Cross-dressers on the Office Television

Lunch break at the office is a strict hour long. Starts with a chime, just like back in high school.

Friday, I had my beef and rice in our Prefectural Office's cafe, and then went out to take a nap in front of the communal TV area. Neck-tied men like myself filled the chairs, letting their lunch settle over the 20 minutes remaining before the return-to-work bell. 

Half the room was sleeping deeply, and half was watching a woman on T.V. sing a song called "Jealous Love" (rough translation).

Or wait, was it a woman? I watched for awhile and decided it was most likely a biological male in a dress and careful makeup. Nobody was smiling, just listening.

It wasn't comedy and it wasn't that unusual. It was just what was on T.V. 

Gender ambiguities [1] in fashion and entertainment here still surprise me after more than 4 years here.  (I'm guessing cross-dressers don't show up on the lunch-break TV in North Carolina government offices back home. [2])

Two weeks ago, my friend Takeshi and I went to the opening party of an absurdly trendy curry shop. The chef wore giant headphones and took breaks from stirring pots to operate a mysterious tower of speakers and audio equipment.

For the occasion, I had dressed up a bit and sort of tamed my hair.

"You're looking very feminine today," Takeshi said (in Japanese). He used a Japanese pronounciation of the English word "feminine." Lots of English loan words pop up in Japanese with slightly different meanings.

He could tell by my face that I didn't quite know how to respond.

"Oh, sorry, I mean 'feminine' like a good meaning. We use it now like, 'looks kind of in between a man and a woman,'" he said. "It means you look cool."

"Ah," I said. "I see."

I didn't fully, but I'm not one to turn down a compliment. 

 Related topics to consider and perhaps return to:

• How Japan teaches you to confidently rock pink clothing/electronics
• The recent boom in popularity of gay and fake gay male celebrities
• The following imbalance/transition: Among first-year foreigners, there are very few foreign-girl/Japanese-guy relationships but many foreign-guy/Japanese-girl relationships. (This balances out slightly as people stay here longer.)
• What it's like to return to North Carolina with a giant white wallet that old crew immediately determines to be "womanly"
• The thin line one walks when writing amusing anecdotes about a different culture, i.e. how to successfully convey one's amusement and delight while staying respectful of all parties involved (no solid conclusions yet reached)

[1] Of course, I mean 'what seems like a gender ambiguity to an outsider who was raised largely in America's South,' etc.

[2] I could be wrong about this. The specific possiblity that comes to mind is the video for Boy George's "Karma Chameleon."

Comments

Posted on 2/19/2009 by

Tori Pinto

I would be interested in would be whether this external gender ambiguity is having any impact on gender roles in contemporary Japanese society. Particularly in the youth. Is it reflective of an inner change? Or is it purely fashion for fashion's sake? Nice job. Tori

Posted on 2/19/2009 by

Saleem Reshamwala

Good question. Tricky, because it's hard to tell whether it's a recent change or not My first thought was that gender ambiguity Japan is traditional in entertainment, i.e. you have men playing male and female roles in Kabuki theater, etc. But then it occurred to me that England had the same thing happening in the past, i.e. men playing women in Shakespeare plays. My gut reaction (*) is that the linking of gender ambiguity to attractiveness has been around for awhile here. I'll ask around and see what friends think. (*) Full disclosure: My gut reactions don't have a particularly strong track record.

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