The Japanese Age of Consent

Meiji Gakuin Course No. 3505
Minority and Marginal
Groups of
Contemporary Japan
Tom Gill
Lecture No. ７
Sexual
minorities
性的マイノリティー
Background
Let’s start by taking a
quick look at Japanese
views on sexuality in
general.
Heterosexual Age of Consent
Country/state
California
South Dakota
Montana
Britain
France
Italy
Korea
Age of consent
18
16
16
16
15
14
13
JAPAN
13
異
性
承
諾
年
齢
Homosexual Age of consent
Country/state
California
Montana
South Dakota
Britain
France
Italy
Korea
Age of consent
18
18
16
16
15
14
13
JAPAN
Not stated
同
性
承
諾
年
齢
As well as being very low…
The Japanese Age of Consent
• Applies only to heterosexual acts.
There is no legal measure either
banning or permitting homosexual
activity at any particular age.
• Applies only to genital intercourse
• Is not clearly stated or well known.
It is indirectly stated
Article 177 of the Penal Code puts
the age of consent for sexual
activity at 13 years, in the sense
that a sexual act by a man with a
woman over 13 is defined as rape if
threats or violence are used,
whereas any sexual act with a
woman under 13 is automatically
defined as rape, with or without
threats/violence.
刑法第百七十七条
（強姦）
暴行（ぼうこう）又は脅迫（きょうは
く）を用いて十三歳以上の女子を姦
淫（かんいん）した者は、強姦（ごう
かん）の罪とし、二年以上の有期懲
役に処する。十三歳未満の女子を
姦淫した者も、同様とする。
Interpreting the low age of consent
1. In a positive light: In Japanese culture
sex is not burdened down with guilt like
it is in the Judeo-Christian tradition.
The low age of consent shows that this
is viewed as a natural human activity,
not subject to moral condemnation.
積極論：
ユダヤ教・キリスト教の伝統と違って、日本の
文化にはセックスを「罪」として見なすことが
あまりなく、「自然な行為」として見なす．．．
Goes back to the Heian Era?
Fans of guilt-free
Japanese
sexuality like to
trace it back to the
Heian Era, and
classics such as
the Tale of Genji
and the Pillow
Book of Sei
Shonagon…
… and shunga
(Edo era erotic
woodcarvings).
Interpreting the low age of consent
2．In a negative light: The idea of
youngsters having natural fun together
ignores the fact that in many (most?)
cases it’s an older man with a young
girl or boy. Power relations are
involved and it may be commercial.
消極論：「子供の自然な遊び」とか「フリー・ラ
ブ」より、年上の男性と年下の女性というケー
スが多いではないか。力関係・金銭関係が大
体絡んでいるのではないか。
… and ignores all the suffering
during the long history of forced
prostitution of women by men and
of children of both sexes by men.
E.g. Chizuko Ueno (Nationalism and
Gender, 2003 Trans Pacific Press);
most other feminist critics.
Child prostitution thrives…
Japan has frequently been criticized
for allowing the abuse of children’s
rights by adults.
Japanese men are often criticized for
taking part in “sex tours” to other
countries, sometimes to engage in
underage sex.
Rorikon ロリコン (Lolita Complex) is
part of the Japanese language today.
Paedophiles
ぺドファイル
… are they a minority that need
protecting?
…. And what about sexually
precocious children?
Most people think tolerance for
minorities shouldn’t extend that far.
May 26, 1999
Law passed in the Japanese Diet:
Law for Punishing Acts Related to
Child Prostitution and Child
Pornography, and for Protecting
Children
Defines “child” as “a person under
the age of 18 years” and
“prostitution” as “paying for sex.”
Minority sexuality
Now let us consider
Japanese attitudes to
homosexuality and related
issues.
Gay marriage 同性結婚
… is a big issue in American
politics. In Japanese politics, it
is not an issue at all. People
find it amusing to think that
people are fighting elections
over something like this. 米国の
政治で大問題、日本で話にならない
Like the abortion issue
中絶の倫理性と同じく．．．
(Similarly Japanese people find it strange
that Americans and others get so
worked up about abortion… the
argument about whether or not
abortion equates to murder, after how
many months a foetus is considered
human, etc. never appears in the
Japanese media… it is a non-issue.)
US: Pro gay-marriage people think it
is only fair that same-sex
partnerships should have the same
legal and social standing as
heterosexual partnerships.
Japan: The very concept of two men
living together as a married couple
seems totally strange… marriage is
about starting a family… how can
you do that without a mother and a
father??
US: Anti gay-marriage people tend to
think that same-sex partnerships
are an abomination, “against
nature.”
Japan: Gay relationships have
nothing to do with marriage, they
are for fun. There is a long history
of it, and most people are not
particularly outraged about it… so
long as it’s kept private.
Both countries have problems
coming to terms with
homosexuality…
… but they’re not the same
problems.
Gay sex = “Asobi” 遊び
Gay sex is viewed by many Japanese
people as something done for fun
(whereas straight sex may on
occasion be done to make babies.)
* Hence the high level of toleration.
* Hence also the lack of interest in
gay rights, including gay marriage.
Talking about homosexuality in
Japanese
男色 Nanshoku
同性愛者 Dosei’aisha
ホモ Homo
げー・レズビアン Gay/Lesbian
クィアー Queer
オカマ（お釜） Okama
オナベ （お鍋） Onabe
男色
Male Colors
Gary Leupp
U California
Press 1996
Gay
shunga
Miyakawa
Choshun
(16821753) The Go
Game
井原西鶴 Ihara Saikaku,1642-1693
井原西鶴
Ihara
Saikaku,16421693, famous
haiku poet and
teller of love
and sex stories
Including many
gay love stories,
typically
between
samurai and
young page
boys.
Was Tokugawa Japan like
ancient Athens?
• No disapproval of male
homosexuality
• But restricted to aristocratic elite
• Mainly older men and beautiful boys,
i.e. unequal relations, patronage
active/passive partner
… but no mention of female
homosexuality
• No Japanese equivalent [as far as I
know] of the poet Sappho and her fellow
women of Lesbos… from which the
word “lesbian” derives.
• ギリシアにはサフォーという有名な女性詩人がいた
。彼女は同性愛者で、女性だけの島、レズボスに住
んでいた。それは「レズビアン」の語源。でも江戸時
代日本にはサフォーにあたる人物は見当たらない。
What about ‘female colors’?
女色 (Joshoku) ＝
Men’s love of women
女性の同性愛の言葉は近代まで、なし。
No word for female homosexuality
in pre-modern Japan
Link these 2 facts?
1. Pre-Meiji Restoration, women were
banned from the stage for 250 years.
Noh and Kabuki were performed
exclusively by men (still are).
明治時代まで、女性は舞台に出るのが250年
間禁止された。能、歌舞伎は男子俳優のみ
に演じられた。
2. The male actors who played female
roles in the Kabuki, called “onnagata”
女形, lit. ‘woman’s form’, were often
male prostitutes, who could be bought
by wealthy male admirers.
歌舞伎の女形は売春することもあり、
裕福なパトロンに買われてしまうこと
ができた。
Feminists see double
standard on
homosexuality as an
aspect of male
repression of women
(e.g. Chizuko Ueno).
上野千鶴子ほか、フェミ
ニストは同性愛の2重基
準を中世日本の男尊女
卑の印として見る
A bad
woman…
市川笑三郎
（Emisaburo
Ichikawa)
… and a
good one.
Tamasaburo
Bando
坂東玉三郎
Clearly, it would be quite
wrong to read the approval
of male homosexuality in
Tokugawa Japan as evidence
of a generally liberal or
radical view of sexuality. It
was largely a privilege of
wealthy men.
Hence the enduring
fascination of
Takarazuka.
Women as men – Takarazuka
In a town near Kobe…
Women take the big roles on
stage… in fact all the roles
Women play
male and
female
roles… often
in romantic
European
fantasies…
Cf Jennifer
Robertson’s
book (1998)
… and the paper
by Karen
Nakamura and
Hisako Matsuo in
Men and
Masculinities in
Contemporary
Japan, ed.
Roberson and
Suzuki (2002) pp.
59-76
Points about Takarazuka
1. Audience is nearly all female.
2. Producers, directors, management are
male.
3. The school has super-strict discipline
and obsession with
hygeine/cleanliness.
4. Drastic contrast between school
regimentation and dazzling
decadence on stage.
More points about Takarazuka
1. Performers not allowed to marry until
they ‘retire’… and are supposed to
remain virgins.
2. Persistent rumors of lesbian
relationships among performers in
tabloid press.
3. Female fans often keep visits to
Takarazuka secret from husbands.
Daichi Mao
真央大地
… before and after.
Fan mail: To Daichi Mao sama
“You were an absolutely new flower.
There has been no other star in
Takarazuka history who has displayed
your gorgeous androgynous
elegance… with your round face, slim
body, and sinuous movements… we
[fans] were swept away into a strange
and fragrant world.
“Without question your charm was
your very womanliness. Not the
posturing come-on of mannish
females, but an affirmation of the
womanliness of female bodies. You
symbolized a new era when females
could begin to love themselves as
themselves.
Why did you become a woman? Just
an ordinary woman!?”
Robertson, 79-81
Cf ‘Bishonen’ in manga
A staple of manga
(Comics) aimed at girls
and young women is
the bishonen 美少年, a
beautiful, effeminate
young man. Like
Takarazuka otokoyaku,
much nicer than a real
man or boy.
Sharon
Kinsella
Adult Manga:
Culture and
Power in
Contemporary
Japanese
Society
1998
Female
prowrestling is
another
form of
sexual
fantasy
theatre…
With various images associated
Professionally run by several rival
organizations
Such as the All Japan Women’s
Pro Wrestling Association
Zen-Nippon Joshi Puroresu
全日本女子プロレス
「全女」 Zenjo
A place
where it’s
OK for
women to
be tough…
Satomura Maiko
(GAEA Japan)
(Can’t quite
explain the
bones…)
A long
history…
something of
the freak show
about it… e.g.
wrestling with
midgets…
The death of Little Frankie…
Little Frankie in his prime…
Bad woman…
‘Dump’ Matsumoto
Butch
Dominatrix
…this is the
video game
version
Good girl
(‘Cutie’ Suzuki)
Cutie
Suzuki
vs.
Dump
Matsumoto
… the audience is mostly
men…
A video to check out
The same British team that made
‘Dream Girls’ (the documentary
about Takarazuka) also made
one about women training to
become pro wrestlers (GAEA
Girls)… it comes across as a
very rough apprenticeship
indeed.
Akihiro Miwa 美輪明宏
Looking
like an
angel in
his
youth…
… and
foxy too.
As he is
today.
Alas! The
ravages
of age…
Osugi and Piko
Camp twin brothers who are on all
the chat shows
Razor Ramon HG (Hard Gay)…
not, in fact, gay
Cf Kenneth Williams, Frankie
Howard…
Boy George, Julian Clary…
… the US
has to
make do
with the
Village
people…
What has it got to
do with real life?
A tolerant society?
• Homosexuality is not illegal in
Japan, and no attempt to ban it has
ever lasted long.
• There have been no big scandals
involving public figures being gay.
• But there is very little public
display of ‘gay pride.’
Why?
• Some say Japan is so tolerant that
there is no NEED to go on the streets
and demonstrate for gay rights.
• Others say that in fact Japan is far
more repressed than other
industrialized societies, so that in fact
gay people feel forced to stay in the
closet…
A number of books try to
grapple with the issue
Pflugfelder
Cartographies
of Desire: MaleMale Sexuality
in Japanese
Discourse,
1600-1950
(U Cal Press,
2000)
Mark
McLelland
(Curzon
Press,
2000)
As with
Leupp’s
historical work,
the emphasis
tends to be on
men rather
than women
Gay activist
Satoru Ito
(left) and his
partner,
Ryuta Yanase
Coming Out
in Japan
(Trans Pacific
Press, 2001)
Satoru Ito, pp. 92-3
“I even had great difficulty having oneoff relationships in the ‘mixed rooms’
of gay rest houses. Things were
looking decidedly black for me. Later
I was hit with blackmail and the
threat of having my sexuality
exposed. With each passing day an
awful sense of despair and
hopelessness grew in me.”
Anglo-style angst?
Ito/Yanase book got mixed reviews in the
gay community. The personal trauma
described, and the confessional style,
seemed ‘un-Japanese’ to some. Others
argued that the book did a good job of
exposing inner conflict overlooked by
many other writers.
Lunsing takes the broader view
Beyond Common Sense: Sexuality
and Gender in Contemporary
Japan
By Wim Lunsing (Kegan Paul
International, 2001)
Beyond Common Sense:
Sexuality and Gender
in Contemporary
Japan
By Wim Lunsing (Kegan
Paul International,
2001)
Full coverage of lesbian
and ‘non-marrying’
women as well as gay
men, transvesites,
transexuals etc.
Wim Lunsing
Wim
Lunsing at
a Meiji
Gakuin
symposium
in 2005
There’s plenty of ‘gay marriage’
… in the sense of gay men
marrying women to conceal
their sexuality and conform to
social expectations of family
life.
Ito and Yanase’s gay dating club,
‘Peer Friends’
http://www.sukotan.com/
Queer
Paradise
by
Noriaki
Fushimi
TLGP 2002 (September 8)
Tokyo Gay
Pride
Parade
It’s a
grand
day
out…
… so long as you stick by the rules.
• Registration
You must register to participate
in the parade. The registration
is between the hours of 10:30 to
13:00 on 8 Sep. Upon
registration, you will receive a
ribbon, which you must wear
during the parade.
Group registration should be carried
out as single representative who
can collect ribbons for the entire
group. However, the maximum
allowed ribbons per representative
are 10. Therefore, if your group has
more than 10 members, 2
representatives must come to
collect the ribbons.
Everyone has to keep in line…
Walk in four lines according to
staff direction (staff can be
identified by their orange tshirts). Stopping along the
route is not allowed.
And look respectable.
The parade route follows public
streets, during daylight hours, so
please observe these guidelines:
• Buttocks and genitals may not be
shown in the parade
• Women may not show their breasts
in the parade
• Performances during the parade
must be approved
Of course there are many
other views of minority
sexuality in Japan…
Sexuality –
a monthly
magazine
that takes
sexual
matters
seriously
Queer Japan,
ed Noriaki
Fushimi, with
a special
issue on the
attractiveness
of ugly
women…
… and then there’s Ken Togo.
KenTogo 東郷 健
70 years old… out and out ‘out’
Ken Togo’s
magazine,
The Gay
…combines sexual politics with
gay erotica
…and Ken
himself
sometimes
serves as a
model
Ken Togo’s
bar in
Shinjuku…
… is a well-known gay meeting spot
And just like
mama-sans at
other bars, he
sometimes
organizes
group holidays
for regular
customers
Ken Togo’s political party:
Zatsuminto
雑民党
The ‘Various People Party’
Zatsuminto’s aim
• … is to unite all sorts of marginalized
groups, especially gay people and
people with disabilities… which often
upsets people in both groups…
• … and to make it easier to talk about
sexuality and disabilities alike by
deliberately smashing taboos
Book based
on Ken’s
column in
The Gay:
「常識を超えて:
オカマの道、７０年」
‘Beyond
Common
Sense：７０ Years
on a Queer
Road’
Always
controversial
… this
headline in
The Gay asks
whether the
word ‘okama’
is
discriminatory
Taboo words used by Zatsuminto
in the battle against political
correctness
•
•
•
•
•
オカマ Okama – ‘Queer’ (lit. ‘pot’)
ツンボ Tsunbo – ‘Deaf’
メクラ （目暗） Mekura – ‘Blind’
ムクチ （無口） Mukuchi – ‘Dumb’
キチガイ （気違い） Kichigai – ‘Mad’
Words that used to be OK…
… but are censored now.
Zatsuminto’s long battle against
NHK censorship… the sad case of
the silent radio broadcast… the
argument that the meaning of
taboo words depends on who the
user is.
Homophobic pop culture?
Two CDs by popular hip-hop band King Giddra
were recalled in 2002 because of lyrics
insulting gays, women and HIV patients.
Sony Music Entertainment stopped selling
the band's single, "Unstoppable" and
"F.F.B." and asked outlets to return any
stocks they have. An apology was posted on
the company's website, saying the company
decided to recall the singles after consulting
with the band's three male members.
No offence!
"It's not like the guys really meant anything bad
by the lyrics, but we decided some of the
lyrics could be upsetting for homosexuals or
HIV patients," the apology reads.
Gay rights and HIV activists told the company
the song "Drive By" on "Unstoppable"
contained lyrics hinting that it was
permissible to kill homosexuals. Lyrics from
"F.F.B.," meanwhile, were supposed to be
insulting to women and HIV patients.
(Both records are easily
available today… you can order
them at Amazon Japan.)
Ken Togo & Kumiko Miyazaki
東
郷
健
＆
宮
崎
留
美
子
I Am
Transgender
by
Rumiko
Miyazaki
(pub Neolife,
2000)
‘New half’
ニューハーフ
An extreme
case of
choosing just
who you want
to be… the
ultimate in
individualism?
More
feminine
than the
average
woman?
First transgendered election
candidate
In 2003, Aya Kamikawa became the first
transgendered person to run for public
office in Japan. Setagaya Ward approved
the 35-year-old male-to-female
transsexual's candidacy, after she
submitted the documents leaving the
gender entry blank.
Japan's Election Law does not require
candidates to disclose their gender.
Kamikawa remained male on paper the Justice Ministry had yet to allow a
person's gender to be changed in the
family registry.
Aya Kamikawa won that election. She
has since been re-elected twice and
still represents Setagaya ward in the
Tokyo city assembly.
Legal progress
In 2004, legal reforms made it
possible for transgender people to
change their legal gender on the
family register (koseki 戸籍）. Aya
Kamikawa was one of the first to
do so. Another was Torai Masae, a
veteran FTM campaigner.
虎
井
ま
さ
Masae
Torai
衛
His longstanding
demand to be legally
recognized as male
finally granted. But he
told me the legal
change has left some
bad feeling in the
movement, since the
reform doesn’t apply
to trans-sexuals who
have children.