July 15, 2002

Book Review - Queer Japan: Personal Stories of Japanese Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals

Customer Review

I came across this book three years ago, when I first arrived in Japan. I was reading it just as I was coming to terms with my own homosexuality. It contributed to the opening of my mind, and helped me find courage to come out and start living my life to the fullest.

Queer Japan was, at first, my only way of knowing about Japanese attitudes toward alternative lifestyles, and about Japanese gays and lesbians themselves. Since the subject is never discussed (in either a good or bad light) at work or in the media here, the book helped me realize that there were indeed a lot of Japanese people out there in situations similar to mine.

The book provides an extremely accurate portrait of how homosexuality is viewed in Japan, but that's not really the point. The point is that it allows so many individual gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual Japanese people to tell their stories -- something they are all too often forbidden to talk about.