Male Homosexuality in Modern Japan: Cultural Myths and Social Realities

by Mark McLelland

Looks at the wide range of contrasting images of the gay male body in Japanese popular culture, both mainstream and gay, and relates these images to the experience of an interview sample of Japanese gay men.

Genres: Japan, Nonfiction, History, LGBT, Asia, Japanese Literature, Queer

Paperback

First published January 9, 2000

Reviews

[Virgowriter (Brad Windhauser) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful for exploring what was understood about homosexuality—such as it is—in late 90s Japan.

[Mrs. Fujiwara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been reading many works (mainly thesis and primary documents) about the Japanese vision of what we, westerns, commonly call homosexuality. My studies focus is on the XVI century, but I just had to read their usual interpretations on this subject before and after that time to understand the whole idea well, so you will probably see many reviews about it here from now on. This particular book caught my attention because while dealing with male-male relationships in modern Japan, it brings up and discusses things that are an important part of its popular culture. The author has an amazing writing capacity, trying his best to transform his academic researches into something more readable to the general public and clearly avoiding any particular opinion he might have on the subject. He studied from the liberty of expression seen in girl comics that deals with love between beautiful boys to how Japanese homosexuals themselves see their own sexuality in such a traditional society. And this is precisely what I admire about this work: he - as all good researchers I’ve had the pleasure to study - does not show any prejudice against documents many would ignore, such as manga (Annales heir?). He clearly proves that animation is an important part of that society and therefore it is advisable to analyze it nowadays.

That said, it is made clear that what is portrayed in yaoi comics is the expectations of a gender usually seen as potential mothers and almost completely turned into an asexual being after marriage. It definitely does not represent the reality of homosexuality in Japan, on the contrary, it unfolds only how love - in the western interpretation - is something Japanese women should not expect at home. The author also points out a very interesting bridge between these comics and the great boom of androgynous characters that took place on the media in the 90’s. Here he mentions, of course, MALICE MIZER and particularly Mana’s dear figure. However, he clearly states that Japan is historically able to accept androgyny as a mainstream entertainment and usually does not label an artist that plays with his/her gender - such as the Takarazuka actresses - as homosexual, but it is extremely reluctant in accept whoever does this in the real world. Yes, according to his studies real world and artistic world are things completely different there. What must be avoided in one is object of profound admiration in the other. Here he reminded me the wa - the harmony Japan finds on the contraries that Benedicto Ferri de Barros explains so well. But the best part is that these researches are used as background for information he collected in real gay media and from gay men themselves: very interesting interviews are reproduced and carefully examined in most of the book. I finished it and realized again how hard it is to interpret sexuality and how concepts that are mostly accepted in the West obviously cannot be used to understand the East. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is involved in modern Japanese culture in its many branches.