Little Taiko Boy: "You can still cum, but not in my rump-a-pum-pum"

Little Taiko Boy combines Western holiday traditions, Shinto
mythology and Japanese gay culture to advocate a very different way of wrapping gifts for a loved one.

Little Taiko Boy's soundtrack is a safer-sex parody of the American Christmas carol "The Little Drummer Boy" interspersed with the slow rumble of a traditional Japanese taiko drum that sounds like a massive throbbing heart beat. Against this backdrop, several men meet in Tokyo's bathhouses, love hotels and cruising spots for intimate encounters, watched over by a glamorous drag version of Amaterasu Omikami, the Shinto goddess of the Sun played by Japanese activist and artist MADAME BONJOUR JOHNJ. Like a queer Santa Claus, the goddess leaves each couple a condom in a bejeweled wrapper as a gift and blessing for the night.

Itchy Japanese Groins

JanpanTrends.com is a fascinating survey of totally odd Japanese stuff - including itchy testicles. Thanks Queerty!

Who's That Queer [Yukio Mishima]

Brought to you by Pistol Pete

Yukio Mishima was the public name of Kimitake Hiraoka, a Japanese author and playwright, famous for both his highly notable nihilistic post-war writings and the circumstances of his ritual suicide by seppuku.

Mishima's early childhood was dominated by the shadow of his grandmother, Natsu, who took the boy and separated him from his immediate family for several years. Natsu was of a minor retainer family which had been related to the samurai of the Tokugawa era; she maintained considerable aristocratic pretensions even after marrying Mishima's grandfather, a commoner but nevertheless a bureaucrat who had made his fortunes in the newly-opened colonial frontier. She was stubborn, and also prone to violent, even morbid outbursts bordering on madness, which are occasionally alluded to in Mishima's works. It is to Natsu that some biographers have traced Mishima's fascination with death, and to the exorbitant; she read French and German, and had an aristocrat's taste for the Kabuki. Natsu famously did not allow Mishima to venture into the sunlight, to engage in any kind of sport, or to play with boys; he spent much of his time alone, or with female cousins and their dolls.

Read the rest at Gay for Today.

Jealous of my Boogie

Land of the Rising MMMMMM

via Queerty

Though rarely seen outside of the gay underground, over 30 of Japan's top gay artists will come together later this month for an unprecedented group show at the Tap Gallery in Sydney, Australia. The exhibition, called "Boy's Life," is timed to coincide with Sydney's annual Mardis Gras festival, one of the biggest gay events in the world. For those of us unable to jet to the other side of the world, we present a sampling of the provocative gay artists working today in the land of the rising sun.

Read, and see, the rest.

Tokyo Pride Parade this Saturday

Pride vs. prejudice

By JAMIE FINDLAY

Special to The Japan Times

Japanese people take 10 months to gestate, have longer intestines and higher body temperatures. And there are no gays in Japan.

If anyone still believes this last piece of rubbish, they are in for a shock if they find themselves crossing paths with the Tokyo Pride Parade in Harajukuor Shibuya this Saturday.

Several thousand lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgendered and their friends are expected to turn up for the event.

It's a sight you're more likely to expect in gay capitals Brighton or Sydney, which makes the Tokyo parade all the more refreshing.

After all, it's possible to live in Japan all your life and see little evidence of a gay community.

So what is the Japanese attitude to homosexuality? Between Holland and Afghanistan, where does Japan lie on the scale of tolerance?

According to the Lonely Planet guide to these islands, Japan has "the most enlightened attitude towards homosexuality in Asia" bar Thailand. Yet the book "Queer Japan" claims that " 'doseisai' (same-sex love between men) has never been legally nor (sic) socially accepted in Japan." So where does the truth lie?

On the one hand, Japan has a large lesbian and gay community, and it's becoming more visible. Two years ago, Osaka Prefectural Assembly member Kanako Otsuki came out as a lesbian and has since married her partner (though the marriage is not legally recognized). And Setagaya Ward's Aya Kamikawa has become the country's first transsexual politician.

Japan has no laws prohibiting same-gender sex, and Tokyo actually has a law banning discrimination on the grounds of sexual identity. Homosexuality was only briefly criminalized in the Meiji Era (due to Western influence), and there is little or no homophobic violence.

There are a number of high-profile gay celebs: the twins Piko and Osugi, drag queen Akihiro Miwa, and former pop idol Kenichi Mikawa, among others. However, their celebrity is often based on their sexuality -- on their "difference" from their supposedly 99.9-percent straight audiences.

There is discrimination. No recognition of same-sex relationships exists in law; in Miyazaki Prefecture, antidiscrimination laws were passed in 2003, only to be repealed last year; and young people find themselves under great social pressure to marry, and are often forced to meet prospective partners through the arranged-marriage system; and people who are married (to the opposite sex) can earn higher salaries some Japanese firms.

Some politicians seem to believe that sexuality is an area where they can preach intolerance.

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara has declared war on Shinjuku's Ni-Chome area, as though it were somehow the gay equivalent of Kabukicho. And, most bizarrely, there is LDP Tokushima Prefectural Assembly member Motohiro Takeuchi, who declared that "Japan will collapse if it encourages homosexuals by listing the names of boys and girls together," when plans were announced to mix the names of boys and girls on school registers. Quite how this could "turn" schoolchildren remains unclear.

These are all reasons why the Pride Parade in Tokyo is needed -- to demonstrate the existence and strength of sexual minorities and their friends.

Like all such marches, the parade has no political agenda, just the desire to say, as the pamphlet declares: "We're here! We're happy!"

Anyone is welcome, which is why this year the name of the event was changed from "Lesbian and Gay Parade" to simply, "Tokyo Pride Parade."

Among the gay community in Ni-Chome, there seems to be a lot of enthusiasm.

"I want to go to show Ishihara that I exist and pay his wages," said Toshi, a Dragon pub regular.

At the London Pride parade, Mayor Ken Livingstone usually puts in an appearance, so -- who knows? -- on Saturday you might even get a chance to give Mr. Ishihara a piece of your mind.

The festival starts in Yoyogi Park at 11 a.m., and the parade kicks off at 3 p.m.