Emerging Lesbian Voices from Japan

This book is the first academic exploration of contemporary lesbian sexuality in Japan. Despite increasing exposure and academic research being documented around issues dealing with disadvantaged minority groups in Japan, lesbian sexuality has remained largely ignored. Misinformation and erroneous portrayals of lesbians and lesbian sexuality have resulted in self- identified lesbians living overwhelmingly invisible lives.

Sharon Chalmers is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney.

Acknowledgements

vii

A moment in time

1

(17)

Introduction

1

(7)

Inside--outside circles of silence

8

(2)

Living the research

10

(3)

Fragmented selves/fragmented hierarchies

13

(5)

Lesbian in/visibility in Japan: Passing into the present

18

(12)

Male same-sex practices and the introduction of `homosexuality' into Japan

18

(1)

The recognition of female same-sex desire in Japanese society

19

(2)

The Takarazuka Revue

21

(6)

`Tachi' or `Neko': Which one are you?

27

(3)

Identifying the Iesbian in contemporary Japan

30

(19)

Tolerance, containment and the `homosexual' body

30

(2)

Heterosexism, feminism and the emergence of lesbian spaces

32

(4)

Defining terms

36

(3)

Searching for information from the 1960s to the 1990s

39

(4)

Sex as taboo

43

(6)

Negotiating boundaries

49

(14)

Implications for `coming out' in Japan

49

(9)

Illusive bodies

58

(1)

Per-forming family: uchi no kazoku

59

(4)

What's in a family?

63

(15)

The social status of `motherhood' in Japan

63

(2)

Historicising the notion of `Japanese motherhood'

65

(1)

Gender, sexuality and `race' in the Japanese media

66

(7)

Media representations of `the Japanese family'

73

(5)

Consolidating heteronormative practices

78

(14)

Familial notions of the state, femininity and sexuality in Japan

78

(4)

Employment and housing

82

(4)

Divorce and child custody

86

(2)

Subverting invisibility: adoption

88

(4)

Re-creating families

92

(10)

The language of `kazoku' among lesbians

92

(3)

Familying: kazoku yatte-imasu

95

(7)

Female friendships and the nature of reciprocity

102

(20)

In-different friendships

103

(6)

Lesbian friendships

109

(3)

Lesbian mothers

112

(10)

Cultures and communities: the necessity for new possibilities

122

(15)

Embodied spaces or lesbian culture? Both at once!

122

(3)

Lesbian spaces open up

125

(2)

Lesbian weekends

127

(10)

Bodies of knowledge

137

(12)

Lesbian subjectivity in Japanese society: emerging voices

137

(8)

Bodies of knowledge: concluding remarks

145

(4)

Notes

149

(9)

References

158

(21)

Index

179

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Emerging Lesbian Voices from Japan

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials