Japan's Gay Ideal: Macho Matcha Man? (w/Dr. Thomas Baudinette)

Author of "Regimes of Desire: Young Gay Men, Media, and Masculinity in Tokyo," Dr. Thomas Baudinette talks about Japan's young gay men and the emotional damage done by the pressure to act out their gayness in an unfortunate way, namely emulating straight dudes.

Ollie's recommendation is pretty worthless this week, because there's NO WAY you don't already know about it.

Bobby greats ready for Pride on a river boat and sets some google alerts for Hashimoto Kotoe and Sugita Mio.

Topics discussed on this episode range from:

Rochelle Kopp's Petition to stop the cutting down of trees in Yoyogi Park for the sake of the Olympics. Please sign it.The first-ever Japan By River Cruise Drinking Game!The problem with teaching "the problem of weeaboos" to weeaboosHow Thomas approaches teaching Japanese studies to people who are enamored of Japan for some of the wrong reasons.Cringey Waifu commentsWhy Thomas finds the Japanese culture that raises gay Japanese men problematicAssumptions that interest in a culture equates to exclusive sexual attraction to members of that cultureThe overlap between studying Japan and fetishizing itPRIDE! (kind of)What Thomas's goals were with his studies and the gap between what he thought he would find and what he foundHow young gay men do or do not rely on media to make sense of their position in the worldHow gay men in Japan react to Japan's particular issues with same-gender romance, and Japan's patriarchy/heteronormativityWhat Thom expected from Shibuya 2-chome, Japan's most famous gay townThe dark-side of 2-chomeHow gay men deal with not living up to the "norms" in Japan, especially the ヘテロシステムThe unfortunate way Japan has traditionally understood male homosexuality, and the way the gay community (and it's own subculture media) has evolved to diametrically oppose itHow reclaiming masculine stereotypes might sound emancipating, but can end up damaging the people who don't conform/want to conform to those stereotypesThe "curse of the beautiful boy" in Japan, and how gay culture was sometimes thought to have helped Japan recuperate it's masculinityThe overwhelming pressure to align with norms in all of Japan's gay mediaHow internalizing and aligning with those norms does psychic damage to people who fail to meet themWhat Thom hopes for in the future of gay spaces in JapanWhere homophobia comes from in the West compared to in JapanYAY for WESTERN IMPORTS, AGAINHow queer Japanese activism predates the gay rights movements in the west and Japan can and does advocate for itself

Get access to the extras by supporting the podcast for less than $1 an episode by becoming a member at http://buymeacoffee.com.

Topics Discussed on the Extras:

Have something you'd like to say? Send us a fax at japanbyrivercruise.com

or Tweet to us at @jbrcpod

Social Media Links:

Dr. Thomas Baudinette: Twitter | Wordpress| Regimes of Desire (pre-order)

Ollie Horn: Twitter | Instagram

Bobby Judo: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Other things to click on
Some are affiliate links because we're sell-outs

We record remotely using Squadcast and the podcast is hosted on Transistor. Bobby uses the Samson Go Mic and Ollie uses the AT2005USB mic

★ Support this podcast ★