Genders, Transgenders and Sexualities in Japan Despite over a century of academic research into Japan and its customs, many inaccurate preconceptions about Japanese society remain, particularly regarding Japan’s complex sex and gender system. Genders, Transgenders and Sexualities in Japan is the first collection to take a genuinely comparative look at the changing notions of gender and sexuality in Japan, highlighting the diversity that has long existed among Japanese people. Based on extensive Japanese language materials and fieldwork, the authors examine how various nonconformist individuals have questioned received notions about sex and gender. From young women opposed to marriage, to heterosexual men who wish to be more involved in family life, the essays investigate the variety and complexity of Japanese people’s experiences relating to traditional gender roles. In addition, the personal histories of feminist women, gay men, lesbians and transgender individuals are considered as these groups increasingly work together to challenge what it means to be a responsible citizen of modern Japan. Featuring chapters written by key Japanese and Western scholars, Genders, Transgenders and Sexualities in Japan gives an overview of the important changes taking place in gender and sexuality studies. Including essays on previously overlooked histories, identities and communities, this illuminating collection will be of interest to students and researchers in the fields of Asian studies, anthropology and sexuality and gender studies. Mark McLelland is a research fellow in the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies at the University of Queensland. He is the author of Queer Japan from the Pacific War to the Internet Age and Male Homosexuality in Modern Japan and co-editor of Japanese Cybercultures. Romit Dasgupta lectures in Japanese language, Japanese Studies, and Asian Studies in the School of Social and Cultural Studies at the University of Western Australia. Asia’s Transformations Edited by Mark Selden, Binghamton and Cornell Universities, USA The books in this series explore the political, social, economic and cultural consequences of Asia’s transformations in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The series emphasizes the tumultuous interplay of local, national, regional and global forces as Asia bids to become the hub of the world economy. While focusing on the contemporary, it also looks back to analyse the antecedents of Asia’s contested rise. This series comprises several strands: Asia’s Transformations aims to address the needs of students and teachers, and the titles will be published in hardback and paperback. Titles include: China in War and Revolution, Chinese Society, 2nd edition 1895–1949 Change, conflict and resistance Peter Zarrow Edited by Elizabeth J. Perry and Mark Selden Confronting the Bush Doctrine Critical views from the Asia-Pacific The Resurgence of East Asia Edited by Mel Gurtov and Peter Van Ness 500, 150 and 50 Year Perspectives Edited by Giovanni Arrighi, Japan’s Quiet Transformation Takeshi Hamashita and Social change and civil society in the 21st Mark Selden century Jeff Kingston The Making of Modern Korea Adrian Buzo State and Society in 21st Century China Edited by Peter Hays Gries and Stanley Rosen Korean Society Civil society, democracy and the state The Battle for Asia Edited by Charles K. Armstrong From decolonization to globalization Mark T. Berger Remaking the Chinese State Strategies, society and security Ethnicity in Asia Edited by Chien-min Chao and Edited by Colin Mackerras Bruce J. 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Thematic and comparative volumes address such themes as urbanization, economic and financial linkages, architecture and space, wealth and power, gendered relationships, planning and anarchy, and ethnographies in national and regional perspective. Titles include: Singapore Shanghai Wealth, power and the culture of control Global city Carl A. Trocki Jeff Wasserstrom Representing Calcutta Beijing in the Modern World Modernity, nationalism and the colonial David Strand and Madeline Yue Dong uncanny Swati Chattopadhyay Bangkok Place, practice and representation Hong Kong Marc Askew Global city Stephen Chiu and Tai-Lok Lui Asia.com is a series which focuses on the ways in which new information and commun- ication technologies are influencing politics, society and culture in Asia. Titles include: The Internet in Indonesia’s New Japanese Cybercultures Democracy Edited by Mark McLelland and David T. Hill and Krishna Sen Nanette Gottlieb Asia.com Asia encounters the Internet Edited by K. C. Ho, Randolph Kluver and Kenneth C. C. Yang Literature and Society is a series that seeks to demonstrate the ways in which Asian literature is influenced by the politics, society and culture in which it is produced. Titles include: Chinese Women Writers and the The Body in Postwar Japanese Fiction Feminist Imagination (1905–1945) Edited by Douglas N. Slaymaker Haiping Yan Routledge Studies in Asia’s Transformations is a forum for innovative new research intended for a high-level specialist readership, and the titles will be available in hardback only. Titles include: 1. Genders, Transgenders and 6. Imperialism in South East Asia Sexualities in Japan ‘A fleeting, passing phase’ Edited by Mark McLelland and Romit Nicholas Tarling Dasgupta 7. Internationalizing the Pacific 2. Developmental Dilemmas The United States, Japan and the Land reform and institutional change in Institute of Pacific Relations in war and China peace, 1919–1945 Edited by Peter Ho Tomoko Akami 3. Japanese Industrial Governance 8. Koreans in Japan Protectionism and the licensing state Critical voices from the margin Yul Sohn Edited by Sonia Ryang 4. Remaking Citizenship in Hong Kong 9. The American Occupation of Japan Community, nation and the global city and Okinawa* Edited by Agnes S. Ku and Ngai Pun Literature and memory Michael Molasky 5. Chinese Media, Global Contexts Edited by Chin-Chuan Lee * Now available in paperback Critical Asian Scholarship is a series intended to showcase the most important individual contributions to scholarship in Asian Studies. Each of the volumes presents a leading Asian scholar addressing themes that are central to his or her most significant and lasting contribution to Asian studies. The series is committed to the rich variety of research and writing on Asia, and is not restricted to any particular discipline, theoretical approach or geographical expertise. China’s Past, China’s Future Women and the Family in Chinese Engergy, food, environment History Vaclav Smil Patricia Buckley Ebrey China Unbound Southeast Asia Evolving perspectives on the Chinese past A testament Paul A. Cohen George McT. Kahin Genders, Transgenders and Sexualities in Japan Edited by Mark McLelland and Romit Dasgupta First published 2005 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group © 2005 Editorial matter and selection, Mark McLelland and Romit Dasgupta; Individual chapters, the contributors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Genders, transgenders, and sexualities in Japan / edited by Mark Mclelland and Romit Dasgupta. p. cm. – (Asia’s transformations) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Gender identity–Japan. 2. Homosexuality–Japan. 3. Transsexualism–Japan. I. McLelland, Mark, 1966– II. Dasgupta, Romit. III. Series. HQ1075.5.J3G46 2005 305.3'0952--dc22 2004030609 ISBN 0–415–35370–X Contents List of contributors ix Acknowledgements xiii Note on the text xv 1 Introduction 1 MARK MCLELLAND AND ROMIT DASGUPTA 2 Hegemonic gender in Japanese as a foreign language education: Australian perspectives 15 YURIKO NAGATA AND KRISTEN SULLIVAN 3 The origins of “queer studies” in postwar Japan 33 HITOSHI ISHIDA, MARK MCLELLAND AND TAKANORI MURAKAMI 4 Transgendering sho¯jo sho¯setsu: girls’ inter-text/sex-uality