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Right now in Japan,
we're in the middle of an "LGBT boom."
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00:00:28,821 --> 00:00:32,575
I think it's incredibly important to gain visibility,
to make it so that we can be seen.
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On the other hand, however,
there's also the thinking
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of not generating any friction with the majority,
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as much as possible.
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It's not necessarily that
being gay or lesbian is the problem,
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but it's the family values and format
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that traditional Japanese are afraid of breaking.
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Why is homosexuality not allowed?
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Neither Buddhism nor Shintoism
say this is not okay.
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The first thing we have to do
is get rid of our phobia toward ourselves.
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These communal words
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and the rules we've obeyed
until now have to be changed.
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Somewhere deep inside
the person in front of me,
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there's a piece of them I can touch,
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and we're all looking for that.
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Probably.
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It's probably a part of us that's laughable,
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hard to comprehend, a little disgusting.
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"Are you mental?" they'll say.
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It's easy enough to utter words, but...
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sweating, crying, or
rolling on the floor in agony,
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or injuring myself, letting out a little blood,
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desperately trying to appeal to something...
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Everybody will think of me as very hentai.
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But that's the only thing I can do.
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I am a drag queen, and I'm also an artist,
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but before all of that,
I think of myself as Vivienne Sato.
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My sexual orientation, gender, things like that,
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for instance, man or woman, gay, or,
as we say in Japan, okama;
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there are all kinds of words,
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but it's not something that can be
so neatly tied up in words, in nouns.
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I think it's more about each person
having their own particular way of living
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more than distinctions along gender lines.
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I wanted to live in a drag, in that reality.
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Basically, I go to the store like this,
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I go to restaurants like this,
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I go to the bank like this.
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When I leave the house, I leave it like this.
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Maybe it's just another kind of theater,
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but the starting line is
much earlier, further back, I guess.
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People take me however they take me.
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I know that's the reality.
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Take a hundred people and you'll get
a hundred different reactions.
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In the end, this way's more interesting.
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It's really more interesting!
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After all, if I went into a place dressed up like this,
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and no one turned around,
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no one complained,
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I'd be a bit sad.
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Which is why, well, I suppose I want it a little--
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for people to complain, to say something.
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I want to be the noise, you know?
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My name is Nogi Sumiko.
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I'm fifty years old.
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What do I do?
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Well, every day, I think of something
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and then I make something.
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I'm basically someone who makes things
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under the title of artist.
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I like women, but, well,
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I think it's something more complex than that.
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And I don't think it's that I can't decide.
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Or that sort of thing. This is how it is, I guess.
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When I was little, I think I had gender dysphoria,
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you know, Gender Identity Disorder?
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00:07:03,799 --> 00:07:09,221
But I'm not actually too
concerned about all that now.
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It's just that when it comes to sexuality,
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I do feel more sexual toward women than men.
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I think these ambiguous bits
are incredibly interesting.
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It's basically only human beings
that have ambiguity, isn't it?
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I mean, we enjoy ambiguity!
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Is it okay if I smoke?
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I have all kinds of memories of this.
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Like actually, before my eyes, a woman who
had lost her own breasts to cancer looked at it,
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and she sort of wrapped it around her neck
like this and teared up a little,
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saying it brought back a lot back for her.
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And one woman
remembered her own childhood,
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when she was little with her mother.
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The second she saw this,
she remembered all kinds of things.
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And it wasn't that
she was feeling sad, particularly.
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She was just overwhelmed
with emotion and started crying.
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Things like this actually happened, so I definitely
feel like I was right to make this scarf.
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But I had no intention of making some
kind of funny bit of merchandise or something.
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That's the way I create work.
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I'm Gengoroh Tagame.
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I call myself a gay erotic artist
and a manga artist.
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The reason I prefer to call myself a
"gay erotic artist" rather than a "gay artist"
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is because feeling the erotic,
sexual impulse for the same sex,
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that's very important to me.
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And being aware of myself
as gay is very important.
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For instance, when I was younger,
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I didn't really like the word "douseiai."
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Because love—you can do that with someone
of the same sex, or someone of the opposite sex,
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or an animal, or whatever.
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But what I was seeking from a man
was most definitely not a matter of love.
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From before I even knew
about the concept of "gay,"
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I would get excited when I saw naked men.
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Or I would get excited when I saw BDSM.
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This issue of desire
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is an incredibly large part
of me describing myself as gay
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and defining myself as gay.
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And since you could probably take this
to be the core of my own existence,
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in my gay expression as well,
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I've always had my focus
on erotic expression in particular.
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I went on this tour, all over North America.
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For a long time, people had been saying they
really wanted an English translation of my work
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to come out, but it just never happened.
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So I think they felt like, "Finally!"
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It was very well received.
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And, how can I put it...
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The fans were very passionate.
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They sort of crashed in. I was very moved.
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The first time I went to the States
was twenty years ago.
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Right after the founding of G-men.
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I visited with Hiroshi Hasegawa.
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At that time, we visited the
Tom of Finland Foundation in Los Angeles.
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[Durk Dehner]
It's taken you a long time to come back.
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I'm very happy to be able to come here again.
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Yeah, I was supposed to be away
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and I stayed because I wanted to see you.
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The thing that surprised me the most was
the fact that the president, Durk Dehner,
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who I met twenty-one years earlier,
actually remembered me.
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As an organization, they're carefully
preserving gay art, they're promoting it.
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And they also run an art contest,
so they're finding new people as well.
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I can't help but truly admire the fact that
they've just kept on doing all this.
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Just like I respect Tom of Finland as an artist,
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I have such deep respect for what the
Tom of Finland Foundation is doing.
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Meanwhile, right around that same time,
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back in Japan, I had started to draw the manga
My Brother's Husband.
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That was the first manga for me that's
not erotic, that's all ages, but still a gay manga,
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a manga taking up gay issues.
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When I started drawing My Brother's Husband,
since it's so different from the work I've done,
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a part of me was actually a little worried about
how my fans would react to it.
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Thankfully, I feel like both
inside and outside Japan,
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even though it surprised them,
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the fans have been really
understanding and welcoming of the series.
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For me, My Brother's Husband, which
doesn't have a single "adult" element--
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writing a heartwarming family manga
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and doing hardcore gay porn
like Planet Brobdingnag at the same time
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was very healthy for me, mentally.
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In the past, I was happy just doing hardcore manga.
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And recently, I've realized how much fun it is
to draw something like My Brother's Husband.
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But probably, if I were only working on that,
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I think I'd be like, "Oh, I want to draw erotica."
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The only thing is that now I'm a bit too busy.
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My name is Tomato Hatakeno.
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I write all kinds of things, but video game
strategy books are the main thing.
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And I'm also a transgender activist,
that's my lifework.
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Today, my friend of about 20 years
Hiroshi Hasegawa...
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It's been exactly 20 years
since I started Transgender Cafe.
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I started it two decades ago, in July 1996.
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Just a little after Windows 95 went on sale.
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At the time, I was working at a club
for "newhalf" sex workers.
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The club's owner set up a website.
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I thought it looked kind of interesting,
and I wanted to try making one of my own.
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After that, I got the chance to talk to
all kinds of young trans people.
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And I heard things like how transitioning
wasn't going so well for them,
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or for instance, problems in their workplaces,
they told me all kinds of things.
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No matter whether "Gender Identity Disorder"
is put into a pathology box,
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if it's not going well for you,
then it's still not going to go well.
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I think the very idea of
making someone a mental patient
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because of the form their identity takes
is actually really weird.
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Especially since gender in society now
is fairly complex, isn't it?
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I just want the thought of this as a disease
to go away already.
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Basically, Shinjuku is like...
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you have the Tokyo government here,
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and then you have Kabukicho,
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you have places like Golden Gai here.
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And you have Japan's largest
gay neighborhood in Ni-chome.
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Shinjuku, it has just
an incredible number of faces.
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And you know, they don't mix.
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It's a place where they all coexist and meet.
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I first came to Ni-chome thirty-five years ago,
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When I was fifteen.
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Back then, the place was totally dark.
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I mean, probably,
people didn't want to be seen coming here.
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According to one explanation, that's why all
the snack bars, the little places, were upstairs.
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Because if they were on the first floor
it might be possible to see who was in them.
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It was all hidden. The area was very quiet.
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There were basically no places on the first floor.
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My name is Chiga Ogawa.
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I run a bar and—well, I call it a project team.
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I manage a company,
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and for years now,
I've put on this party called Gold Finger.
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It's a women-only party.
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The party started in 1991,
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because I felt there was no club of this type...
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There was no event like this out there.
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So I started one myself.
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I didn't think that hard about it.
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I wasn't focused just on lesbians.
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It was for any woman who was
wondering what to do some evening
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and thought she'd like to
hang out with some other women.
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00:17:49,736 --> 00:17:54,741
So naturally, there are married women, and
I figured it'd be fun if you had a boyfriend.
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00:17:55,033 --> 00:17:58,411
And it was probably, the '90s saw
this worldwide girl power movement--
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you know, the Spice Girls and all that.
200
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In Japan, too, it was an era when women wanted
to be able to just get together with other women.
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There was this focus then.
202
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It was an interesting time.
And I was drawn into that.
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Well, from a lesbian perspective, it's the girls--
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People tend to talk about
places with a lot of cute girls.
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00:18:23,436 --> 00:18:25,063
Like, there's tons of cuties there!
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Rumors like that.
207
00:18:34,656 --> 00:18:37,283
You have this many people coming together,
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00:18:37,575 --> 00:18:42,872
so it's like, knowing there are people like you,
that alone really gives you courage.
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00:18:43,748 --> 00:18:44,916
To have comrades.
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Whenever we come, she gives us such
a warm welcome, like "Oh hey, you came!"
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00:18:55,260 --> 00:18:57,470
[Chiga Ogawa]
As for me, I'm kind of like everyone's--
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not everyone's mother exactly,
213
00:18:59,597 --> 00:19:00,849
but maybe like the old lady at the PTA.
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00:19:01,141 --> 00:19:03,101
The generational difference
plays a big part in that,
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00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:08,690
but all of them just grow up so fast,
and of course, they have their own lives to lead.
216
00:19:09,065 --> 00:19:11,359
I never insist that anyone should come out.
217
00:19:11,693 --> 00:19:13,611
There are some people
who want to stay in the closet at work.
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That's entirely their decision.
219
00:19:16,990 --> 00:19:20,201
But I do long for a world
where being a lesbian or a sexual minority
220
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doesn't count against you in any way.
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00:19:25,999 --> 00:19:26,791
On the contrary,
222
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it might make you more attractive, weapon.
223
00:19:31,504 --> 00:19:33,798
And love is the source of life.
224
00:19:34,090 --> 00:19:36,301
It's what makes us happy.
225
00:19:36,593 --> 00:19:41,639
So I really, want everyone
to be able to just enjoy themselves.
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That's basically it.
227
00:19:44,434 --> 00:19:47,478
For me, this is just the way I am,
so I don't try to hide it.
228
00:19:47,770 --> 00:19:51,524
And a lot of people just can't say it.
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00:19:51,816 --> 00:19:55,195
So I guess this is pushing back against that.
230
00:19:55,486 --> 00:20:00,408
Like, I think you should just say it.
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00:20:00,700 --> 00:20:03,286
So I couldn't refuse this interview.
232
00:20:03,786 --> 00:20:05,246
She's a little shy.
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00:20:48,122 --> 00:20:50,708
Grammy Tokyo started four years ago.
234
00:20:51,251 --> 00:20:56,089
It started with transgender people,
men who were assigned female at birth,
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00:20:56,547 --> 00:20:59,050
meeting up to have fun together.
236
00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:07,725
Back in my hometown,
I really only had one FTM friend.
237
00:21:08,017 --> 00:21:11,521
At that point, I hadn't even been to a club before.
238
00:21:11,813 --> 00:21:18,152
I guess I was reluctant to go to a club
where there would be all these cisgender men.
239
00:21:18,653 --> 00:21:22,115
The first time I came here was because a friend
invited me, and I had such a great time.
240
00:21:22,573 --> 00:21:23,866
And the people I've met through the event,
241
00:21:24,158 --> 00:21:27,787
I can talk to them about all kinds of problems,
about transitioning, too.
242
00:21:28,079 --> 00:21:30,415
I want more people to feel like this,
243
00:21:30,748 --> 00:21:32,542
like you don't have to hide
the fact that you're FTM.
244
00:21:33,042 --> 00:21:36,212
This is a place where you can be open about it,
245
00:21:36,838 --> 00:21:41,134
think of it as just another part of
who you are, and have fun as a person.
246
00:21:46,723 --> 00:21:49,309
Taking my clothes off means something.
247
00:21:51,060 --> 00:21:54,105
So many FTM guys are shy.
248
00:21:54,397 --> 00:21:58,943
Like, a lot of us have
complexes about our bodies.
249
00:21:59,277 --> 00:22:03,614
So I want to show people
like, other FTM guys,
250
00:22:03,906 --> 00:22:06,492
if you work out a certain amount,
251
00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:09,620
you can get a body like this.
252
00:22:10,413 --> 00:22:11,831
That's my message.
253
00:22:12,540 --> 00:22:16,627
So that's the intent when I take
my clothes off and stand up front.
254
00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:20,590
When I began treatment,
there was no community like this.
255
00:22:23,051 --> 00:22:25,470
I think it was really new.
256
00:22:26,262 --> 00:22:29,766
I was involved in lesbian culture,
but of course, once I started treatment,
257
00:22:30,058 --> 00:22:33,853
once I started growing facial hair,
I started to like a man,
258
00:22:34,145 --> 00:22:38,107
And then all of a sudden, the tone shifted,
to you're not allowed in.
259
00:22:38,566 --> 00:22:41,861
So that meant I was left
with nowhere to hang out.
260
00:22:42,695 --> 00:22:43,696
That's when I started thinking.
261
00:22:44,155 --> 00:22:49,243
We really need a new place
where trans people can hang out.
262
00:22:51,287 --> 00:22:54,874
Three years ago, Grammy joined up
with Gold Finger for a joint party,
263
00:22:55,166 --> 00:22:58,461
a club event called "Boyish Friend."
264
00:23:01,923 --> 00:23:05,551
Up to then, Chiga's place was
mixed company only once a week.
265
00:23:05,843 --> 00:23:08,763
It was a time when I wasn't
even allowed to just stand out front.
266
00:23:11,140 --> 00:23:13,976
Of course, people did complain
to Chiga in the beginning.
267
00:23:14,435 --> 00:23:16,687
Everyone was like,
"Why are you letting FTM people in?"
268
00:23:17,188 --> 00:23:18,773
There was some of that.
269
00:23:20,024 --> 00:23:22,819
Because I happen to
be friends with some FTM people,
270
00:23:23,111 --> 00:23:24,654
people sometimes get the wrong idea.
271
00:23:26,322 --> 00:23:28,783
Some people go beyond being "boyish."
272
00:23:29,075 --> 00:23:30,576
They start taking male hormones—
273
00:23:31,035 --> 00:23:34,997
part of it is that it's easier to get hormones now.
274
00:23:35,289 --> 00:23:37,083
They even grow beards.
275
00:23:37,375 --> 00:23:41,170
They're living as a man.
276
00:23:41,754 --> 00:23:46,759
But at Gold Finger, they'll come,
and say, "No, but I used to be a woman."
277
00:23:47,051 --> 00:23:49,345
And I just don't feel quite right about it.
278
00:23:50,596 --> 00:23:54,517
It's like—I'm not trying to
discriminate or anything.
279
00:23:54,809 --> 00:23:59,564
If they want to be seen as man
in their daily lives,
280
00:24:00,106 --> 00:24:04,527
if they want to live as men,
I completely respect that, their way of living.
281
00:24:04,819 --> 00:24:07,738
I appreciate that they want to come,
that they're willing to come.
282
00:24:08,030 --> 00:24:10,658
But they say to me, "You let me in last month!"
283
00:24:10,950 --> 00:24:13,578
And I'm like,
"You didn't have a beard last month!"
284
00:24:13,870 --> 00:24:15,079
That sort of back and forth.
285
00:24:15,371 --> 00:24:17,123
There was a lot of that about four years ago.
286
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:21,377
And well, I understand their feelings and all.
287
00:24:22,378 --> 00:24:25,506
There just weren't many places
for trans guys to go.
288
00:24:25,798 --> 00:24:29,594
So that was why I felt we needed a new party,
which I called Boyish Friend.
289
00:24:29,886 --> 00:24:36,726
It focuses on those boyish people,
including FTM people.
290
00:24:37,852 --> 00:24:41,939
So with that event,
we had people bridging that gap.
291
00:24:42,231 --> 00:24:44,150
Now it's the era of parades and LGBT,
292
00:24:44,525 --> 00:24:46,944
and we're all trying to be on better terms
293
00:24:47,236 --> 00:24:49,780
and close that gap.
I'm doing this event, too.
294
00:24:50,281 --> 00:24:53,075
These events got Chiga on board,
they gave her a place to learn.
295
00:24:53,618 --> 00:24:56,746
And it's the fact that we did that together
that FTM bars and things can happen.
296
00:25:04,253 --> 00:25:10,134
L and G and B are sexual orientations.
297
00:25:10,468 --> 00:25:12,553
But in the case of T, it's about gender identity,
298
00:25:12,970 --> 00:25:14,931
so it's maybe a little different.
299
00:25:15,348 --> 00:25:20,520
I'm aware of how I relate to things in that way.
300
00:25:20,853 --> 00:25:21,437
But, you know.
301
00:25:21,771 --> 00:25:26,275
I think both for LGBT and straight people,
302
00:25:26,692 --> 00:25:30,988
it'd be better if we didn't
feel that sense of separation.
303
00:25:31,572 --> 00:25:34,700
There's really a lot of hate
towards each other in the community.
304
00:25:34,992 --> 00:25:35,993
I really don't like that.
305
00:25:36,285 --> 00:25:40,081
I'd love it if we could close that gap.
306
00:25:57,765 --> 00:25:59,850
My name is-- would my drag name be best?
307
00:26:00,142 --> 00:26:01,644
Okay. I'm Margarette.
308
00:26:01,936 --> 00:26:02,979
I'm a man.
309
00:26:03,271 --> 00:26:06,357
And my sexuality-- I'm homosexual.
310
00:26:08,442 --> 00:26:13,739
It wasn't that I deliberately tried
to play this character, Margarette.
311
00:26:14,699 --> 00:26:16,742
I just kind of picked the name out of hat.
312
00:26:17,243 --> 00:26:20,955
And eventually, everyone around me
kind of came up with this persona.
313
00:26:22,164 --> 00:26:25,293
And as I put on the attitude that
people around me were expecting,
314
00:26:25,585 --> 00:26:29,714
I kind of stumbled into this style.
315
00:26:47,815 --> 00:26:52,153
Everyone who comes into Department H
for the first time is surprised.
316
00:26:53,195 --> 00:26:55,406
It's like, this world exists just tangent
317
00:26:55,698 --> 00:26:57,617
to the one they usually inhabit--
318
00:26:57,908 --> 00:27:01,454
it's just another fifteen minutes
on the Yamanote Line, say.
319
00:27:02,038 --> 00:27:05,791
I think it's valuable if we can
give them that shock,
320
00:27:06,125 --> 00:27:09,670
that sense that the world is still
full of these places they haven't seen.
321
00:27:13,174 --> 00:27:18,012
Personally, I think that people should have the
freedom to do whatever they want,
322
00:27:18,304 --> 00:27:21,432
so long as it doesn't hurt others.
323
00:27:45,539 --> 00:27:49,710
I've been involved with Department H
for more than twenty years now.
324
00:27:50,169 --> 00:27:52,088
I don't really have a specific job.
325
00:27:52,380 --> 00:27:53,714
I'm kind of a hostess out on the floor,
326
00:27:54,006 --> 00:27:55,925
just talking with people and such.
327
00:27:56,217 --> 00:28:00,012
But I also kind of MC the whole thing.
328
00:28:08,896 --> 00:28:11,565
Overseas it's called "puppy play."
329
00:28:12,274 --> 00:28:14,985
It's like dog roleplaying.
330
00:28:16,028 --> 00:28:20,866
It's a kind of type of BDSM play.
331
00:28:22,034 --> 00:28:27,206
I saw it online, and I thought it was cool.
332
00:28:27,873 --> 00:28:29,208
I wanted to try it.
333
00:28:29,500 --> 00:28:34,630
Most of us have felt that desire to be
coddled and loved the way pets are, right?
334
00:28:34,922 --> 00:28:38,259
You want to be pampered like a pet.
335
00:28:38,551 --> 00:28:40,261
I think it's an expression of that.
336
00:28:40,553 --> 00:28:45,766
When I first came, I was really impressed
that a place like this existed.
337
00:28:46,308 --> 00:28:48,227
A place that was just so easy to be like this.
338
00:28:48,519 --> 00:28:50,688
Extraordinary, isn't it?
339
00:28:52,189 --> 00:28:54,608
I think it's a big deal to have a place like this
340
00:28:54,900 --> 00:28:59,071
where we can come play once a month.
341
00:29:03,951 --> 00:29:04,910
Next up!
342
00:29:05,202 --> 00:29:09,498
We have a lady who has
already appeared like this at Department H.
343
00:29:09,874 --> 00:29:13,669
Her sense of fashion never fails to amaze us.
344
00:29:13,961 --> 00:29:16,088
Dokumurasaki Kano.
345
00:29:16,756 --> 00:29:19,467
She participates every time, too.
346
00:29:20,050 --> 00:29:21,927
And she is a singular talent.
347
00:29:23,012 --> 00:29:24,889
Whether you like her or not,
348
00:29:25,181 --> 00:29:28,559
there's no denying that she always
comes in very powerful outfits.
349
00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:31,312
My gender is male, and...
350
00:29:32,313 --> 00:29:34,398
minority-wise... I'm gay.
351
00:29:35,524 --> 00:29:41,489
I have fun here creating
with the rubber material.
352
00:29:43,032 --> 00:29:48,329
The first time I came here, I was basically josou.
353
00:29:48,788 --> 00:29:51,081
I just wore makeup and dressed like a woman.
354
00:29:52,333 --> 00:29:56,796
But, you know, that was a bit boring.
355
00:29:59,715 --> 00:30:03,511
After about a year of coming to this event,
356
00:30:04,345 --> 00:30:07,848
I gradually started making my own costumes.
357
00:30:08,140 --> 00:30:10,392
I wanted to stand out more.
358
00:30:10,851 --> 00:30:13,229
And they kind of got bigger and bigger.
359
00:30:14,814 --> 00:30:16,232
Today?
360
00:30:18,484 --> 00:30:22,154
Well, I was thinking about
a fish or mermaid theme.
361
00:30:22,863 --> 00:30:24,240
But somehow I ended up here.
362
00:30:26,617 --> 00:30:29,453
Well, at least it has a big impact.
363
00:30:32,164 --> 00:30:33,833
I'm Kumada Poohsuke.
364
00:30:34,375 --> 00:30:35,793
I'm Male.
365
00:30:36,794 --> 00:30:38,546
I like men.
366
00:30:39,755 --> 00:30:44,301
These are full-body tights: Zentai.
367
00:30:46,595 --> 00:30:52,017
This outfit is silky, you wear it for fun.
368
00:30:52,434 --> 00:30:55,437
I have a lot of fetishes.
369
00:30:55,729 --> 00:31:01,694
Like sport uniforms, socks-- I like clothes
that fit the line of the body perfectly.
370
00:31:02,319 --> 00:31:05,114
If I went dancing like this at a regular club,
371
00:31:05,531 --> 00:31:07,241
people would ask me what all this was.
372
00:31:07,658 --> 00:31:13,289
Here, everyone dances together
like it's no big deal, so it's fun.
373
00:31:26,260 --> 00:31:30,180
[Margarette]
Saeborg's piece is really incredible.
374
00:31:36,478 --> 00:31:38,188
[Saeborg]
I figured the instant
that enormous pig came out,
375
00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:39,773
everyone would realize it was a birth scene,
376
00:31:40,065 --> 00:31:41,901
so it'd get laughs right away.
377
00:31:42,192 --> 00:31:44,028
And then, surprisingly,
it was like no one realized it.
378
00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:45,821
But it was this huge pig, you know,
379
00:31:46,113 --> 00:31:47,239
and its genitals were right there and
380
00:31:47,531 --> 00:31:48,908
so I was sure people would know
it was having babies.
381
00:31:49,199 --> 00:31:51,243
But surprisingly, they didn't, so that was good.
382
00:31:51,535 --> 00:31:51,994
Really.
383
00:31:57,041 --> 00:31:59,960
My name is Saeborg. I'm an artist.
384
00:32:01,921 --> 00:32:06,258
Biologically, I was born female.
385
00:32:06,550 --> 00:32:11,764
But I found myself resisting
the stereotypical female behavior forced on me.
386
00:32:12,598 --> 00:32:17,645
So I began using rubber as a second skin.
387
00:32:18,896 --> 00:32:21,732
If I could put air between two layers of rubber,
388
00:32:22,024 --> 00:32:23,776
then I could change myself into a shape I liked.
389
00:32:24,068 --> 00:32:28,030
If I undid my body,
I could be the person I wanted--
390
00:32:28,322 --> 00:32:30,658
I could transcend humanity.
391
00:32:30,950 --> 00:32:32,952
Neither male or female.
392
00:32:33,243 --> 00:32:37,831
By squaring off like this, I could transcend
the human form for a completely new gender.
393
00:32:38,123 --> 00:32:40,376
A completely new creature.
A living being.
394
00:32:40,668 --> 00:32:41,835
It started there.
395
00:32:43,379 --> 00:32:49,259
Department H is a hentai party, and it's been
going on for more than twenty years.
396
00:32:49,551 --> 00:32:52,680
I can call it a hentai party without worrying
about being misunderstood.
397
00:32:53,013 --> 00:32:56,266
I started going fifteen years ago.
398
00:32:56,558 --> 00:33:01,230
At the time, I wore this big wig
and really flashy make up.
399
00:33:01,522 --> 00:33:05,150
I basically dressed up like
a drag queen to go hang out.
400
00:33:05,442 --> 00:33:07,152
So everyone thought my gender—
401
00:33:07,444 --> 00:33:09,279
Well, they all thought I was an okama.
402
00:33:09,571 --> 00:33:11,782
I mean, they wouldn't think I was a woman.
403
00:33:12,282 --> 00:33:16,412
I remember being delighted
at having my gender mistaken like that.
404
00:33:20,833 --> 00:33:23,168
[Margarette]
A mother pig gives birth to a piglet.
405
00:33:23,460 --> 00:33:28,882
But the piglet is immediately taken away
to be slaughtered for meat.
406
00:33:30,551 --> 00:33:32,511
The point she's trying to make—
407
00:33:32,803 --> 00:33:34,471
well, you would have to ask her to be sure.
408
00:33:35,180 --> 00:33:38,017
But I think she's saying that even in Japan,
409
00:33:38,308 --> 00:33:44,189
there was a time when women were seen
merely as tools for making children.
410
00:33:44,481 --> 00:33:47,735
So I personally view the piece as multivalent.
411
00:33:48,861 --> 00:33:51,947
[Saeborg]
All the costumes I make are female livestock.
412
00:33:53,907 --> 00:33:55,451
Most people who do these full costumes,
413
00:33:55,743 --> 00:33:58,620
like the gay furry costumes,
414
00:33:58,912 --> 00:34:00,956
and the monsters are like this too—
415
00:34:01,248 --> 00:34:03,834
they aspire to masculinity.
416
00:34:04,126 --> 00:34:07,546
Like they dress as dobermans.
A lot of people become something cool.
417
00:34:08,130 --> 00:34:11,341
I wanted to go the other way. The opposite.
418
00:34:12,718 --> 00:34:14,136
Be more metaphorical.
419
00:34:16,889 --> 00:34:18,182
Yes, I made a fire costume.
420
00:34:18,474 --> 00:34:21,018
A piece where I was enveloped in fire.
421
00:34:21,477 --> 00:34:23,437
There was also the idea of Godzilla.
422
00:34:24,396 --> 00:34:28,400
What's amazing is that what you
think is your skin, it starts glowing.
423
00:34:28,734 --> 00:34:30,319
Then it glows all the way to your heart.
424
00:34:30,861 --> 00:34:33,697
It's a really incredible transcendent experience.
425
00:34:34,823 --> 00:34:36,909
It says something about
what you can make yourself believe.
426
00:34:37,201 --> 00:34:38,786
It's very primitive. You know?
427
00:34:39,870 --> 00:34:41,622
You make that stuff that you think is your skin.
428
00:34:41,914 --> 00:34:46,043
You make it glow, and at the same time,
your heart and body all glow.
429
00:34:46,627 --> 00:34:48,504
It was pure ecstasy.
430
00:34:57,137 --> 00:35:03,560
[Margarette]
People get in these costumes and sometimes
they dance, or they'll stage these little fights.
431
00:35:04,228 --> 00:35:07,606
They're wonderful, Piko Piko's works of art.
432
00:35:07,898 --> 00:35:12,986
Now if you were to ask me
if it's a fetish for those people, though...
433
00:35:13,362 --> 00:35:15,948
That's kind of ambiguous.
434
00:35:16,240 --> 00:35:18,158
But it's certainly something
you can't see anywhere else.
435
00:35:18,450 --> 00:35:20,869
And we're grateful to have them here.
436
00:35:22,246 --> 00:35:23,288
I'm MaChie.
437
00:35:24,164 --> 00:35:25,457
My sex is male.
438
00:35:26,250 --> 00:35:30,838
My sexuality is...
I guess it would probably be bi.
439
00:35:32,631 --> 00:35:34,258
[Margarette]
That's MaChie.
440
00:35:34,550 --> 00:35:36,802
Anyway, MaChie is crazy for anal.
441
00:35:38,053 --> 00:35:41,765
She just loves fisting, using an arm, whatever.
442
00:35:42,182 --> 00:35:46,353
What I'm doing here—
it's not something I was asked to do, per se.
443
00:35:46,812 --> 00:35:48,313
But I've been coming for a long time,
444
00:35:48,605 --> 00:35:53,318
so I'm helping out by pressing buttons
for the entrance elevator.
445
00:35:54,486 --> 00:35:57,364
This, this? Hmm.
446
00:35:57,656 --> 00:35:59,700
It's a bit hard to explain, isn't it?
447
00:36:00,033 --> 00:36:02,452
I guess it's from a film.
448
00:36:02,911 --> 00:36:08,292
The organizer, Gogh, bought it from a film set.
449
00:36:08,584 --> 00:36:11,003
He lets me wear it.
450
00:36:12,087 --> 00:36:18,886
[Margarette]
As long as she's got someone's fist in her anus,
she doesn't care if it's a man or a woman.
451
00:36:19,219 --> 00:36:20,846
A fetish, right?
452
00:36:22,431 --> 00:36:24,725
Human sexual desires...
453
00:36:25,017 --> 00:36:25,934
For example, for heterosexuals,
454
00:36:26,226 --> 00:36:32,608
a man's heart races when
he sees a woman, and vice versa.
455
00:36:32,900 --> 00:36:35,777
But fetish goes beyond gender.
456
00:36:36,361 --> 00:36:40,240
She's quite accepting, in life and in anal.
457
00:36:42,576 --> 00:36:46,914
At Department H, we like to
bring together unique people.
458
00:36:47,497 --> 00:36:50,876
They come together, and you see
these new variations. I like that.
459
00:36:51,168 --> 00:36:52,544
It's a night of freedom.
460
00:36:54,046 --> 00:36:55,255
Department H...
461
00:36:56,924 --> 00:37:00,093
It's where I express myself.
462
00:37:01,511 --> 00:37:03,096
An amusement park for sensible adults.
463
00:37:03,388 --> 00:37:04,806
Although sometimes we get people who aren't.
464
00:37:05,098 --> 00:37:07,184
But it's like, it's the sensible people who rule.
465
00:37:08,352 --> 00:37:12,439
It's so, so laid back.
466
00:37:12,731 --> 00:37:16,944
I think it's interesting, the feeling of everyone
having fun in their own individual ways.
467
00:37:17,527 --> 00:37:19,404
You get to meet all kinds of people.
468
00:37:19,696 --> 00:37:23,450
It's fun because it's like a crossroads.
469
00:37:35,212 --> 00:37:36,296
[Atsushi Matsuda]
Japan, these days...
470
00:37:36,630 --> 00:37:38,006
This [film] is one example,
471
00:37:38,298 --> 00:37:43,095
but I feel like foreigners are fascinated by Japan.
472
00:37:43,387 --> 00:37:45,514
And I sense it when I travel.
473
00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:50,727
Japanese manga, or even butoh.
474
00:37:51,019 --> 00:37:52,479
Japanese culture.
475
00:37:52,771 --> 00:37:55,816
The scramble intersection
in Shibuya, people think is cool.
476
00:37:56,108 --> 00:37:57,776
Or our idols are cool.
477
00:37:58,068 --> 00:38:00,696
But in the midst of all this attention,
478
00:38:01,113 --> 00:38:06,076
Japanese people are not ready to move on yet,
479
00:38:06,368 --> 00:38:08,912
or haven't opened
their hearts up to those things.
480
00:38:09,413 --> 00:38:13,417
What good could come of using our tax dollars
481
00:38:13,750 --> 00:38:20,799
to support these unproductive
homosexual people?
482
00:38:21,174 --> 00:38:23,885
LDP Diet member Mio Sugita
published an essay supporting
483
00:38:24,177 --> 00:38:28,140
the idea that LGBT couples are
"unproductive," among other things.
484
00:38:28,515 --> 00:38:31,977
She has previously made such statements
on social media and elsewhere,
485
00:38:32,269 --> 00:38:35,731
so what exactly is behind this thinking of hers?
486
00:38:37,274 --> 00:38:40,485
We don't need a Diet member
who ignores human rights!
487
00:38:40,777 --> 00:38:42,154
No discrimination!
488
00:38:42,446 --> 00:38:44,114
No discrimination!
489
00:38:44,406 --> 00:38:51,288
Using the word "productivity" to refer
to human beings is clearly wrong.
490
00:38:52,581 --> 00:38:59,546
The scene tonight at the National Diet Building
after these discriminatory remarks.
491
00:39:00,130 --> 00:39:02,841
A TV debate show called me up
492
00:39:03,133 --> 00:39:10,724
to ask my opinion about
teaching LGBT themes in schools.
493
00:39:11,016 --> 00:39:14,853
I said, "It's unnecessary, of course."
494
00:39:15,145 --> 00:39:20,233
And they replied that the suicide rate among
homosexual youth is six times greater
495
00:39:20,525 --> 00:39:23,153
than among normal kids.
496
00:39:23,570 --> 00:39:25,864
They asked me if I would still say
it's unnecessary in light of that.
497
00:39:28,450 --> 00:39:31,661
Well, I still believe it should be a low priority.
498
00:39:38,251 --> 00:39:40,253
My name is Liz, and I teach English.
499
00:39:40,545 --> 00:39:42,089
My name is Chika Toyoda.
500
00:39:43,173 --> 00:39:45,801
I run an iPhone repair shop.
501
00:39:48,387 --> 00:39:52,140
In junior high, bullying was definitely in the air.
502
00:39:52,432 --> 00:39:55,852
People would talk behind your back, too.
503
00:39:56,561 --> 00:40:01,942
You'd just tell one person,
and somehow everyone would find out.
504
00:40:04,111 --> 00:40:06,238
Well, it was really pretty obvious.
505
00:40:06,947 --> 00:40:09,699
There's a lot happening during puberty.
506
00:40:09,991 --> 00:40:14,704
Personally, I went to an all-girls school.
507
00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:18,125
We wrote love letters
to our prettiest classmates.
508
00:40:18,417 --> 00:40:22,045
We sent diaries to our favorite seniors.
509
00:40:23,296 --> 00:40:26,591
But, once you got older, you'll develop
a normal romantic relationship with a man.
510
00:40:26,883 --> 00:40:29,845
You'll get married, have children.
511
00:40:31,346 --> 00:40:37,978
Somehow, I was able to
get through in one piece.
512
00:40:38,478 --> 00:40:44,067
But there are lots of people,
including other LGBT kids, who are broken by it.
513
00:40:44,443 --> 00:40:45,694
It puts them back in the closet
514
00:40:45,986 --> 00:40:49,156
or make them hate themselves.
515
00:40:50,449 --> 00:40:53,201
And I think that's awful.
516
00:40:53,869 --> 00:40:56,788
In that sensitive stage of adolescence...
517
00:40:57,080 --> 00:40:59,166
"Women loving women is not abnormal!"
518
00:40:59,458 --> 00:41:01,168
"Men loving men is not abnormal!"
519
00:41:01,460 --> 00:41:02,919
"Don't be embarrassed, everyone!"
520
00:41:03,211 --> 00:41:07,549
"Homosexuals, you should
be proud just like the others!"
521
00:41:07,841 --> 00:41:09,176
What would happen if we
teach children in this way?
522
00:41:09,634 --> 00:41:14,139
They won't be able to
return to normalcy later in life.
523
00:41:15,849 --> 00:41:17,934
I guess it was tough, in a way.
524
00:41:18,226 --> 00:41:21,062
But I think it would've been
tougher to stay in the closet.
525
00:41:21,980 --> 00:41:24,149
Instead, I've opened everything up.
526
00:41:24,441 --> 00:41:26,610
I'm open everywhere except,
for the moment, at work.
527
00:41:28,028 --> 00:41:32,115
I had to live a life where I was free,
where I could be who I was.
528
00:41:32,407 --> 00:41:38,538
And that decision helped get rid of
those feelings I'd had up until junior high,
529
00:41:38,872 --> 00:41:44,252
that I was worthless or no good.
530
00:41:45,545 --> 00:41:48,965
Now, I'm really glad I'm gay.
531
00:41:49,591 --> 00:41:53,136
Plus I've got—a cute girlfriend.
532
00:41:53,929 --> 00:41:56,223
I wish I could go back to
my junior high self and tell her.
533
00:42:15,450 --> 00:42:16,660
Aya Kamikawa.
534
00:42:16,952 --> 00:42:19,746
I'm an assembly member
from Setagaya Ward in Tokyo.
535
00:42:20,539 --> 00:42:23,500
I never specifically said to myself,
536
00:42:23,833 --> 00:42:25,210
"I want to be a politician."
537
00:42:26,169 --> 00:42:31,341
But in April 2003,
we had the local assembly elections.
538
00:42:31,633 --> 00:42:37,430
I had decided to run
about two months prior to that.
539
00:42:37,973 --> 00:42:41,351
I was just a single citizen
grappling with life's difficulties.
540
00:42:42,352 --> 00:42:43,395
At the age of 30,
541
00:42:43,728 --> 00:42:47,566
I had lived as a woman in Tokyo for four years.
542
00:42:48,066 --> 00:42:50,151
Because I was born as a man...
543
00:42:50,986 --> 00:42:53,989
In Japan, your gender
plays into all these social systems,
544
00:42:54,781 --> 00:42:58,243
especially the family register,
which is at the root of everything else.
545
00:42:58,660 --> 00:43:00,787
And I couldn't change the gender in my register.
546
00:43:01,121 --> 00:43:04,040
It made my life very difficult.
547
00:43:06,626 --> 00:43:09,754
Without changing my gender on paper,
548
00:43:10,297 --> 00:43:14,384
I couldn't use my certificate of residence
to sign a rental agreement for a house.
549
00:43:14,843 --> 00:43:17,887
My health insurance card
wasn't valid for any doctor.
550
00:43:18,179 --> 00:43:20,599
I couldn't use my pension book
to become a salaried employee.
551
00:43:21,308 --> 00:43:22,434
Now I'm a politician,
552
00:43:22,726 --> 00:43:24,936
and I might be even accused of fraud
when trying to get on the ballot.
553
00:43:26,646 --> 00:43:31,568
I'd always hidden
the fact that I was transgender.
554
00:43:32,027 --> 00:43:34,946
I hadn't come out at all.
555
00:43:35,655 --> 00:43:36,656
We're not talking about Shinjuku here.
556
00:43:36,948 --> 00:43:39,451
Setagaya is a commuter town.
557
00:43:39,784 --> 00:43:41,911
And all of a sudden,
I'm out there in front of the train station,
558
00:43:42,454 --> 00:43:43,538
near this high-class residential area,
559
00:43:43,830 --> 00:43:44,998
trying to explain that
I was living my life as a woman,
560
00:43:45,290 --> 00:43:46,833
but that my family register said I was a man.
561
00:43:47,542 --> 00:43:48,627
I had worked in an office for four years,
562
00:43:48,918 --> 00:43:50,712
completely hiding this from everybody,
563
00:43:51,379 --> 00:43:54,341
and now I was out there in front of the train
station with a microphone in my hand,
564
00:43:54,633 --> 00:43:56,343
proclaiming it through a bullhorn.
565
00:43:57,302 --> 00:44:01,640
People did say some
extremely prejudiced thing to me.
566
00:44:02,015 --> 00:44:04,100
There was a lot of whispering,
a lot of smirking.
567
00:44:04,726 --> 00:44:07,979
People would even ask,
"Where'd you get your parts changed?"
568
00:44:08,855 --> 00:44:12,150
But I got elected.
569
00:44:15,320 --> 00:44:19,491
After that, I was able to meet the Diet members
who wouldn't give me the time of day before.
570
00:44:21,034 --> 00:44:22,952
And two and a half months after I was elected,
571
00:44:23,328 --> 00:44:24,746
a law was passed to allow changes of gender.
572
00:44:25,288 --> 00:44:28,124
It's a very strict law, but it passed.
573
00:44:28,541 --> 00:44:30,835
It passed with zero opposing votes.
574
00:44:32,462 --> 00:44:34,089
[Fumino Sugiyama]
If you meet certain conditions,
575
00:44:34,381 --> 00:44:36,257
you can change your gender
in the family register.
576
00:44:36,800 --> 00:44:39,135
First, you have to be over twenty.
577
00:44:39,427 --> 00:44:41,388
And you can't be married.
578
00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:44,015
You can't have a child
under twenty years of age.
579
00:44:44,307 --> 00:44:47,977
Your appearance also has to
match the gender you wish to change to,
580
00:44:48,269 --> 00:44:50,313
and you have to have your
reproductive organs removed.
581
00:44:50,605 --> 00:44:51,856
Those are the five conditions.
582
00:44:52,148 --> 00:44:55,443
The one about removing your
reproductive organs has been noted as
583
00:44:55,735 --> 00:44:58,947
a possible violation of human rights
by people overseas.
584
00:44:59,239 --> 00:45:01,241
I actually think so, too.
585
00:45:01,533 --> 00:45:04,202
Since I haven't had mine removed,
586
00:45:04,494 --> 00:45:06,579
I can't legally change my gender.
587
00:45:07,080 --> 00:45:07,664
So what all of that means is that,
588
00:45:07,956 --> 00:45:09,999
despite my appearance,
I'm still legally a woman.
589
00:45:10,291 --> 00:45:11,418
My passport says female.
590
00:45:12,919 --> 00:45:16,756
It's a huge blow to the right
to gender self-determination.
591
00:45:17,674 --> 00:45:19,259
The reality is, we are where we are
592
00:45:19,676 --> 00:45:24,556
and it's a bit behind the times
compared to the rest of the world.
593
00:45:25,265 --> 00:45:25,890
The problem is,
594
00:45:26,182 --> 00:45:30,437
to get a law passed you need to get the
agreement of more than half the Diet.
595
00:45:33,064 --> 00:45:34,566
So there's no telling how far you will get,
596
00:45:35,692 --> 00:45:37,527
say with the current LDP administration.
597
00:45:41,531 --> 00:45:43,241
Congratulations!
598
00:45:55,211 --> 00:45:58,256
"Who am I?"
599
00:45:58,757 --> 00:46:02,552
is a question everyone asks themselves at some
point.
600
00:46:02,886 --> 00:46:06,598
I searched for a method
to communicate that to people somehow.
601
00:46:06,973 --> 00:46:10,852
I sought it for a long time, and as it happens,
602
00:46:11,519 --> 00:46:17,734
being a drag queen was my first answer.
603
00:46:19,444 --> 00:46:23,364
But my drag style...
604
00:46:23,907 --> 00:46:32,123
I wasn't principally interested
in wearing makeup, or wearing dresses.
605
00:46:35,502 --> 00:46:39,881
Lip-synching was kind of fun,
but I soon got bored with it.
606
00:46:40,173 --> 00:46:44,594
And wearing a wig and constantly
fixing my bangs got to be a little tedious.
607
00:46:44,886 --> 00:46:51,851
Ultimately, my drag look was just like,
underwear, and makeup only on my eyes.
608
00:46:52,143 --> 00:46:56,231
I smeared red makeup with my fingers like this.
609
00:46:59,692 --> 00:47:03,488
Then a friend said that
if my performance resembled anything,
610
00:47:03,780 --> 00:47:07,784
it was actually butoh dance.
611
00:47:09,202 --> 00:47:10,745
And I just thought, "Oh, really?"
612
00:47:11,037 --> 00:47:15,750
I mean, I hadn't seen butoh performed before,
so all I could say was, "Oh really?"
613
00:47:16,042 --> 00:47:23,007
Then, my friend happened to know
a member of the troupe Dairakudakan
614
00:47:23,299 --> 00:47:26,594
and said he'd bring him to my show.
615
00:47:27,136 --> 00:47:29,973
Then he was just like, "Want to try butoh?"
616
00:47:30,807 --> 00:47:32,684
I said yes, and I guess
I just went with the flow.
617
00:47:45,321 --> 00:47:47,407
In my case, once I joined Dairakudan,
618
00:47:47,866 --> 00:47:54,539
I was pulled out from
the teeny tiny box of gay identity.
619
00:47:55,415 --> 00:47:59,460
Then I left Ni-chome,
which is to say I flew out of there.
620
00:48:00,003 --> 00:48:05,758
I rode the Dairakudakan ship and traveled
to other parts of the world, and parts of Japan.
621
00:48:06,050 --> 00:48:10,388
To really deep rural areas
in the mountains, for example.
622
00:48:10,680 --> 00:48:14,225
I met all kinds of people and of course,
623
00:48:14,517 --> 00:48:17,770
each place had interesting people.
624
00:48:18,229 --> 00:48:21,649
And those people have a little bit of hen in them.
625
00:48:38,666 --> 00:48:40,710
My name is Lily.
626
00:48:41,002 --> 00:48:45,590
I work part-time at a gay community center.
627
00:48:45,882 --> 00:48:47,675
And I also do sex work.
628
00:48:48,217 --> 00:48:51,721
I'm a graduate student.
But I can't say there that I do sex work.
629
00:48:52,013 --> 00:48:55,516
So it's not really something I talk about.
630
00:48:59,312 --> 00:49:02,565
I think there's a lot of stigma attached to it.
631
00:49:02,857 --> 00:49:08,696
But the reality is,
it's a job where you offer sexual services.
632
00:49:08,988 --> 00:49:10,698
That's the reality of this job.
633
00:49:10,990 --> 00:49:17,747
But you know, people in the wider world,
they don't know about that.
634
00:49:18,039 --> 00:49:20,416
They just have this
terrible mental picture,
635
00:49:20,708 --> 00:49:22,919
like we're simply people who
have been put in bad situations.
636
00:49:23,211 --> 00:49:26,297
That's the only picture that's really talked about.
637
00:49:26,589 --> 00:49:28,466
It's like that for women,
638
00:49:28,758 --> 00:49:30,176
and it's like that for transgender people.
639
00:49:30,468 --> 00:49:33,096
Sex work isn't seen as a job.
640
00:49:34,263 --> 00:49:37,850
I think that's basically the situation.
641
00:49:39,394 --> 00:49:44,524
As long as we refuse to recognize
that sex work is work,
642
00:49:44,983 --> 00:49:48,903
then sex workers can't get
basic workers' rights--
643
00:49:49,195 --> 00:49:50,822
assurance of salary,
644
00:49:51,114 --> 00:49:52,782
reasonable hours,
645
00:49:53,074 --> 00:49:55,618
protection from violent customers.
646
00:49:55,952 --> 00:50:04,210
And the exploitation
and stigma will just continue.
647
00:50:12,677 --> 00:50:15,138
[Lily Taiga]
I'm in a band called HIV.
648
00:50:15,430 --> 00:50:24,105
Originally, we did events geared towards
young gay men and HIV prevention.
649
00:50:24,397 --> 00:50:28,443
And doing all that, there was this feeling
like there's still no safe space where people
650
00:50:28,735 --> 00:50:34,198
could discuss HIV and
sexually transmitted infections.
651
00:50:34,490 --> 00:50:38,828
So we thought music would be
more casual, more intimate than formal study,
652
00:50:39,120 --> 00:50:44,417
and maybe that could be a way
for people to talk to each other
653
00:50:44,709 --> 00:50:49,964
about the real issue of HIV
and sexually transmitted infections.
654
00:50:54,469 --> 00:51:03,269
As far as I'm aware, we're the only group
in Japan doing songs specifically about STIs.
655
00:51:03,644 --> 00:51:06,898
I feel like there haven't been any others.
656
00:51:08,566 --> 00:51:10,818
Zero discrimination
657
00:51:11,110 --> 00:51:15,948
A rainbow appears in the rainy sky
658
00:51:16,240 --> 00:51:18,868
Zero discrimination
659
00:51:19,160 --> 00:51:23,206
I look up at the sky.
660
00:51:24,457 --> 00:51:28,878
There's absolutely no effort being made
to offer information or do outreach
661
00:51:29,170 --> 00:51:34,008
for the prevention of HIV and other STIs
in the transgender community.
662
00:51:39,138 --> 00:51:41,557
Being able to cut through that
with a microphone, being able to sing,
663
00:51:41,849 --> 00:51:46,813
I think that makes it a little more appealing.
664
00:52:05,498 --> 00:52:07,083
It broke.
665
00:52:07,416 --> 00:52:08,876
This is tiny!
666
00:52:09,418 --> 00:52:10,628
On the head...
667
00:52:17,510 --> 00:52:20,471
He's always putting condoms
on his head at our events.
668
00:52:20,763 --> 00:52:23,474
Please check it out on YouTube.
669
00:52:34,569 --> 00:52:36,404
Doyama is the gay neighborhood.
670
00:52:37,989 --> 00:52:38,698
Let's see, how many places are there?
671
00:52:38,990 --> 00:52:39,699
There's more than a hundred,
672
00:52:39,991 --> 00:52:44,370
110, 120 gay-oriented shops and bars.
673
00:52:44,662 --> 00:52:49,041
So this is a community center
for the people who go to those places.
674
00:52:58,301 --> 00:53:03,097
It's a space owned by an NGO
dedicated to AIDS prevention.
675
00:53:05,057 --> 00:53:10,605
In Osaka, there were
very few people infected at first.
676
00:53:10,897 --> 00:53:15,776
Two or three people
suddenly became 20 in 1997.
677
00:53:16,068 --> 00:53:17,320
Those kinds of numbers.
678
00:53:17,612 --> 00:53:20,072
Bam. It just jumped tenfold.
679
00:53:24,660 --> 00:53:30,082
For me, AIDS has to do
with gay people in Japan.
680
00:53:30,374 --> 00:53:35,087
It was the first issue
we really had to face directly.
681
00:53:36,130 --> 00:53:40,509
Until then, the main thing
was coming out to our parents.
682
00:53:40,801 --> 00:53:45,473
Other than that, there weren't really
many big issues for the gay community.
683
00:53:49,310 --> 00:53:54,065
Our history is completely
different from Christian societies.
684
00:53:54,357 --> 00:53:58,110
During the Edo era in Japan,
sexuality was very open.
685
00:53:58,736 --> 00:53:59,695
It was all anything goes.
686
00:53:59,987 --> 00:54:00,863
Gay, lesbian.
687
00:54:01,155 --> 00:54:02,865
What we call "gay" and "lesbian" these days.
688
00:54:03,157 --> 00:54:04,200
And transgender.
689
00:54:04,492 --> 00:54:05,785
They were a natural presence.
690
00:54:06,077 --> 00:54:10,748
People like this were so normal that,
well, they didn't have a special name.
691
00:54:11,249 --> 00:54:15,836
Then came the Meiji era and Christian values.
692
00:54:16,337 --> 00:54:19,131
After that, sexual minorities became...
693
00:54:19,423 --> 00:54:22,009
well, they were categorized as minorities.
694
00:54:22,927 --> 00:54:28,474
Then they became subjects
for science and medicine.
695
00:54:31,352 --> 00:54:37,149
The HIV virus came along and spread among
gay people all of a sudden.
696
00:54:37,441 --> 00:54:42,989
I think it was the first time
it all boiled down to a single issue.
697
00:55:08,347 --> 00:55:11,017
My name is Fuyumi Yamamoto.
698
00:55:11,309 --> 00:55:13,686
In sign language, it's signed as "cold."
699
00:55:17,565 --> 00:55:20,401
I was originally a lesbian,
700
00:55:20,693 --> 00:55:21,944
ever since I was little.
701
00:55:22,486 --> 00:55:26,282
But well, after wrestling
with a lot of things, I got married.
702
00:55:26,574 --> 00:55:28,409
My spouse is transgender.
703
00:55:29,452 --> 00:55:33,331
But since I'm with him, I'm not a lesbian.
704
00:55:33,998 --> 00:55:34,957
So maybe I'm straight.
705
00:55:36,125 --> 00:55:37,543
Am I a lesbian, am I bi?
706
00:55:37,835 --> 00:55:39,003
I'm trying to figure that out.
707
00:55:39,295 --> 00:55:40,129
I'm working on it.
708
00:55:40,880 --> 00:55:43,174
I'm fine with whatever.
709
00:55:43,924 --> 00:55:47,553
It really doesn't matter. Queer fits.
710
00:55:48,012 --> 00:55:50,014
So now, I say to everyone that I'm queer.
711
00:55:55,353 --> 00:55:59,148
The person I married is Makoto.
712
00:55:59,732 --> 00:56:03,486
Although his friends call him Mame.
713
00:56:04,362 --> 00:56:06,572
We first met 15 years ago.
714
00:56:08,491 --> 00:56:10,076
At that time, he was still presenting as female.
715
00:56:10,659 --> 00:56:15,081
He wanted to live as a man,
but he worried a lot about how to go about it.
716
00:56:15,956 --> 00:56:18,417
You have to go to court to change your gender.
717
00:56:18,709 --> 00:56:20,586
So then, an interpreter
was absolutely essential.
718
00:56:20,878 --> 00:56:21,670
But, even with an interpreter,
719
00:56:21,962 --> 00:56:23,255
they didn't really understand.
720
00:56:24,382 --> 00:56:25,383
At that time,
721
00:56:25,674 --> 00:56:28,302
words like, "lesbian" and "gay",
there was no sign language for them
722
00:56:28,594 --> 00:56:29,637
or sign language expressions.
723
00:56:29,929 --> 00:56:31,389
The jurors and, well, the doctors at the hospital,
724
00:56:31,680 --> 00:56:32,932
they didn't know anything about deafness.
725
00:56:33,224 --> 00:56:34,100
They didn't understand.
726
00:56:35,893 --> 00:56:37,895
Deaf LGBT people do exist.
727
00:56:38,187 --> 00:56:39,814
And they need to be represented in society.
728
00:56:40,106 --> 00:56:41,524
We can't not represent them.
729
00:56:41,816 --> 00:56:44,443
So we established the Center.
730
00:56:47,738 --> 00:56:50,699
When you're hired to interpret
for an LGBT person,
731
00:56:50,991 --> 00:56:53,869
you have to make sure you
can use the correct sign language.
732
00:56:54,203 --> 00:56:57,331
We need more places like this.
733
00:57:06,966 --> 00:57:12,930
[Atsushi Matsuda]
Kyoto, to me, is a real hentai community.
734
00:57:14,515 --> 00:57:16,142
It was really queer.
735
00:57:17,685 --> 00:57:21,272
We only had one club to go to, Metro.
736
00:57:21,564 --> 00:57:26,402
Every month, there was a club night
we'd go to, "Diamonds are Forever,"
737
00:57:27,528 --> 00:57:35,077
where Kansai's drag queens like
Simone Fukayuki would gather.
738
00:57:52,678 --> 00:58:00,978
Cherry Vanilla appeared
at my party several times.
739
00:58:01,270 --> 00:58:03,147
Then she went to Tokyo
740
00:58:04,148 --> 00:58:11,113
and I heard she had unexpectedly joined
Dairakudakan, doing dark butoh.
741
00:58:11,489 --> 00:58:14,158
But even now, we run into each other sometimes
742
00:58:14,450 --> 00:58:16,494
and we exchange New Year's cards.
743
00:58:19,371 --> 00:58:21,790
My party is called "Diamonds are Forever."
744
00:58:23,876 --> 00:58:28,631
The first ever "Diamonds are Forever"
was held near here in Doyama, though.
745
00:58:29,215 --> 00:58:33,761
At that time, a lot of gay people
were coming, of course.
746
00:58:34,053 --> 00:58:35,513
But since it was a mixed party,
747
00:58:36,764 --> 00:58:40,100
so many eccentric men and women came.
748
00:58:40,392 --> 00:58:47,858
So-called gay, men's only parties
have been around since the mid-'90s,
749
00:58:48,275 --> 00:58:55,199
But I was always a bit removed
from men's only parties.
750
00:58:55,783 --> 00:59:05,782
I think of myself as
a hindrance to men's only parties.
751
00:59:13,676 --> 00:59:16,845
[Atsushi]
There were heteros, gays and lesbians.
752
00:59:17,721 --> 00:59:22,851
I came up in that world,
so when I went to Tokyo,
753
00:59:23,227 --> 00:59:27,398
everyone's first question was,
"What are you?
754
00:59:28,023 --> 00:59:32,152
What group? What scene?"
755
00:59:32,444 --> 00:59:40,452
I was really bewildered
when people asked me things like this.
756
00:59:40,744 --> 00:59:46,417
In the past, it was "queer"
or "gay" and that meant everybody,
757
00:59:46,750 --> 00:59:52,673
but today there's LGBTQA...P?
758
00:59:53,215 --> 00:59:55,301
There are so many
and I wonder how far it will go.
759
00:59:57,595 --> 01:00:00,764
Can't we just be okay with "hentai"?
760
01:00:09,815 --> 01:00:12,443
[Gengoroh Tagame]
Hasegawa, he is an influential person.
761
01:00:15,613 --> 01:00:17,740
We've gone through such a lot together.
762
01:00:18,032 --> 01:00:21,285
I think of us as kind of like war buddies.
763
01:00:25,998 --> 01:00:30,210
It was so hard when we were making
G-men magazine but wasn't it so fun, too?
764
01:00:30,502 --> 01:00:31,211
It really was fun.
765
01:00:31,503 --> 01:00:34,131
We used to be the last ones in the office.
766
01:00:34,423 --> 01:00:36,675
You'd stay until midnight
and take the last train home.
767
01:00:36,967 --> 01:00:41,055
I had to work all night until next morning!
768
01:00:41,347 --> 01:00:45,601
But we shared a taxi home a lot!
769
01:00:47,019 --> 01:00:50,022
[Gengoroh Tagame]
When I started G-men with Hasegawa,
770
01:00:50,356 --> 01:00:53,651
along with one other person-
we called him "Bearded Daddy,"
771
01:00:53,942 --> 01:00:58,530
Badi already existed at the time. But Badi,
772
01:00:58,822 --> 01:01:03,452
it featured smooth, young, handsome guys,
773
01:01:03,744 --> 01:01:07,873
while with G-men, we were
trying to do the exact opposite.
774
01:01:08,165 --> 01:01:12,836
Manly, a hard world.
775
01:01:14,630 --> 01:01:17,633
Actually, Hasegawa, you are the first openly
776
01:01:17,925 --> 01:01:21,470
HIV-positive person
that I encountered personally.
777
01:01:21,762 --> 01:01:22,680
Oh, really?
778
01:01:22,971 --> 01:01:28,394
I was actually around the 100th
or 150th person diagnosed in Japan.
779
01:01:29,269 --> 01:01:33,607
So I was honestly reassured
at the fact that someone like him existed
780
01:01:33,899 --> 01:01:37,569
and that people were
making magazines with him,
781
01:01:37,861 --> 01:01:40,406
discussing and casting light on the HIV situation.
782
01:01:40,698 --> 01:01:43,158
It was something that
783
01:01:43,450 --> 01:01:45,452
gave me a strong sense of relief.
784
01:01:48,580 --> 01:01:52,167
[Hiroshi Hasegawa]
My own gay life probably started
785
01:01:52,960 --> 01:01:55,921
after I learned I was HIV-positive.
786
01:01:56,380 --> 01:02:03,679
And well, of course, I had been going to
Shinjuku Ni-chome from the time I was 18 or 19.
787
01:02:04,138 --> 01:02:06,432
But that was just playing around.
788
01:02:06,765 --> 01:02:10,102
I had no sense of what kind of position I was in,
what kind of person I was.
789
01:02:10,394 --> 01:02:12,604
I had absolutely no sense of a gay identity.
790
01:02:24,867 --> 01:02:28,162
Finding out that I was HIV-positive
791
01:02:28,454 --> 01:02:31,290
was largely connected with
two major jobs for me.
792
01:02:32,124 --> 01:02:36,795
One of these was creating
the gay magazines Badi and G-men,
793
01:02:37,087 --> 01:02:42,843
and I tried to make sure that
we put HIV issues into those.
794
01:02:43,635 --> 01:02:46,764
In the world of gay magazines,
in Japan up to that point,
795
01:02:47,055 --> 01:02:49,516
AIDS was something you
absolutely could not bring up.
796
01:02:51,351 --> 01:02:53,437
2002, wasn't it.
797
01:02:53,729 --> 01:02:55,814
That was when we created JaNP+.
798
01:02:56,106 --> 01:03:02,446
There weren't any advocacy groups
for HIV-positive people.
799
01:03:03,238 --> 01:03:05,824
Perhaps you don't know it yet,
800
01:03:06,366 --> 01:03:09,953
but there flows in my veins the blood of a faggot.
801
01:03:12,539 --> 01:03:17,085
Cross Border Café is a
fundraising event for JaNP+.
802
01:03:17,503 --> 01:03:22,257
Because JaNP+ is a network
for people who are HIV-positive,
803
01:03:22,633 --> 01:03:27,221
we didn't want to limit it
to only those with a gay sexuality.
804
01:03:36,980 --> 01:03:42,110
So what I wanted was for JaNP+
to create the possibility
805
01:03:42,653 --> 01:03:47,366
for HIV-positive people to come out
as such in a wide range of situations.
806
01:03:47,950 --> 01:03:52,287
In Japan, discrimination isn't direct.
807
01:03:52,579 --> 01:03:59,002
In a certain sense, I think that oppression,
that pressure comes directly at you in America.
808
01:03:59,503 --> 01:04:04,591
I often say that the pressure
in America is a hard shell, you know?
809
01:04:05,634 --> 01:04:07,344
In Japan, it's a soft shell.
810
01:04:07,636 --> 01:04:08,929
The way oppression exists.
811
01:04:20,649 --> 01:04:22,734
I'm Madame Bonjour JohnJ.
812
01:04:23,110 --> 01:04:25,237
I'm an artist,
813
01:04:25,529 --> 01:04:29,032
and the director of Community Center akta.
814
01:04:29,533 --> 01:04:32,536
I have female genitalia, so I'm female.
815
01:04:32,828 --> 01:04:34,246
My sexuality is...
816
01:04:34,872 --> 01:04:38,208
Part of it is that I'm transgender.
817
01:04:40,127 --> 01:04:42,337
But it's more like I don't really know anymore.
818
01:04:42,629 --> 01:04:46,091
My gender and sexuality are "JohnJ".
819
01:04:46,592 --> 01:04:48,051
I'm a living creature.
820
01:04:49,136 --> 01:04:55,183
Having a center like this in the neighborhood
makes the AIDS issue more visible.
821
01:04:55,475 --> 01:05:00,355
The Delivery Boys head out into
the neighborhood every week.
822
01:05:01,231 --> 01:05:03,442
Okay, let's get started.
823
01:05:03,942 --> 01:05:04,902
Good morning.
824
01:05:07,654 --> 01:05:08,906
So before I hand out the sheets,
825
01:05:09,197 --> 01:05:11,658
we have someone here for the first time today.
826
01:05:18,540 --> 01:05:19,666
Sorry to bother you.
827
01:05:20,459 --> 01:05:24,671
Of course, many of them
are working to change something,
828
01:05:25,297 --> 01:05:27,633
to raise awareness.
829
01:05:27,925 --> 01:05:30,719
They have an understanding of the issue.
830
01:05:31,595 --> 01:05:35,098
But many of them sign up initially
because they want to have fun, want friends,
831
01:05:35,390 --> 01:05:38,060
they're interested in Ni-chome.
832
01:05:38,352 --> 01:05:44,107
So it's almost like a club, we have fun.
833
01:05:45,859 --> 01:05:52,532
And that energy spreads to the shop owners
and other people in the neighborhood.
834
01:05:54,117 --> 01:05:55,535
So what we're handing out today.
835
01:05:55,827 --> 01:05:58,747
The July issue of the akta monthly paper's here,
836
01:05:59,039 --> 01:06:00,540
so that's what we'll be delivering.
837
01:06:02,292 --> 01:06:03,877
My name is Hiroyuki Takenouchi.
838
01:06:04,169 --> 01:06:05,337
I'm a photographer.
839
01:06:06,004 --> 01:06:07,714
My sexual orientation is gay.
840
01:06:09,257 --> 01:06:12,010
Akta does HIV awareness work,
841
01:06:12,803 --> 01:06:17,349
so they offer safe sex education
842
01:06:17,933 --> 01:06:21,770
in these free pamphlets they distribute.
843
01:06:23,647 --> 01:06:28,735
I've been shooting for them
for the last two years or so.
844
01:06:31,571 --> 01:06:36,201
I think I've been turning the spotlight on
845
01:06:36,493 --> 01:06:42,582
people who wouldn't normally
grace the cover of Badi.
846
01:06:43,792 --> 01:06:46,336
My photography focuses on shining
a spotlight on people battling societal norms.
847
01:06:47,129 --> 01:06:51,550
People who are out there trying.
848
01:06:55,262 --> 01:06:56,596
Thank you very much.
849
01:06:56,888 --> 01:06:59,808
Good luck out there today.
850
01:07:00,100 --> 01:07:03,478
So we have two things to deliver today.
And the condoms.
851
01:07:03,770 --> 01:07:08,108
Last week-ish, I started talking
with bar owners about taking more.
852
01:07:08,942 --> 01:07:13,405
We had to start educating people on why
two men would even need to use a condom.
853
01:07:16,575 --> 01:07:20,662
So there weren't too many-- It was this
atmosphere like the bars couldn't work with us.
854
01:07:20,954 --> 01:07:22,247
But they kept doing it,
855
01:07:22,789 --> 01:07:26,543
and then customers started to ask
why there weren't any [condoms] in the bar.
856
01:07:27,044 --> 01:07:30,255
The bar owners would see them
and ask to have them in their own place.
857
01:07:31,298 --> 01:07:32,799
That's how it spread.
858
01:07:33,592 --> 01:07:37,095
"With a smile, let's deliver,"
is what we say before we head out.
859
01:07:37,429 --> 01:07:40,932
So please, Tomoyuki,
I'd ask you to really give it your all.
860
01:07:41,224 --> 01:07:42,100
Seriously?
861
01:07:43,060 --> 01:07:47,397
If you really shout it, everyone else will shout
back, "Let's deliver" before we all head out.
862
01:07:47,981 --> 01:07:48,899
With a smile...
863
01:07:49,191 --> 01:07:51,026
Let's deliver!
864
01:07:51,318 --> 01:07:53,737
Okay, let's do this!
865
01:08:11,463 --> 01:08:17,761
There is a racism problem in Japan,
so we need to fix it in Japan.
866
01:08:18,470 --> 01:08:21,807
It's a Japanese disease, we need to cure it.
867
01:08:25,977 --> 01:08:30,065
My name is Akira the Hustler,
868
01:08:31,108 --> 01:08:36,863
and I am a contemporary fine artist.
869
01:08:38,198 --> 01:08:39,241
I'm a gay man.
870
01:08:46,540 --> 01:08:52,212
In Tokyo, the station after Shinjuku is Shin-Okubo.
871
01:08:52,671 --> 01:08:56,466
For a long time now,
this is where Korean immigrants,
872
01:08:56,758 --> 01:09:00,679
Zainichi [ethnically Korean
Japanese citizens] and North Koreans
873
01:09:00,971 --> 01:09:04,391
have made their homes, opened up their shops,
874
01:09:04,683 --> 01:09:06,226
started yakiniku joints.
875
01:09:06,518 --> 01:09:09,980
The newcomers, the more
recent immigrants from Korea,
876
01:09:11,231 --> 01:09:14,651
open shops specializing in Korean idols.
877
01:09:15,026 --> 01:09:18,864
The cultures are all mixed together.
878
01:09:19,156 --> 01:09:27,455
But there's this anti-Zainichi
extremist group, the Zaitokukai,
879
01:09:28,582 --> 01:09:35,005
who spew hate speech at demonstrations.
880
01:09:35,630 --> 01:09:39,342
It was around January of 2013
881
01:09:39,634 --> 01:09:43,722
when someone suggested we do something.
882
01:09:46,349 --> 01:09:50,437
As a general rule,
the police can't stop hate speech.
883
01:09:53,523 --> 01:10:00,071
So we thought, why not create a situation
where the police would have to intervene
884
01:10:00,530 --> 01:10:07,204
So we could at least
put a stop to the racist protests.
885
01:10:08,288 --> 01:10:11,208
And eventually we had more and more people,
886
01:10:11,499 --> 01:10:13,919
and we couldn't directly intervene,
887
01:10:14,211 --> 01:10:18,381
but we'd march with "No Hate" placards.
888
01:10:18,965 --> 01:10:21,092
We don't need discrimination!
889
01:10:23,011 --> 01:10:24,846
Let's live together!
890
01:10:33,521 --> 01:10:36,358
I made this piece during that time, so it's...
891
01:10:37,025 --> 01:10:40,528
It's really personal for me.
892
01:10:42,197 --> 01:10:44,115
I believe these are all people who participated
893
01:10:44,407 --> 01:10:47,619
in the counter-demonstration
against those racist protests.
894
01:10:48,203 --> 01:10:50,956
When you combat so much hate speech,
895
01:10:51,248 --> 01:10:55,210
and fight back against the abuse you take,
896
01:10:55,502 --> 01:10:58,380
you're just mentally exhausted
by the time you get home.
897
01:10:59,172 --> 01:11:02,509
I was perhaps simply starving
for human friendship and kindness.
898
01:11:02,801 --> 01:11:04,886
And that's when I found how nurturing it was
899
01:11:05,178 --> 01:11:09,266
to experience human friendship
and positive feelings.
900
01:11:11,142 --> 01:11:12,978
I think Japanese society needs
901
01:11:13,270 --> 01:11:16,481
more people who seem a little bit obnoxious.
902
01:11:16,898 --> 01:11:18,608
A little loud.
903
01:11:19,025 --> 01:11:23,822
People who are willing to stand up
and say that something's not right,
904
01:11:24,406 --> 01:11:27,075
that we should do something.
905
01:11:28,743 --> 01:11:37,961
There are plenty of straight people who have
seen the LGBT community fighting racism
906
01:11:38,253 --> 01:11:44,092
and want to come support
the gay pride parade.
907
01:11:44,384 --> 01:11:50,056
I see that and I'm so happy.
908
01:12:16,207 --> 01:12:16,958
This!
909
01:12:17,250 --> 01:12:18,543
This makes a funny picture.
910
01:12:19,586 --> 01:12:21,338
If you look at it from my side, it's funny.
911
01:12:26,509 --> 01:12:31,389
I keep thinking that I want to hurry up and
get started on making something new already,
912
01:12:31,681 --> 01:12:36,895
but well, as you saw them back there,
my house is full of boxes.
913
01:12:37,645 --> 01:12:40,065
I wonder where the Sheep is...
914
01:12:45,111 --> 01:12:49,991
Right now, I'm thinking of making something
related to the idea of family.
915
01:12:51,159 --> 01:12:55,538
There's an infinite number of ways
of being a family, you know?
916
01:12:55,830 --> 01:12:58,666
And it's strange to me,
917
01:12:59,250 --> 01:13:02,087
the idea a family has to have children.
918
01:13:03,296 --> 01:13:07,133
It's like, everyone has their own ideas,
919
01:13:07,884 --> 01:13:10,261
and I think we should respect that,
920
01:13:10,553 --> 01:13:12,097
the way other people think
921
01:13:12,389 --> 01:13:14,849
while also accepting that
there may be unorthodox forms.
922
01:13:19,854 --> 01:13:23,483
If we all behave alike and everyone is "good,"
923
01:13:25,068 --> 01:13:30,365
with everyone facing the same direction,
it is considered good.
924
01:13:30,657 --> 01:13:36,955
But in reality, we function
when we each have individual meaning.
925
01:13:37,622 --> 01:13:42,794
I was interested in these things
and this is how it came out.
926
01:13:43,086 --> 01:13:50,093
It travels and doesn't flock.
Although sheep are said to flock.
927
01:13:50,385 --> 01:13:53,513
When I perform as the Sheep,
928
01:13:53,805 --> 01:14:00,770
I walk alone and never seek to flatter,
but behave a little badly.
929
01:14:03,481 --> 01:14:04,941
I think there's meaning in going astray.
930
01:14:05,233 --> 01:14:10,780
I mean, I've been doing things
and then fleeing the scene forever
931
01:14:11,072 --> 01:14:12,449
for thirteen years or so now.
932
01:14:13,366 --> 01:14:18,246
I was discriminated against in my own house.
933
01:14:18,538 --> 01:14:20,832
My parents didn't really love me that much.
934
01:14:21,124 --> 01:14:24,127
So sure, my parents were around,
935
01:14:24,752 --> 01:14:27,297
but the way things were in my house,
I really hated them.
936
01:14:28,214 --> 01:14:29,549
I resented them.
937
01:14:29,966 --> 01:14:31,968
And then, how do I put this?
938
01:14:32,260 --> 01:14:35,889
I mean I'm glad I never went
so far as to kill them,
939
01:14:36,431 --> 01:14:39,642
but I hated them enough to want to kill them,
when I was younger.
940
01:14:40,810 --> 01:14:45,815
When I started creating art,
I finally felt like I was alive.
941
01:14:46,107 --> 01:14:49,068
So rather than attacking something,
942
01:14:49,611 --> 01:14:52,697
the fact that I was able to shift
that emotion onto something else
943
01:14:52,989 --> 01:14:57,076
was the biggest change for me, I think.
944
01:14:59,162 --> 01:15:01,414
Up to that point, I-- Well,
945
01:15:01,873 --> 01:15:04,250
I didn't really care if or when I died.
946
01:15:04,626 --> 01:15:07,212
I was just incredibly irresponsible.
947
01:15:07,504 --> 01:15:09,756
Really I was a terrible person.
948
01:15:15,386 --> 01:15:19,349
But then, see, the work
would act as a purifier for me.
949
01:15:19,641 --> 01:15:22,268
I don't know if that's how it is for other people.
950
01:15:22,602 --> 01:15:27,982
Every time I made something new, it would be
as though I was setting down a heavy burden.
951
01:15:28,483 --> 01:15:30,527
Something I'd been carrying around with me.
952
01:15:31,653 --> 01:15:38,910
So they became a part of the work,
my unhappy memories, things like that.
953
01:15:39,327 --> 01:15:44,749
Or, like, my awkward emotions,
954
01:15:45,041 --> 01:15:50,421
they'd all get bundled up into the work and
become a proper thing of the past, in a way.
955
01:15:50,964 --> 01:15:53,258
It's like that for me.
956
01:15:53,550 --> 01:15:54,926
That's how I feel.
957
01:16:35,967 --> 01:16:41,097
We're on the second floor of Colorful Station
in Jingumae, Shibuya.
958
01:16:41,431 --> 01:16:42,932
The first floor is the restaurant Irodiri
959
01:16:43,224 --> 01:16:47,061
and we run the second floor
as a kind of gallery space.
960
01:16:47,395 --> 01:16:50,523
We call the building itself Colorful Station.
961
01:16:50,815 --> 01:16:53,526
We started this because we wanted
to create a kind of LGBT center.
962
01:16:57,655 --> 01:16:59,741
I'm Fumino Sugiyama, I'm 34 years old.
963
01:17:02,785 --> 01:17:06,623
I think of myself as transgender,
as a trans man.
964
01:17:06,914 --> 01:17:09,876
And—as for my job title,
it's a bit difficult.
965
01:17:10,168 --> 01:17:15,548
Basically, I operate a restaurant
966
01:17:16,007 --> 01:17:20,511
and work to increase
LGBT awareness at the same time.
967
01:17:23,848 --> 01:17:26,851
That's me in the white,
the second daughter of the Sugiyama family.
968
01:17:27,143 --> 01:17:28,853
Aren't I cute?
969
01:17:29,145 --> 01:17:31,147
But this is me with a baseball glove,
970
01:17:32,440 --> 01:17:33,608
me in traditional men's clothes,
971
01:17:34,275 --> 01:17:35,360
me with a model gun.
972
01:17:35,860 --> 01:17:38,029
As you can see,
I've never been a girl in my life.
973
01:17:38,529 --> 01:17:40,740
So as soon as I was dressed in a skirt,
974
01:17:41,407 --> 01:17:42,992
I looked like this.
975
01:17:43,326 --> 01:17:44,911
Obviously I am dejected.
976
01:17:45,745 --> 01:17:47,330
I look like the world is ending.
977
01:17:47,664 --> 01:17:50,667
My parents forced me to wear skirts
at my kindergarten's entrance
978
01:17:50,958 --> 01:17:52,710
and I cried and tried to run away.
979
01:17:53,419 --> 01:17:55,463
So if you asked how long I've felt this way,
980
01:17:55,755 --> 01:17:58,132
I would have to say, "Since I was born."
981
01:17:59,175 --> 01:18:02,011
There are so many things
we're doing these days,
982
01:18:02,637 --> 01:18:06,933
and I think acting with the goal of
changing the law is also really important, but...
983
01:18:07,225 --> 01:18:11,187
I think if we all do the things
right there in front of us,
984
01:18:11,479 --> 01:18:14,440
one little thing at a time,
the world will change as a result.
985
01:18:14,732 --> 01:18:17,068
So rather than forcing ourselves
to fight for something,
986
01:18:17,360 --> 01:18:19,112
maybe we could look around at the
people in trouble in our everyday lives,
987
01:18:19,404 --> 01:18:21,739
maybe the LGBT people,
but not just that focusing on sexuality
988
01:18:22,031 --> 01:18:24,909
but all kinds of people near us having trouble
and do what we can do for them.
989
01:18:25,201 --> 01:18:29,247
These kind of small actions,
they build up and change the world around us.
990
01:18:29,664 --> 01:18:35,378
As a trans person, I've been able to
see that firsthand and up close,
991
01:18:35,670 --> 01:18:39,674
which has allowed me to have
some amazing experiences.
992
01:18:43,052 --> 01:18:46,097
Right now, the exhibit is
the Out in Japan project.
993
01:18:46,472 --> 01:18:50,727
The project is trying to increase
the visibility of LGBT people.
994
01:18:51,018 --> 01:18:53,479
Everyone photographed
is a sexual minority, they're all LGBT.
995
01:18:54,480 --> 01:18:57,233
The photographer Leslie Kee takes the photos,
996
01:18:57,900 --> 01:19:00,027
and people apply from all over the country,
997
01:19:00,319 --> 01:19:02,864
they put their names and faces
out there like this.
998
01:19:05,450 --> 01:19:07,744
The fact is that LGBTQ people
exist in the world
999
01:19:08,035 --> 01:19:09,245
and they're a little
disconnected right now.
1000
01:19:09,537 --> 01:19:11,873
So we're creating these places
where they can be connected.
1001
01:19:12,582 --> 01:19:16,127
As one part of that, we came up
with the "Out in Japan" project.
1002
01:19:16,961 --> 01:19:19,797
The dream is to complete
1,000 people in one year.
1003
01:19:23,801 --> 01:19:25,094
Hello, my name is Leslie Kee.
1004
01:19:25,386 --> 01:19:26,888
I'm a photographer based in Tokyo.
1005
01:19:27,263 --> 01:19:30,600
I'm basically from Singapore.
I've been living here almost 23 years.
1006
01:19:31,225 --> 01:19:32,977
I would say that I used to be straight,
1007
01:19:33,519 --> 01:19:36,397
and that now I'm more into gay...
1008
01:19:36,814 --> 01:19:39,108
But I think I'm open for both men and women.
1009
01:19:39,400 --> 01:19:40,276
How do I say that?
1010
01:19:40,568 --> 01:19:42,987
Do you call yourself bisexual or free gender?
1011
01:19:43,279 --> 01:19:44,447
So I think I'm more like...
1012
01:19:44,947 --> 01:19:46,532
open to different kinds of people.
1013
01:19:47,533 --> 01:19:49,952
I'm into the entire LGBT!
1014
01:20:01,547 --> 01:20:05,718
For me, it's very rewarding to have 1,000
people who believe in this project together because
1015
01:20:06,177 --> 01:20:07,678
you have to understand that in Japan,
1016
01:20:08,179 --> 01:20:12,517
to do come out as LGBT is a very big taboo.
1017
01:20:13,392 --> 01:20:15,561
Well, there are all kinds of problems,
1018
01:20:16,938 --> 01:20:20,608
but if I were to say the biggest problem,
it would be the employment issue.
1019
01:20:20,900 --> 01:20:23,528
If you can't find a job, then you really can't live.
1020
01:20:24,987 --> 01:20:26,989
My name is Junko Mitsuhashi.
1021
01:20:29,992 --> 01:20:31,327
I'm a university instructor.
1022
01:20:31,619 --> 01:20:34,372
My specialty is the history
of gender and sexuality.
1023
01:20:35,039 --> 01:20:39,877
The Japanese transgender
people who came before me
1024
01:20:41,254 --> 01:20:44,131
always used kimono to express their gender,
1025
01:20:44,924 --> 01:20:48,636
the gender they wanted to be.
1026
01:20:49,095 --> 01:20:53,266
So I'm aware of that need to
not let that fire die out, so to speak.
1027
01:21:04,443 --> 01:21:05,987
Out in Japan!
1028
01:21:07,446 --> 01:21:12,201
And with an older MTF handing the bouquet
to a younger MTF, so to speak,
1029
01:21:12,493 --> 01:21:16,664
it's kind of like that younger generation
is picking up the torch.
1030
01:21:23,963 --> 01:21:25,882
Out in Japan!
1031
01:22:01,000 --> 01:22:02,084
My name is Tenma.
1032
01:22:03,502 --> 01:22:05,338
I run a gay bar.
1033
01:22:06,839 --> 01:22:08,424
The bar is called CBR.
1034
01:22:09,550 --> 01:22:11,844
I try to make it a relaxing space.
1035
01:22:14,347 --> 01:22:18,684
This place is called Sakurazaka:
Cherry Blossom Hill.
1036
01:22:19,977 --> 01:22:22,521
So the "CB" is for "Cherry Blossom,"
1037
01:22:23,898 --> 01:22:27,443
and the "R" is for "relax."
1038
01:22:31,572 --> 01:22:33,240
My name is Nao Shika.
1039
01:22:34,033 --> 01:22:35,952
I work as a dentist.
1040
01:22:36,744 --> 01:22:38,996
Dancing is my hobby.
1041
01:22:39,288 --> 01:22:40,498
I'm a dancer.
1042
01:22:41,916 --> 01:22:46,796
I started dancing when
I was thirty-three years old.
1043
01:22:47,380 --> 01:22:49,674
I hadn't had the chance before that.
1044
01:22:51,008 --> 01:22:55,471
Coming out is extremely difficult in Okinawa.
1045
01:22:55,763 --> 01:22:58,140
Relationships are very close-knit.
1046
01:22:59,934 --> 01:23:02,728
When I came out in my school days,
1047
01:23:03,396 --> 01:23:04,897
I definitely was discriminated against.
1048
01:23:05,856 --> 01:23:07,316
I was extremely lonely.
1049
01:23:07,858 --> 01:23:11,445
For two years, I didn't speak to anyone.
1050
01:23:12,321 --> 01:23:16,450
But since I've gotten out into the world,
I've met all kinds of people.
1051
01:23:16,993 --> 01:23:20,204
Now I feel I'm okay with how things are.
1052
01:23:20,955 --> 01:23:23,040
I don't really notice any discrimination.
1053
01:23:26,210 --> 01:23:28,254
CB Relax is...
1054
01:23:28,879 --> 01:23:30,256
My best bar.
1055
01:23:32,341 --> 01:23:36,721
Tenma is a friend of mine, a great friend.
1056
01:23:37,513 --> 01:23:41,934
Lots of different people go there, to his bar.
1057
01:23:42,393 --> 01:23:44,311
Big guys, slim guys.
1058
01:23:45,062 --> 01:23:48,315
All kinds of people, and they all become friends.
1059
01:23:48,941 --> 01:23:50,359
That's the best thing about it.
1060
01:23:52,069 --> 01:23:53,612
Fun? Every day is fun.
1061
01:23:55,990 --> 01:23:58,034
Because I'm just hanging out, too.
1062
01:24:00,119 --> 01:24:01,162
Hanging out with the customers.
1063
01:24:26,937 --> 01:24:30,566
Pink Dot Okinawa's not so much a parade.
1064
01:24:30,858 --> 01:24:34,987
We get together in a plaza. It's pretty relaxed.
1065
01:24:35,279 --> 01:24:36,947
I did the parade in Tokyo,
1066
01:24:37,239 --> 01:24:39,617
but in Okinawa, if we had a parade,
1067
01:24:40,242 --> 01:24:43,412
we'd end up split, with some people
taking part in the parade and others not.
1068
01:24:43,704 --> 01:24:48,959
In a plaza, you can take part
and still have some distance.
1069
01:25:03,891 --> 01:25:07,520
From up on the stage, I saw everyone's faces.
1070
01:25:07,812 --> 01:25:10,272
I saw them celebrating us, those crying faces,
and I was incredibly happy.
1071
01:25:10,564 --> 01:25:12,775
I'm so glad we were a part of this.
1072
01:25:17,404 --> 01:25:24,578
No one here even dreamed that same-sex
partnerships might be recognized here.
1073
01:25:24,870 --> 01:25:28,916
Things have really changed a lot
in the past five years.
1074
01:25:29,250 --> 01:25:30,751
It's very moving.
1075
01:25:31,669 --> 01:25:34,672
Junji, my big brother, has his flaws,
1076
01:25:34,964 --> 01:25:36,882
and I'm sure he'll cause you nothing but trouble.
1077
01:25:37,508 --> 01:25:42,805
But thank you so much for finding him...
1078
01:25:43,097 --> 01:25:46,350
and loving him as a partner.
1079
01:25:46,642 --> 01:25:48,477
Thank you so much.
1080
01:25:49,937 --> 01:25:56,235
Right now, same-sex partnerships are
recognized in Naha and several other towns.
1081
01:26:01,991 --> 01:26:05,202
The partnership system now
is without legal power,
1082
01:26:05,536 --> 01:26:11,167
but if it's recognized by
places of business and hospitals,
1083
01:26:11,458 --> 01:26:13,544
that gives it a certain validity
even if there's no legal power to it.
1084
01:26:13,836 --> 01:26:16,463
I hope that we can build that sort of society.
1085
01:26:51,790 --> 01:26:53,042
Happy Pride!
1086
01:26:53,334 --> 01:26:54,793
Every day is "Happy pride!"
1087
01:26:59,840 --> 01:27:02,134
[Chika Toyoda]
They walked over an hour to get here.
1088
01:27:02,426 --> 01:27:05,596
They were just so into it, leaning out,
shouting the whole time.
1089
01:27:06,513 --> 01:27:08,390
Happy Pride!
1090
01:27:10,643 --> 01:27:12,895
It was super fun. People were into it.
1091
01:27:21,987 --> 01:27:25,115
We had 70,000 people
come to the parade this year.
1092
01:27:25,407 --> 01:27:28,452
Rather than the emphasis
on civil rights like there used to be,
1093
01:27:28,744 --> 01:27:31,205
it feels more like
the busy commotion of a festival.
1094
01:27:32,456 --> 01:27:35,251
Really, even now,
we struggle with being a minority,
1095
01:27:35,542 --> 01:27:36,418
we've had hard times.
1096
01:27:36,710 --> 01:27:39,797
It's not as if there's no such thing
as discrimination or prejudice.
1097
01:27:45,678 --> 01:27:49,390
Which is why we have the festival atmosphere
kind of fashionable and happy.
1098
01:27:49,682 --> 01:27:52,184
Of course, some people will say it's not like that.
1099
01:27:52,851 --> 01:27:54,728
Actually, it's like the more
we focus on civil rights,
1100
01:27:55,020 --> 01:27:58,649
the more of a disconnect there is
between LGBT and non-LGBT people.
1101
01:28:02,278 --> 01:28:05,531
[Tomato Hatakeno]
There was police brutality at Stonewall,
1102
01:28:05,823 --> 01:28:08,033
and Pride started in opposition to that.
1103
01:28:08,617 --> 01:28:11,704
Probably, as part of the liberation movement.
1104
01:28:11,996 --> 01:28:15,708
That's the meaning Pride should have,
that original meaning.
1105
01:28:16,083 --> 01:28:21,213
If we lose that, we stop understanding
the meaning of using "pride" itself.
1106
01:28:27,636 --> 01:28:30,347
For HIV, condoms are really important.
1107
01:28:31,390 --> 01:28:35,853
With just 0.03 millimeters, you can
prove your love and prevent disease.
1108
01:28:36,645 --> 01:28:39,606
I want people to see that it's more
than just getting your dick out,
1109
01:28:39,898 --> 01:28:42,818
it's getting your dick out with a condom on.
1110
01:28:43,235 --> 01:28:47,656
Condoms aren't embarrassing,
using them's a good thing.
1111
01:28:47,948 --> 01:28:52,244
People end up getting sick for no reason,
just because they're embarrassed.
1112
01:28:52,536 --> 01:28:54,038
I want to prevent that.
1113
01:28:55,456 --> 01:28:56,790
I'm Don-chan.
1114
01:28:57,374 --> 01:28:58,375
Well, I'm a man.
1115
01:28:58,709 --> 01:29:00,085
I like men.
1116
01:29:02,171 --> 01:29:03,672
I like being hit.
1117
01:29:04,256 --> 01:29:05,883
I like drinking pee.
1118
01:29:08,010 --> 01:29:09,553
I like doing it outside.
1119
01:29:10,304 --> 01:29:11,847
I like being seen by everyone,
1120
01:29:12,765 --> 01:29:16,810
I like drinking cum, rimming.
1121
01:29:17,102 --> 01:29:18,687
And I like people making me do things,
1122
01:29:20,522 --> 01:29:23,984
I like wearing leather, but I liked being naked!
1123
01:29:24,735 --> 01:29:28,030
Hmm, what else?
1124
01:29:28,322 --> 01:29:29,698
Basically, I like everything.
1125
01:29:31,700 --> 01:29:33,952
Everyone's hentai, so everyone's okay.
1126
01:29:35,079 --> 01:29:38,499
You have that one thing you like, you know?
1127
01:29:39,333 --> 01:29:41,418
You can like men, you can like women.
1128
01:29:41,710 --> 01:29:43,670
Whatever you're into it, it's definitely not weird.
1129
01:29:45,297 --> 01:29:48,842
Times change, gender changes,
all kinds of things might happen.
1130
01:29:49,301 --> 01:29:53,639
Sometimes, it's better to hide what you're into.
1131
01:29:53,931 --> 01:29:58,185
But when your partner wants you to,
you have to let them know.
1132
01:29:58,477 --> 01:30:01,688
Being honest about what you want
actually makes you hotter.
1133
01:30:09,655 --> 01:30:14,535
This is my fourth time here
at Tokyo Rainbow Pride.
1134
01:30:15,244 --> 01:30:18,664
I'm proud to be the first
US ambassador to speak here
1135
01:30:18,956 --> 01:30:22,000
and join you in making Golden Week
Rainbow Week.
1136
01:30:24,920 --> 01:30:30,426
It's great to see so many American companies
here with strong support and great booths.
1137
01:30:35,556 --> 01:30:37,975
The whole LGBT activism right now
1138
01:30:38,517 --> 01:30:41,228
is totally about money and love and shit like that.
1139
01:30:41,687 --> 01:30:44,022
I ain't got no time for love.
1140
01:30:44,523 --> 01:30:46,775
Every time I go to the public toilet,
1141
01:30:47,526 --> 01:30:48,986
I get in trouble. I don't feel safe.
1142
01:30:50,154 --> 01:30:53,907
I ain't got no money for
Disney weddings and shit like that.
1143
01:30:54,575 --> 01:30:55,617
Can't afford it.
1144
01:30:56,160 --> 01:30:57,119
I don't give a shit about love.
1145
01:30:57,911 --> 01:30:58,912
Toilet first.
1146
01:30:59,580 --> 01:31:01,623
Some people call the cops.
1147
01:31:02,708 --> 01:31:04,626
I feel like I'm asshole
1148
01:31:05,002 --> 01:31:06,378
invading their toilet.
1149
01:31:07,087 --> 01:31:09,548
I don't feel like I'm a human being.
1150
01:31:10,924 --> 01:31:14,595
It's not about common sense. It's about dignity.
1151
01:31:16,096 --> 01:31:19,766
This is actually my fourth time
being in pride events.
1152
01:31:20,976 --> 01:31:24,354
Five or six years ago in Tokyo,
it was by different organizers.
1153
01:31:24,646 --> 01:31:28,025
It was less commercialized five or six years ago.
1154
01:31:28,317 --> 01:31:32,613
We didn't have the booth
by the Israeli embassy,
1155
01:31:33,071 --> 01:31:35,240
we didn't have Israeli performance,
1156
01:31:35,532 --> 01:31:36,909
we didn't have Google,
1157
01:31:37,201 --> 01:31:40,454
We didn't have Merrill Lynch.
Do they have Merrill Lynch today?
1158
01:31:40,746 --> 01:31:44,708
It takes a lot of money
to hold an event as big as this.
1159
01:31:45,000 --> 01:31:47,836
So I don't say, "No sponsors! No sponsors!"
1160
01:31:48,253 --> 01:31:50,380
But you have to be accountable.
1161
01:31:52,341 --> 01:31:54,968
I'd say I'm genderqueer.
1162
01:31:55,260 --> 01:31:56,512
Gender outlaw.
1163
01:31:57,679 --> 01:32:01,767
I don't know, it's kind of hard to describe.
1164
01:32:02,184 --> 01:32:04,353
Totally I'm a...
1165
01:32:24,581 --> 01:32:30,128
[Hiroshi Hasegawa]
I've been hanging around Shinjuku Ni-chome
1166
01:32:30,462 --> 01:32:36,510
ever since the 1960s or '70s, I guess.
1167
01:32:37,094 --> 01:32:45,143
"Queer" and "queerness" were words people
put to us after the fact.
1168
01:32:45,644 --> 01:32:47,271
So for me personally--
1169
01:32:47,563 --> 01:32:50,649
I mean, even "gay" at the time, unlike today,
1170
01:32:51,775 --> 01:32:55,362
that word had a negative image.
1171
01:32:56,697 --> 01:32:59,491
The word, "homosexual"
was considered more neutral,
1172
01:32:59,783 --> 01:33:05,038
so we all said that
or we shortened it to "homo."
1173
01:33:05,330 --> 01:33:06,540
And now that's discriminatory language.
1174
01:33:06,832 --> 01:33:09,209
Things have come full circle
and now "gay" is the word of choice.
1175
01:33:09,626 --> 01:33:14,131
I guess I'm kind of from
the last "pure homo" generation.
1176
01:33:15,173 --> 01:33:17,259
I'm not a spokesperson for lesbians
1177
01:33:17,551 --> 01:33:19,636
or artists for that matter,
1178
01:33:21,263 --> 01:33:23,557
but I just want to make things easier.
1179
01:33:23,849 --> 01:33:27,436
You have to accept something
to make the world a more pleasant place.
1180
01:33:29,688 --> 01:33:33,567
The question, "Why are you gay" is really rude.
1181
01:33:33,942 --> 01:33:35,110
Everyone knows that.
1182
01:33:35,444 --> 01:33:37,696
Most people, basically. At least gay people do.
1183
01:33:38,155 --> 01:33:41,742
Because there's no, "why," you just are,
1184
01:33:42,117 --> 01:33:44,953
and asking for a reason is inappropriate.
1185
01:33:45,245 --> 01:33:47,831
But those same gay people will ask me
with a completely straight face,
1186
01:33:48,206 --> 01:33:51,418
"Why are you into BDSM?"
1187
01:33:52,753 --> 01:33:53,712
And I mean,
1188
01:33:54,212 --> 01:33:59,301
if you're gay, or into BDSM,
or trans, or lesbian or whatever,
1189
01:33:59,593 --> 01:34:03,180
to ask that question implies,
"Normally people aren't like this, why are you?"
1190
01:34:03,472 --> 01:34:05,807
I'm just so incredibly
uncomfortable with that.
1191
01:34:07,309 --> 01:34:13,023
I felt from a young age that
there was no one else in the world like me.
1192
01:34:13,357 --> 01:34:19,029
When I finally found out that one
given part of me, my sexuality,
1193
01:34:19,571 --> 01:34:24,868
that there might be other
men who liked men in the world,
1194
01:34:25,285 --> 01:34:27,287
at first I was thrilled and joined the group.
1195
01:34:27,913 --> 01:34:32,042
But then I found out, like with what
you said about BDSM a moment ago,
1196
01:34:32,376 --> 01:34:34,127
that it was still divided.
1197
01:34:35,796 --> 01:34:37,506
About the time I was starting sex work,
1198
01:34:37,798 --> 01:34:42,552
Japan was beginning to discover
the diagnosis of "Gender Identity Disorder."
1199
01:34:42,844 --> 01:34:47,516
Suddenly it was,
"These people aren't queer, they're sick."
1200
01:34:47,974 --> 01:34:49,768
In part because of
the information I'm putting out,
1201
01:34:50,060 --> 01:34:52,813
younger people are slowly beginning
to think about it not that way,
1202
01:34:53,146 --> 01:34:58,902
not as an illness
but as a question of human rights.
1203
01:34:59,277 --> 01:35:00,529
We talked about that diagnosis before.
1204
01:35:00,821 --> 01:35:03,156
I don't want to be told I'm sick, you know.
1205
01:35:04,116 --> 01:35:07,953
I'm not sick. I'm just myself.
1206
01:35:09,579 --> 01:35:12,666
Aya Kamikawa really is something, though.
1207
01:35:13,375 --> 01:35:15,335
I'd like to see her in the national government.
1208
01:35:15,669 --> 01:35:20,799
I think Kamikawa could take
a parliament seat, probably.
1209
01:35:21,091 --> 01:35:22,759
The other day, was it?
1210
01:35:23,260 --> 01:35:26,638
I heard the Philippones elected
their first transgender congresswoman.
1211
01:35:30,475 --> 01:35:31,935
There you go. You're next, Tomato.
1212
01:35:32,894 --> 01:35:33,854
You should do it!
1213
01:35:35,147 --> 01:35:37,149
But I don't have—you know...
1214
01:35:38,400 --> 01:35:40,318
None of them do!
1215
01:35:43,780 --> 01:35:46,283
But would you really want to
jump into that viper's nest?
1216
01:35:47,451 --> 01:35:49,286
[Vivienne Sato]
The things you're talking about
are relatively masculine,
1217
01:35:49,578 --> 01:35:52,748
well—I might call them patriarchal.
1218
01:35:53,165 --> 01:35:56,585
Political thought is chief among them.
1219
01:35:56,877 --> 01:36:03,341
Politics is—well, right now, of course,
we've got this representative system.
1220
01:36:03,633 --> 01:36:06,386
And I can't help thinking that system is—
1221
01:36:06,678 --> 01:36:09,139
well, that maybe the time is coming when
it won't be appropriate to the era anymore.
1222
01:36:10,515 --> 01:36:13,810
Things are very ambiguous.
1223
01:36:14,102 --> 01:36:17,898
Femininity recognizes
things aren't nailed down.
1224
01:36:18,231 --> 01:36:19,441
It can accept these kinds of things.
1225
01:36:19,733 --> 01:36:24,112
It doesn't revolve around a single principle
but is many things coexisting.
1226
01:36:24,988 --> 01:36:28,742
We have natural disasters,
we have these unprecedented events.
1227
01:36:29,034 --> 01:36:30,368
Like the world's unpredictable,
1228
01:36:30,660 --> 01:36:32,329
we don't know what's going to happen next.
1229
01:36:32,662 --> 01:36:34,956
We're going to have to transition
to something more flexible,
1230
01:36:35,540 --> 01:36:38,418
more diverse, more ad hoc.
1231
01:36:38,960 --> 01:36:43,006
That sort of flexible way of thinking.
1232
01:36:45,258 --> 01:36:46,092
Our identities—
1233
01:36:46,384 --> 01:36:49,179
I think it's okay to have
many different identities.
1234
01:36:49,596 --> 01:36:52,724
So you don't have to just present one identity
and charge through everything.
1235
01:36:53,225 --> 01:36:56,019
Put another identity out there.
1236
01:36:56,311 --> 01:37:02,818
Or draw out another identity
from a different person you're with.
1237
01:37:04,569 --> 01:37:07,989
Originally, the word "queer"
meant "strange," right?
1238
01:37:08,281 --> 01:37:09,491
Yeah, yeah, right.
1239
01:37:10,033 --> 01:37:12,953
Basically, the people who
thought they were "normal"
1240
01:37:13,245 --> 01:37:15,372
thought these other people were strange,
so they called them "queer".
1241
01:37:16,706 --> 01:37:17,916
But essentially,
1242
01:37:18,208 --> 01:37:20,919
when the people who thought we were strange,
1243
01:37:21,211 --> 01:37:25,924
when they come to use the word "queer"
without the meaning "strange,"
1244
01:37:26,216 --> 01:37:28,093
then queer theory will have done its job.
1245
01:37:29,427 --> 01:37:33,515
So the more we're out there saying,
"What's wrong with being queer?"
1246
01:37:33,807 --> 01:37:36,434
the less leverage the other side is going to have.
1247
01:37:37,769 --> 01:37:39,104
I think the people who attack us
are pretty queer.
1248
01:37:39,396 --> 01:37:40,146
Yeah, yeah.
1249
01:37:41,189 --> 01:37:41,982
From our point of view.
1250
01:37:42,649 --> 01:37:44,067
Plenty queer!
1251
01:37:45,819 --> 01:37:47,070
Yikes!