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Since the Age of Keisuke Kinoshita and Yasujiro Ozu: The Journey of Japan’s Queer Films

Interview #Culture #Drama

2021/07/30

In Japan, the term ‘LGBT’ is said to have become widely understood from about 2015 when two municipalities in Tokyo established a system recognizing same-sex couples as partners. Since around that time, films and TV dramas depicting sexual minorities have dramatically increased. However, in reality that is not a recent turn of events. If we take a look back at history, we realize that film directors such as Keisuke Kinoshita and Yasujiro Ozu were making films over half a century ago that seemed free from the heteronormativity, the gender binary, and the idea of being ‘normal.’

That perspective was revisited in “Inside/Out: LGBTQ+ Representation in Film and Television,” an exhibition held in Tokyo from 2020 to 2021. The exhibition presented a wealth of materials and looked back on LGBTQ+ representations in Japanese films and TV dramas from after World War II until the beginning of 2020. It garnered attention from film fans and was so popular that it sold out of pamphlets. In this article, we talk to the person in charge of the “Inside/Out” exhibition, Yutaka Kubo, about the relationship between Japanese films and LGBTQ+ that became apparent while planning the exhibit, and the perspective he values.

Interview:Sho Akita Main visual:Shigeo Okada Author, Editor:Kimi Idonuma(CINRA, Inc.)

The existence of queers depicted since the 1950s

——The “Inside/Out” exhibition has introduced the idea that the queer (a range of sexualities and gender identities/ expressions outside of the heteronormativity envisioned by society) perspective can be seen in Japanese films right after World War II, but is this also well known outside of Japan?

Kubo:"Funeral Parade of Roses" (1969) by the director, Toshio Matsumoto, has often been discussed as a representative Japanese queer film illustrating sexual minorities, but other films are probably not really known.

——Why is Funeral Parade of Roses notable in the context of queer films?

Kubo:The fact that it attempted to present ‘gay boy’ in Shinjuku in the 1960s is regarded as having been groundbreaking in Japan at the time. It also showed a sex scene at the start of the film, which hadn’t been seen in major commercial films up until then. It has been applauded since then as a film that depicted sexual minorities in a direct way.

——One of the actors, Shinnosuke Ikehata (who worked under the stage name, ‘Peter,’ before 2019) has also appeared in numerous TV programs and is well known in Japan. In today’s terminology Ikehata would be called nonbinary but actively worked in show business without the mass media directly addressing that fact.

Kubo:Yes. Taking that into account, too, there’s no denying that Funeral Parade of Roses has had an influence on other films, but I want to emphasize it to the world that Funeral Parade of Roses is not the only Japanese queer film. That was one reason for planning the “Inside/Out” exhibition.

Yutaka Kubo

——When did you start planning the “Inside/Out” exhibition?

Kubo:Already in 2018, I had the idea of creating something on the theme of ‘queer films and Japan’. I was writing my doctoral dissertation at Kyoto University on how films by filmmaker Keisuke Kinoshita (1912-1998) could be located in the history of Japanese queer cinema. After finishing up the doctoral program, I felt I needed to further research how the representations of sexual minorities and of gender identities as well as expressions have changed throughout the history of Japanese cinema, including modern filmmakers and the contemporary film industry.

——I see. In the beginning of the exhibition, along with works by Keisuke Kinoshita, films by Yasujiro Ozu (1903–1963) and Yuzo Kawashima (1918–1963) are introduced as films that can also be viewed with a queer perspective.

Kubo:Right. The exhibition introduced Yasujiro Ozu’s films, "Late Spring" (1949), "Early Summer" (1951), and "Tokyo Story" (1953). The possible lesbian nature of the characters in t"hose films has been analyzed by the film critic, Robin Wood and film researcher, Yuka Kanno. Keisuke Kinoshita’s film, "Farewell to Spring" (1959) is also introduced and was considered as the “first among major Japanese films to portray gay men” by the film critic, Ikuko Ishihara.

"Farewell to Spring" has a male character with physical disability in his leg, but it clearly depicts him having some kind of strong feeling for a male classmate who returns to his hometown. I was also very fascinated by how to perceive that representation.

Even if there is a portrayal considered to closely resemble homosexuality, Keisuke Kinoshita never uses the term, ‘doseiai (Japanese expresseion for homosexuality)’ in any of his films. It’s been ascertained that the term itself was already used at least by the early 1950s in films such as Judai no Seiten (Teenage Sex Encyclopedia, 1953) featuring Ayako Wakao in the lead. However, Kinoshita didn’t use that term. Without using the term, he let the audience assume the characters are probably queer through acting, speech, gestures, and film techniques.

——Is there concern about clearly calling "Farewell to Spring" as the ‘first gay film’?

Kubo:Well, in the case of Ishihara’s writing, I think there’s meaningful significance to the phrase, “among major Japanese films.” The very fact of pointing out that Keisuke Kinoshita, who was a popular director involved in 49 films, presented “a representation that could be viewed as queer” is in itself important.

Plus, some people state that Keisuke Kinoshita likely was himself gay. As far as I know, he never openly declared that. Ishihara also speculated the hypothesis that “if Kinoshita was gay…,” but didn’t decisively conclude it. When it comes to this…though I feel I have to treat carefully if he was gay, I’m interested in how it might have affected his way of filmmaking while being open about it.

The situation won’t necessarily improve even if films depicting LGBTQ+ increase

——When reassessing Japanese films made after World War II up until today from a queer perspective, did you discover anything about how lesbians are portrayed?

Kubo:If nothing else, when doing research for the “Inside/Out” exhibition I found that in Japanese films from the 1950s depicting homosexuality, women were shown more than men.

There was a particular tendency, which we cannot overlook, in depicting lesbians at that time: male invasion. For example, the relationship between two women is often destroyed by a man, or a woman is won over by a man because ‘she has to get married.’ Just like in foreign lesbian films, the woman who is left alone is portrayed as either crazy or tragic.

——I wonder how sexual minorities reacted to these films at the time. Since there were undoubtedly few opportunities in mainstream media to show the existence of queers, presumably there were also people who wanted films created for them.

——Around when did the number of films portraying the presence of sexual minorities increase?

Kubo:In Japan, it is said that a feature article in the women’s magazine, CREA, became the trigger. In the 1990s, a ‘gay boom’ occurred when various media including magazines and radio reported on gay men, and there were lots of films and TV dramas made that depicted homosexuality. The first “Tokyo International Lesbian & Gay Film & Video Festival” was also held in 1992. By the latter half of the 2000s, manga featuring homosexual relationships between men, so-called “boys love” comics, were being frequently turned into films.

The trailer to “Words of Devotion: To the End of the World” (2007), a film adaptation of a manga by Keiko Konno

Kubo:Then, in the 2010s major media began using the term, ‘LGBT’ as a business strategy target, and in Japanese society the so-called ‘LGBT boom’ started to emerge around 2012. Given that situation, the number of films portraying sexual minorities also dramatically grew, but what’s important is that films depicting sexual minorities didn’t continually increase in a linear manner. The number of films portraying queer bodies went up and down amid numerous circumstances, including the state involving the movie industry, the standing of sexual minorities in society, and movements campaigning for rights.

——Even if the number of films increase, that doesn’t mean that the situation surrounding sexual minorities is ‘progressing,’ does it?

Kubo:That’s right. When planning the exhibition, I also strongly felt that an increase in the number of films depicting sexual minorities doesn’t equal ‘progress.’

Unfortunately, today there are some film projects about sexual minorities just because “they can catch onto the popularity of the boom.” Although I don’t think there’s a need to ask about the producers’ sexual orientation or gender identity, I think it’s lamentable that representations of sexual minorities are being taken advantage of because a film ‘will be a hit’ without being conscious or supportive of what is actually happening in society regarding the equal rights and lives of sexual minorities.

Not to mention, in this day and age, films can be easily accessed through YouTube and streaming platforms. I don’t like that young people, especially teenagers, can readily see such films, which may depict sexual minorities in a tragic or derogative way, and become dispirited. So, I think we film researchers and film critics have to seriously review those films with a critical eye.

Imagine, study, critique. Considering what’s important in LGBTQ+ representations.

——Given that the theme of how to depict LGBTQ+ is directly connected to LGBTQ+ people’s human rights and lives, it is important to raise voices, create films, and critique representations in a manner that is not a temporary ‘boom.’

Kubo:I think that’s extremely important. When holding the “Inside/Out” exhibition, I was asked by various media what they could do. I made sure to tell them to please provide comprehensive critiques. That’s because to provide a critique, they have to first study.

The ‘LGBT boom’ can’t be allowed to end with praise just for the increase in sexual minority representations. I’d like to be able to consider the kind of history behind that boom and the fact that history should not be made light of.

——When looking back on history, it is important to ‘imagine,’ isn’t it? It is precisely because humankind is incapable of perfectly recording history. Therefore, it is our role to fill those gaps through imagination.

Kubo:Yes. I think that approach would have also made sense in the ‘new queer cinema’ of the early 1990s. Films that unashamedly and at times intensely depicted the desires and stories of sexual minorities were applauded at international film festivals and dubbed ‘new queer cinema.’ This made it possible to rediscover various non-normative sexual and gender representations from before the 1990s as ‘queer.’ In other words, it’s this process of rediscovery that helps us rework the history of Japanese cinema from a queer perspective.

When trying to rework history, I believe what’s necessary is the kind of imagination that you just mentioned. Just as the perspective on Kinoshita’s works expanded when Ikuko Ishihara wrote that Farewell to Spring was the “first film to portray gay men,” audiences today need to imagine what kind of history there might have been. That’s what I wanted to accomplish through the “Inside/Out” exhibition and is a perspective that I value in my own research.

A visual from “Inside/Out: LGBTQ+ Representation in Film and Television” at the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum

Kubo: I’d like to end by adding that there is one thing I felt was truly great about curating the “Inside/Out” exhibition. There was a space at the exhibition where visitors could freely write messages. One person didn’t write anything, but spoke directly to staff. The individual identified as a member of LGBTQ+ community who had experienced many things at a young age, and had apparently imagined that the “Inside/Out” exhibition also “would only present a history that would bring sadness.”

However, after walking through the exhibition, that person said, “I felt so glad to be alive.” I very much value the feeling in young people that they can “live their own lives.” The situation in Japan for sexual minorities is quite bad, but I believe that more than a few people can gain courage from the creation of good works. Lately, films have come out of Japan such as The Fish with One Sleeve (2021), directed by Tsuyoshi Shoji, where a transgender person auditioned for and stars in a transgender role, so it’s my hope that there will be more and more films and dramas made that are screened, and more and more people will talk about them.

Yutaka Kubo

He is specialized in queer film studies. He curated the “Inside/Out” exhibition as assistant professor at the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum of Waseda University. In October 2020, he joined Kanazawa University as associate professor. In addition to his dissertation on Kinoshita films, some of his publications include, “Still Grieving: Mobility and Absence in Post-3/11 Mourning Films (Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema 11 [1], 2019), and “The Politics of Poisonous Roses: The Visualization and Marginalization of HIV/AIDS Stigma in Films by Satoru Kobayashi in the 90s” (Studies in Dramatic Art, No. 43, 2020).

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