: I have a question regarding the Japanese use of the terms asexual and nonsexual. Is asexual generally used by all aces on the aromantic spectrum or do arospec aces who sometimes feel romantic attraction (such as grey aromantics) typically prefer to use nonsexual? I’d like to get more involved with the ace community when I (hopefully) move to Japan, but I feel like the Japanese terminology doesn’t even let me describe myself… (re: this post) bearing in mind that everything i’m about to say is based entirely on my own limited experience and observation… i can count the number of times i’ve met or heard of a Japanese person actively identifying in some way as gray or demi on one hand. generally speaking, awareness of nuanced ace & aro spectrum identities / orientations is hardly a thing among Japanese aces. the only time i hear any explicit mention of…
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『[4ｺﾏ]☆ＡセクシュアルとAce(エース)☆』
once again i randomly came across another one of Chii’s 4-koma comic strips about asexuality on Twitter and my reaction to seeing it has me feeling guilty and torn. ;( for those who don’t speak Japanese, the comic introduces the term “ace” (slang for “asexual”) to Japanese readers and then explains how it’s connected to aces in playing cards. it also introduces readers to the concept / association that’s been floating around English-speaking ace communities of each suite being associated with specific orientations / identities. in the comic, it’s explained as: ace of hearts: romantic asexuals (known as “nonsexuals” in Japan) ace of spades: aromantic asexuals (known as “asexuals” in Japan) ace of diamonds: demisexuals and demiromantic asexuals ace of clubs: gray asexuals and grayromantic asexuals before i start ranting going on and on about ‘nothing’, i want to point out that i’m happy that “ace” is being introduced here in Japanese. no conflicting feelings there.…
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『[4ｺﾏ]☆ノンセクシュアル☆』
…so this has been going around on Japanese Twitter. about to pass out, but wanted to put a link to this here with a little blurb reasonably-contained-imho rant for my own future reference because this is personally relevant to me.
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Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2016: Asexual & Trans / Non-binary Awesomeness!
this year was the third consecutive year that myself and aces in the group that i somehow inadvertently and haphazardly manage walked in the Tokyo Rainbow Pride parade and it was the best year yet! among the many awesome things that happened includes running into two of my Japanese ace Twitter friends who also walked in the parade this year and who were apparently so inspired by our signs last year that they made signs just like them! also, thanks again to Nijiiro Komachi’s awesomeness, it was so much easier to show one’s ace (and non-binary, etc) pride! which in turn not only helped raise awareness about asexuality (and gender diversity), it helped increase visibility and made it easier for aces and non-binary people to find each other! during the parade, i was even able to spot a few onlookers who had ace flags. after the parade, the most awesome…
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…so this happened at TRP today.
Nijiiro Komachi kicking ass again, handmaking flags on the spot to meet demand in their booth– GAH! why are you so amazing, Nijiiro Komachi?!?! i might as well be throwing money at you. ugh, 明日はホンマに大変になってしまったね。 tomorrow’s parade is going to be crazy. hopefully in a good way.
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DIY ace flag, anyone?
…annnd it’s finished! it’s not perfect, but whatever. it’ll do. tomorrow is the start of Tokyo Rainbow Pride and thanks to this flag, there’ll be even more ace visibility in the parade this year. 🙂 the flag was made using the fabric that i found at Yokohama Pride last year and i still have enough leftover to make two more flags if i wanted to. the long-since-retired ‘born this way’ flag that i got at Las Vegas Pride years ago was only used to check proportions. next year’s mission: find or make a non-binary flag because apparently flag manufactures do not know or care that the non-binary flag is not the same as the genderqueer flag and i want a non-binary flag goddamnit.
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Q&A: “In your experience, does the culture in Japan label asexuals as “otaku”, “shut-ins”, or with mental illness?”
anonymous said: In your experience, does the culture in Japan label asexuals as “otaku”, “shut-ins”, or with mental illness? Or is there not as much discrimination as there is in the asian-american community? i can’t compare Japanese culture to those of Asian American communities because i’m not Asian American myself, so i can’t comment on what happens within Asian American communities. having said that, in my experience, asexuality is even less heard of in Japan than it is in America. since society for the most part doesn’t even know asexuality is a thing, i myself am not really out outside of LGBTQIA spaces and the majority of the Japanese aces that i know aren’t out outside of LGBTQIA spaces either, i have no experience with and haven’t heard of asexuals in Japan being labeled as such. yes, there certainly is stigma towards “otaku”/オタク (which doesn’t mean the exact same thing…
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Pride haul
today’s haul from Yokohama Rainbow Festa. 🙂 got a good selection of ace stuff, a non-binary necklace, a pair of aromantic earrings and the latest editions of Novia Novia (lesbian/bi womens’ mag) and LapH (FTM mag). everything aside from the magazines is from にじいろ小町/Nijiiro Komachi, a shop that gives artists a place to sell their goods. there was non-binary, genderqueer, aromantic, pansexual and asexual stuff that i didn’t buy even buy! it’s great to see artists being more inclusive when they make things. i’m pretty sure some of the artists who are making the ace things are ace themselves. i even met one of them today! 🙂 thinking about doing a giveaway at some point in the future as i really don’t need nor want all of this stuff… D; tomorrow i’ll be editing the crazy amount of video that i took in Yokohama and Tokyo zzz…
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”Daily ? UGHs”
random doodle about random things that i hear my students say to each other or that they say to me on any given day that make me go UGH. “SHE’s 30 and not married! lol” “you don’t have kids??” “don’t worry, you still have time! (to get married, have kids)” “lol T-chan もしかしてお前オカマ？！ (don’t tell me you’re a tranny!)” “sensei’s on OUR team!” “but you’re a girl!” “キモイ！ホモかよ？！ (eww! what are you, a homo?!)” “only girls would understand, right *given name*!” and the saddest, most frustrating part is that most of this is said by kids under 10 years old…
