Snapchat rant #163
…meanwhile, i went to an Xジェンダーオフ会 / non-binary meetup in Tokyo and snapped parts of my day on Snapchat. thought it might be interesting to some.
…meanwhile, i went to an Xジェンダーオフ会 / non-binary meetup in Tokyo and snapped parts of my day on Snapchat. thought it might be interesting to some.
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…
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.
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…
so a few weeks ago i unloaded my anxiety on here about going to a ジェンダーフリー / “gender free” party in Tokyo. well, it’s been a few days since the party and after a huge rant like that, you all deserve an update. plus i met another ace today and you’ll never guess what happened.
on Twitter i live-tweet my frustrations with various things i see on Japanese TV, including how trans and non-binary celebs are treated. the downside to this is that tweets quickly get lost in my timeline and then it’s a pain in the ass to dig them back up if/when i want to reference them. this post is me digging up some of those tweets and putting them here for my own ease of reference and so others can see examples of transphobia & non-binary erasure in Japanese media.
ahhh, okay so i just need to vent. feel free to ignore this. someone in an Xジェンダー (Japanese non-binary) group that i’m in posted a link to a party being held in Tokyo on the 26th. there’s often some kinda of gay (literally always with fine print saying ‘men only’) or lesbian (literally always with fine print saying ‘women only’) event going on in Tokyo. more recently there are events aimed at trans men– but anyway, the point is i’m none of those things. and i haven’t really cared that much because i’m the definition of introversion. i have zero interest in night life and all of these events always happen at night. why is it that LGBTQ events more often than not involve late nights, loud music and copious amounts of alcohol??? moving on.
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…
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…
this is a long shot, but i ended up meeting someone at Tokyo Rainbow Pride through Tumblr earlier this year, so i might as well try again. Yokohama will be hosting its first major LGBT event, Yokohama Rainbow Festa 2015, this month. it won’t be anywhere near as big at TRP, but i know that at least one local shop will be selling ace-inclusive things and at the very least it should make for an interest day in Yokohama. i’m thinking about going on 10/31 (Sat) and making a halfassed video out of it… anyone else going???