Hey guys! People have been asking like crazy about what it's like for LGBT (or lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender people) in Japan. But since neither Jun nor I are in
any way qualified to talk about it on our own we asked our Japanese viewers for their
opinions in an earlier video, and today I'm going to tell you what they said.
コメントしてくださった皆さん、本当にありがとうございました。 And just a quick disclaimer: we did our best
to translate the comments but there were some areas that we couldn't understand well, or
other areas where I wasn't able to make the translation sound graceful in English.
First of all, a number of people brought up the point that Japan has a history of homosexuality.
Japan's never had a religious basis for disliking homosexuality, and a lot of famous military
commanders and samurai are well-known for having had homosexual relationships. A few
people mentioned that there wasn't really an issue with homosexuality in Japan until
it opened up to the West. In Japan there's no religion that denies homosexuality
so it's not a sin. Homosexuality was never a sin or a vice--it was just something that
was always naturally there. So why should people have to say they're gay? I'm straight
but I've never made a declaration out of it. Until the Edo period there were gay samurai.
Sengoku era military commanders such as Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu, who are very
famous, swung their swords both ways. So for Japanese people gay love shouldn't be that
hard to accept. But I think that changed in the Meiji era when we started importing Western
ideology. How Japanese people view gay people nowadays
really depends on the person so you can't really say one way or the other. However,
Japanese people who know a lot of history are more tolerant of gay people than others
because in Japanese history there are a lot of gay people who accomplished important things.
Like Fujiwara no Yorinaga who established the imperial system, and military commanders
in the Sengoku period like Takeda Shingen, Oda Nobunaga, and Date Masamune.
We don't have a religious taboo or historical prejudice against being gay. We're a country
where famous daimyos wrote love letters to their pages, so... And genres like yaoi and
yuri are well-established now, too. It was customary for some samurai to have
gay lovers. Oda Nobunaga was well-known for that. It seems like 400 years ago he has a
relationship with a black male. The 3rd Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu liked good-looking boys more
than women. It seems like there used to be male gay people
in Japan and they were accepted before Western culture came into Japan. But after Western
culture came, they disappeared.
In general it seems like a lot of people said that gay people tend to hide themselves in
Japan. Knowledge about the differences between gay and transgender, and especially the varying
types of transgender seems to be pretty low. Konostack-san had the most highly upvoted
comment, and said: I'm gay.
The first thing I want to say is that in Japan I've received almost no violence or verbal
abuse. Most people tolerate, or at the very least are polite to gay people, so I think
anyone can live happily in Japan. But understanding of gay and transgender people
is still pretty low, and there's a fair amount of prejudice.
For example, TV producers lump the various sexual minorities together in a category called
"Onee" to drive up views, so you don't see Onee people who wear clothes, talk, or express
themselves emotionally in a way that's considered to be heterosexually male.
So if I come out as gay people will assume that I'm female on the inside, and they'll
assume I'm interested in cross-dressing or a sex change, like those entertainers who
speak like Onee. So gay people don't come out because if they do that storm of prejudice
pours down on them. But if you're just visiting, I believe there's
absolutely no problem and Japan is a safe country.
There are two traditional words for Onee-san in Japanese. The first means older sister,
but it can also refer to young, polite, feminine women, and the second refers to young (like
in their 20s) women, like the word "miss" and is something you would use to call over
a waitress, for example. And if you remove the "san" and write it as katakana, it becomes
Onee, which means gay men who talk effeminately but don't wear women's clothes or anything.
However, over the years the meaning has been distorted and now some people use it to refer
to all transgender and gay men. It's a somewhat controversial term, and while it seems okay
to say it about entertainers on TV, a lot of people would be upset if you used it to
refer to them in person.
People who look like men but on the inside are women are called Onee on TV. They're popular
entertainers. It seems like every TV program has an Onee. But in general society outside
of a special place called Shinjuku 2-chome, gay people hide themselves. After all, it's
not common to have gay friends in Japan. They might be there, but they're not "out" because
of the atmosphere in our society. When I imagine gay people in Western countries
they're sexy, macho guys. But I don't think there are very many gay people like that in
Japan. You have even less of a chance of seeing lesbians on TV. Of course I'm sure they're
there, but they're not "out" publicly. Onee people are popular at Shinjuku 2-Chome. So
I think gay people in Japan are completely different from gay people in Western countries.
Shinjuku 2-Chome is a district in Shinjuku, Tokyo, that's famous for being a gay neighborhood
with tons of gay bars and other businesses catering to the gay population. According
to Wikipedia in Shinjuku 2-Chome there are 291 gay bars, and 402 total businesses catering
to gay people, like host clubs, bath houses, massage parlors, video stores, etc.
Midori Komatsuzaki-san also mentioned it's not common to see lesbians on TV, and from
a lot of the comments we got it seems like lesbians are even more uncommon than gay people.
But, there were several people who said they have lesbian friends and co-workers who came out
and were accepted.
I have a female colleague who is a lesbian, and she's just a normal employee. She works
fine without any problems. My other colleagues and I planned a wedding ceremony for her.
In Japan young people don't really have a problem with gay people. Maybe it's thanks
to the media? By the way, in Japan we have onsen where you take a bath naked with others.
One of my straight friends has a hard time going to an onsen with my lesbian colleague
because she said it's like taking a bath with her male friends and it's embarrassing for her.
One of my friends is a lesbian, and when she told me about it I was really surprised but
I don't mind anymore. Even if someone is lesbian or gay, that doesn't mean they like EVERYONE
of that gender. I came to understand that she's not interested in dating me, and so
I don't mind. They also fall in love with people like us--it's just that they fall in
love with the same sex. Some people wouldn't understand that, though, and might break off
a friendship if their friend came out. Especially Christian people. And I think this doesn't
only happen in Japan.
And of course, some people in Japan view homosexuality the same way that some people in America view
it.
In general it seems like outside of TV most LGBT people tend to stay hidden, and because
of that a lot of people said they don't know anyone who's gay.
I think there are a lot of LGBT in Japan, but in the present condition they don't come
out. So like Jun, I don't personally know any gay people. When I studied abroad in America
and found out how many sexual minorities there are, after returning to Japan I realized that
they were certainly there, too, but because of today's state of affairs they hide themselves.
I don't know how it is for people from other countries, but I get the feeling that knowledge
of things like the differences between gay and transgender people in Japan is shallow.
It would be nice if they would teach us that in school...
I don't have any gay friends. I don't even have to think about it.
I just think there are fewer gay people in Japan than there are in America and other
Western countries. I think there are a lot of hidden gay people
in Japan. But I hear a lot of stories about gay people attacking other people, so I think
that's why they're not accepted. There may not be much prejudice about people
coming out or appearing as the opposite sex, though, because we're used to seeing them
on TV. But because we don't see them that often in real life, I think it's difficult
to know how to communicate with them.
Some people felt like coming out was mainly an issue with your workplace.
I'm a 40 year old straight, married man. I don't have gay friends or acquaintances,
nor do I know anyone at work who is gay. In my opinion, even if they were gay they wouldn't
tell people because in Japanese work culture it's very important how you're seen. Japanese
companies don't think it's a good idea to have a gay salesman. They might think it's
a little bad because customers might complain or it could be disadvantageous. Frankly speaking,
this is common sense in Japanese companies today. Including me, I don't think individuals
are prejudiced against gay people, but as a company or community gay people are abnormal
so that's how they're seen. I think this might be unique to Japan.
It's very normal to have foreign people around us in Japan now, but I think it'll still take
a little while to accept gay people the same way we accept foreigners.
But I think there were just as many people who said they knew someone at their work who
came out and didn't have problems. There was one comment I found really interesting, that
suggested a lot of gay men in Japan just end up ignoring their sexuality and living a typical
heterosexual life.
I don't have any gay acquaintances, so I'm just guessing... Compared to America, knowledge
about the LGBT category isn't very widespread. So because of that, I think there are some
Japanese people who are actually gay but don't realize it and feel a little odd about being
straight, but end up getting married to the opposite sex. And so, I heard that once Japanese
people get married and have kids, there are a lot of people who stop being a man and woman,
or lovers anymore, and then become housemates or best friends, and then become sexless.
There is statistical data that says Japanese people tend to be less interested in sex than
people in other countries. So in marriage, if you just want to be with a housemate or
a best friend, then it doesn't matter what sex they are. So I think people who are actually
gay don't really feel uncomfortable getting married to someone who's the opposite sex.
And as a result I think that makes gay Japanese people less noticeable. I don't think there's
discrimination against gay people in Japan.
And a number of people made points that in Japan it's not really common to loudly assert
yourself and demand equality:
I've had gay and lesbian friends, but I didn't think anything special about them, and my
other coworkers and friends didn't dislike them. But in Japan people who are overly self-assertive
are somewhat kept at a distance from normal people, so I think you should avoid saying
things loudly like, "I'm gay! I'm the same as everyone else!"
Japanese culture puts a lot of pressure on assimilating, so I imagine that even if you're
a little bit different it's difficult. As for foreigners, most people view them as completely
differently from Japanese people so I don't think people care if they're gay. Japan isn't
a country where you assert your rights. We're a society where without saying anything people
can guess your thoughts, or you can indirectly show your feelings through your expressions,
so if you demand rights then people consider you a nuisance. So if you say things like,
"I'm gay! I have the same rights as everyone else!" people might end up putting you at
a distance.
Fortunately there were a lot of people who felt like coming out isn't a huge deal among
young people anymore, and that the typical reaction is either being temporarily surprised,
or just saying, "Oh, really?
I don't think there are many young people who would view gay people negatively.
Twice before I've heard rumors about people around me being gay, but almost no one was
shocked or spoke badly about them. It must be very difficult and take courage to come
out for gay people, so I think a lot of people would respect that and welcome them warmly.
These days you see yaoi and yuri in manga all over the place so I think the younger
generation doesn't really mind.
When I hear that someone I don't know is gay I don't care--I would be like, "Oh, really?
Hmmm..." So in my opinion most Japanese people wouldn't mind, they would be like, "Just go
ahead, as long as you guys don't trouble anyone it will be fine." But if they do lovey-dovey
things right in front of you then I think it would bother people. It's the same as a
normal couple doing lovey-dovey things. There are gay people in Japan but I don't
think many of them are open about it. So for how gay people are viewed--basically Japanese
people are not interested in anyone but themselves and religion isn't widespread, so I don't
think there's much prejudice against gay people. However, that doesn't necessarily mean they
understand gay people. So people's reactions would be something like, "Oh, you're gay?
Huh." I think there are some people who don't accept gay people, but most Japanese people
don't mind and will welcome you without changing their attitude.
And many people seemed to think that LGBT foreigners shouldn't need to worry at all,
since they get grouped into a category of outsiders, just like with entertainers on
TV.
Frankly speaking, I think most Japanese people would warmly welcome foreign gay couples who
are visiting Japan. I think Japanese people are lenient, so as
long you don't completely ignore Japanese customs and do what you want then I think
Japanese people will respect your individuality. So if you're just visiting it should be fine,
but if you're working in a Japanese company and you come out then there are some people
who would find that troublesome. Unless being gay or another minority can be
a selling a point I don't think you should strongly support controversial subjects.
To me, if it's a gay foreigner I don't mind at all. But if it's another Japanese person
it makes me a little uncomfortable. Compared to us Europe is relatively open when it comes
to that sort of personal nature and love, so I think it's easy to accept foreigners
who are gay. But in Japan we're still somewhat conservative and closed, so I think accepting
gay Japanese people is difficult. On the other hand I have a question for you.
America still has strict Catholics, right? If you're a strict Catholic and you're gay,
what do you do?
And of course many people said it really depends on the person. Like in America a lot of the
people who said they felt uncomfortable with gay people seemed worried about being hit
on. But there were also a lot of people who felt that because of TV and anime and manga
LGBT is becoming more widely accepted. Overall we have 20 pages of comments from 66 different
Japanese people. They say a lot of really important things and we left out a lot of
great comments so if you want to read through the entire collection of translated comments,
we've posted them on our blog: http://rachelandjun.blogspot.com/.-
There aren't many people who come out in Japan.
It might be difficult for Japanese people to understand gay people's feelings, but I
don't think there's much prejudice or discrimination against them. If those people are still in
high school then they might feel out of place, but I don't think adults care as much. Japan
has a history of homosexuality, and in today's Japan I think gay people in Japan have a lot
of civil rights. We have transgender, cross-dressing, and even sailor uniform wearing old men so
when it comes to gay or lesbian people I think most people are just like, "Oh, really?"
Well, I don't want to say there's zero prejudice. If one of my friends came out I think I would
be surprised, but I would want to help him and sincerely give him advice. And I think
gay foreigners are accepted even more! Please overcome any discrimination and keep on living
on your way! I am supporting you! So you and your family can live peacefully!