Out and About on Japan's Gay Net

Abstract

This paper looks at the development of media aimed at same- sex desiring men in Japan. The development of 'gay' magazines in the early 1970s is outlined, although terms such as 'gay' and 'homosexual' which were produced in a Western context are shown to have undergone a shift of meaning when imported to Japan. Many of the functions of these Japanese gay magazines are shown to have been taken over by gay sites on the internet. The variety of gay material on the internet is described, and, using interview information derived from Japanese gay men over the internet, the different ways in which these men use the internet is discussed. Finally, the role the internet is playing in the process of 'global queering' in which a variety of western discourses about homosexuality confront and interact with non-western indigenous constructions is questioned.