Sexual Minority Studies on Japan

Abstract

When the topic of modern sexualities is discussed in the Japanese context, one must take into consideration their cross-cultural dimensions. For example, during the process of Japan’s modernisation in the Meiji period (1868-1912), the Western concept of homosexuality as a deviant identity was first introduced and constructed within a Japanese context (see Reichert 2006). Fast forward to the 1990s, and gay studies and activism, led by groups such as OCCUR (Japan Association for the Lesbian and Gay Movement), indicates how Japanese people have actively utilised some Euro-American ideologies of gender and sexuality in order to advance local agendas. Moreover, Japan’s institutionalisation of the diagnostic category of ‘gender identity disorder’ (GID) at the turn of the millennium, which was closely modelled on Western precedents, is another example of this kind of cross-cultural borrowing. However, acknowledging these cross-cultural flows does not necessarily mean that Japan has always been a passive recipient of modern notions of gender and sexuality from Europe and America. What it suggests, instead, is that cross-cultural referencing has always been a key component in terms of making sense of non-normative sexualities in Japan. This chapter provides an overview of sexual minority studies on Japan conducted both inJapanese and English, across the last two decades or so. It introduces key texts which assist readers in comprehending homosexuality, gay cultures, lesbian cultures, transgender cultures, as well as what might be termed as queer cultures in Japan. As I will specify later in this chapter, I use the term ‘queer’ to refer to non-heteronormative sexualities that intersect with a range of other social factors, including, but not limited to, gender, ethnic identity, nationality, religious affiliation, and able-bodiedness. Employing cross-cultural as well as intersectional approaches, this chapter presents diverse,not monolithic, views on sexual minority cultures in Japan.