It is said that the term "LGBT" began to be widely recognized in Japan around 2015, when two municipalities in Tokyo launched a system to recognize same-sex couples as "partners." Since then, there has been an explosive increase in films and TV dramas depicting sexual minorities, but in fact this is not something that just started happening. If we look back at history, we find that film directors such as Kinoshita Keisuke and Ozu Yasujiro have been making films for over 50 years that are not bound by stereotypes that view heterosexuality and the male-female binary as "normal."

This perspective was presented once again in the exhibition "Inside/Out - Visual Culture and LGBTQ+," held in Tokyo from 2020 to 2021. The exhibition looked back at LGBTQ+ representation in Japanese films and television dramas from the postwar period to the early 2020s with a wealth of materials, attracting attention from film fans and becoming so popular that pamphlets sold out. In this article, we asked Yutaka Kubo, who was in charge of the "Inside/Out" exhibition, about the relationship between Japanese films and LGBTQ+ that emerged while planning the exhibition, and the perspectives he values.

Interview: Akira Akita Main visual: Shigeo Okada Text and editing: Norimi Idonuma (CINRA, Inc.)

Queer depictions since the 1950s

--The Inside/Out exhibition introduced the fact that queer perspectives (sexuality that does not fall within society's notion of "normal") can be seen in Japanese films since immediately after the war. Is this a well-known phenomenon overseas as well?

Kubo:As a Japanese film that depicts sexual minorities, director Toshio Matsumoto's "Rose Requiem" (1969) is often talked about, but his other films may not be as well known.

Why is The Rose Requiem famous in the queer film context?

Kubo:The film's depiction of gay boys in the 1960s Shinjuku setting was considered groundbreaking in Japan at the time. The film begins with a sex scene, something that had never been seen in major commercial films up until then, and it was praised at the time for portraying sexual minorities in such a direct way.

--One of the performers, Shinnosuke Ikebata (who went by the stage name "Peter" before 2019), has appeared on many TV shows and is well-known in Japan. He is what would now be called non-binary, but even though the mass media did not directly mention this, he was active at the forefront.

Kubo:Yes. There's no doubt that "The Rose Requiem" has had an influence in that respect, but I also wanted to spread the word that "The Rose Requiem" isn't the only Japanese queer film," and that was one of the reasons I decided to organize the "Inside/Out" exhibition.

-When did you start planning the "Inside/Out" exhibition?

Kubo:In 2018, I had an idea to create something on the theme of "Queer Film and Japan." I was in the doctoral program at Kyoto University and wrote a thesis titled "How to understand the films of film director Keisuke Kinoshita (1912-1998) in the context of Japanese queer film history." After completing my doctoral program, I felt that I needed to research sexual minorities and gender representation more broadly, including contemporary filmmakers and the film industry.

--I see. At the beginning of the exhibition, the works of Kinoshita Keisuke were introduced alongside those of Ozu Yasujiro (1903-1963) and Kawashima Yuzo (1918-1963) as works that can be read in a queer way.

Kubo:Yes. The exhibition introduces films by Ozu Yasujiro, such as Late Spring (1949), Harvest of Wheat (1951), and Tokyo Story (1953), whose characters' lesbianism has been analyzed by film critic Robin Wood and film researcher Kanno Yuka, as well as Kinoshita Keisuke's Oscar for the Scarlet Harvest (1959), which film critic Ishihara Ikuko calls "the first major Japanese film to portray a gay man."

In "The Regretful Bird," there is a character who is disabled, and it is depicted that he clearly has some kind of strong feelings toward a male classmate who returns to his hometown. I myself was very interested in how to interpret this expression.

Even if there are depictions that are reminiscent of homosexuality, Kinoshita Keisuke never uses the word "homosexuality" in any of his works. It has been confirmed that the word "homosexuality" itself began to be used in the early 1950s, for example in "Teenager's Sex Book" (1953) starring Fumiko Wakao. However, Kinoshita did not use it. Instead of using words, he makes the audience guess that "they might be homosexuals" through direction, language, gestures, and film techniques.

-Are you concerned about explicitly describing The Spring Bird as "the first gay film"?

Kubo:That's right. Regarding Ishihara's critique, I think the part "among major Japanese films" is the most important. The point that Kinoshita Keisuke, a popular director who has worked on 49 films, "has representations that could be read as homosexuality" is important in itself.

Also, there are those who say that the director himself, Kinoshita Keisuke, may have been homosexual. As far as I know, he never stated it openly, and Ishihara has hypothesized, "What if Kinoshita was gay?" but has never confirmed it. Regarding this point... I myself feel that I need to be careful, but if he was homosexual, I am interested in how he would have been able to openly film it.

More LGBTQ+ content doesn't necessarily mean things are moving forward

INTERVIEWER In rereading Japanese footage from the postwar period to the present day from a queer perspective, did you discover anything new about the way female lesbians are portrayed?

Kubo:At least in the research conducted for the Inside/Out exhibition, we found that when it came to depictions of gay people in Japanese films of the 1950s, there were more female depictions than male ones.

However, the way lesbian women were portrayed at that time was characterized by the fact that a man was almost always present. The relationship between two women was ruined by one man, or the woman was drawn to the man because she "had to get married." Women who were left alone were portrayed as crazy or tragic, just like lesbian films from other countries.

--I'm also curious about how sexual minorities received the film at the time. There were clearly few opportunities for queer people to be portrayed in mainstream media, so I imagine there were people who were looking for footage that was directed at them.

When did the number of works depicting the existence of sexual minorities start to increase?

Kubo:In Japan, a feature in the women's magazine CREA sparked a gay boom in the 1990s, with gay men featured in magazines, radio, and other media. During this time, many films depicting gay men were produced. The first Tokyo International Lesbian & Gay Film & Video Festival was also held in 1992. In the second half of the 2000s, there was also a trend of so-called "boys' love" manga, which dealt with gay relationships between men, being frequently adapted into films.

Kubo:Then in the 2010s, major media began to use the term "LGBT" as a target for their business strategies, and so-called "LGBT boom" occurred in Japanese society. In response to this situation, the number of films depicting sexual minorities also exploded, but what's important is that the number of films depicting sexual minorities has not continued to increase linearly. The number of films depicting queer existence increases and decreases amid a complex mix of conditions, such as the situation surrounding the film industry, the position of sexual minorities in society, and the movement for rights.

--Even if the number of works increases, it doesn't necessarily mean that the situation surrounding sexual minorities is "progressing."

Kubo:You're right. When I was planning the exhibition, I also felt strongly that an increase in the number of works depicting sexual minorities is not "progress."

Unfortunately, in today's world, there are people who create works related to sexual minorities because they think they will be popular with the general public. I don't think there is any need to question the sexual orientation or gender identity of the creators, but I still think it is unfortunate that representations of sexual minorities are used without any consideration for the voices or existence of those involved, with the motivation of "it will be a hit."

Especially in this day and age, we can easily access works through YouTube and video distribution platforms. I don't want young people, especially impressionable teenagers, to suddenly come across such works and be saddened. That's why I think that we film researchers and film critics have to provide critical critiques of such works.

Imagination, study, and criticism: what's important when thinking about LGBTQ+ representation

--The theme of how to portray LGBTQ+ is directly connected to the human rights and lives of LGBTQ+ people, so it's important to speak out, create works, and criticize the way they are represented, rather than making it a passing "fad."

Kubo:I think that's very important. When I held the "Inside/Out" exhibition, various media asked me, "What can we do?" When I asked them, I always said, "Please provide a proper critique." In order to critique, you have to study first.

The "LGBT boom" should not end with a simple "there is an increase in the representation of sexual minorities, it's great." I want to be able to think about the history on which this boom is based and whether we are disregarding the history that has preceded it.

--When looking back on history, it's important to "imaginate." Because humans cannot completely record history, I think it is our role to imagine the gaps.

Kubo:Yes. I think that way of thinking is also connected to the "New Queer Cinema" of the early 1990s. A group of works that boldly and sometimes violently depicted the desires and stories of sexual minorities were recognized at international film festivals and were named "New Queer Cinema." This made it possible to rediscover the various sexual representations depicted before the 1990s as "queer." In other words, it's as if their films reconstructed history.

I think that imagination, as Akita-san just mentioned, is what is needed when trying to reconstruct history. Just as Ishihara Ikuko's writing that "Oshishundori" was "the first work to depict a gay man" broadened the way people viewed Kinoshita's work, it is important for modern audiences to imagine "what kind of past could have been." That is what I wanted to do with the "Inside/Out" exhibition, and it is a perspective that I value in my own research.

Kubo:Finally, there was one thing I thought was really good about holding the "Inside/Out" exhibition. There was a space in the exhibition where visitors could write messages of their choice, but one person spoke directly to the staff instead of writing there. He said that he is a sexual minority himself and experienced many events at a young age. He said that he had imagined that the "Inside/Out" exhibition only contained history that made him sad.

However, after the exhibition, the person said to me, "I felt glad to be alive." I really want to cherish the "sense of being able to live" for young people. The situation surrounding sexual minorities in Japan is very bad, but I believe that there are quite a few people who will be encouraged by the release of good works. In recent years, there have been works from Japan in which transgender actors audition to play transgender roles, such as director Tokai Takeshi's "One Sleeve Fish" (2021). Therefore, I hope that there will be more and more people who make movies and dramas, screen them, and discuss them.