Editing Homosexuality in Japan (section)

===Popular culture===

====Mass media====
A number of artists, nearly all male, have begun to speak publicly about being gay, appearing on various [[talk show]]s and other programs, their celebrity often focused on their sexuality; twin pop-culture critics Piko and Osugi are an example.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20070807a1.html|title=Pride vs. prejudice|first=Jamie|last=Findlay|date=7 August 2007|access-date=8 April 2018|via=Japan Times Online}}</ref> [[Akihiro Miwa]], a [[drag queen]] and former lover of author [[Yukio Mishima]], is the television advertisement spokesperson for many Japanese companies ranging from beauty to financial products.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allbusiness.com/services/motion-pictures/4939796-1.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20100915195608/http://www.allbusiness.com/services/motion-pictures/4939796-1.html|url-status=dead|title=On Japanese Tv, The Lady Is A Man Cross-dressing 'onnagata' Are Popul…|date=15 September 2010|archive-date=15 September 2010|access-date=8 April 2018}}</ref> 
[[File:Razor Ramon Hard Gay.jpg|thumb|right|[[Masaki Sumitani]]]]
Some entertainers have used stereotypical references to homosexuality to increase their profile. [[Masaki Sumitani]] a.k.a. Hard Gay (HG), a comedian, shot to fame after he began to appear in public wearing a leather harness, hot pants, and cap.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://kotaku.com/being-hard-gay-for-laughs-and-cash-5806679 |title=Being Hard Gay for Laughs and Cash |last=Ashcraft |first=Brian |date=May 30, 2011 |website=Kotaku |language=en-us |access-date=April 2, 2021}}</ref>  His outfit, name, and trademark pelvis thrusting and squeals earned him the adoration of fans and the scorn of many in the Japanese [[gay community]].

After 2010 the situation for people belonging to the LGBT community changed in many ways. They began to be viewed as a market for mainstream Japanese businesses<ref>Kawazawa; Würrer (2024): 6. The market is estimated to be worth around 5.7 trillion yen. </ref> and businesses started to promote LGBT rights protection in their self-marketing. Since then many companies developed environments that protect LGBT rights to attract diverse new employees and increase their brand value in the global market.<ref>Kawazawa; Würrer (2024): 7. </ref>

{{As of|April 2011}}, [[Hiromi (model)|Hiromi]], a [[fashion model]], came out publicly as a lesbian.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20110218-00000016-rbb-ent |title=Model Hiromi comes out as a homosexual : 'Love doesn't have any form, color and rule' |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221135529/http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20110218-00000016-rbb-ent |archive-date=February 21, 2011 |date=February 18, 2011 |website=Yahoo! |language=japanese |access-date=April 2, 2021}}</ref>

A greater number of gay characters have also begun appearing (with positive portrayals) on Japanese television, such as the highly successful ''[[Hanazakari no Kimitachi e]]'' and ''[[Last Friends]]'' television series.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Min|first=Yuen Shu|date=2011-09-01|title=Last Friends, beyond friends – articulating non-normative gender and sexuality on mainstream Japanese television|journal=Inter-Asia Cultural Studies|volume=12|issue=3|pages=383–400|doi=10.1080/14649373.2011.578796|s2cid=144254427|issn=1464-9373}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=For You in Full Blossom - Ikemen Paradise -|date=3 July 2007|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1067118/|access-date=2019-11-12}}</ref> Boys' Love drama ''[[Ossan's Love]]'' aired first in 2016 as a standalone TV movie and was expanded to a TV series in 2018. The programme was so successful that a movie sequel was released the following year entitled ''Ossan's Love: LOVE or DEAD''. In 2019 male same-sex relationships became further visible with the popular adapted drama ''[[What Did You Eat Yesterday?]]''. ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' also brought homosexuals into the forefront with characters ''[[Haruka Ten'oh]]'' and ''[[Michiru Kaiou]]'', two female senshi in a committed same sex relationship.

{{Nihongo|''[[The Boyfriend (TV series)|The Boyfriend]]''|ボーイフレンド|Bōifurendo|lead=yes}} is a Japanese [[Reality television|reality]] [[dating show]] on [[Netflix]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Daisy |date=2024-07-09 |title=The Boyfriend review – the gay Japanese dating show that will have you punching the air with joy |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/jul/09/the-boyfriend-review-gay-japanese-dating-show-netflix |access-date=2024-07-14 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=2024-07-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240714234659/https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/jul/09/the-boyfriend-review-gay-japanese-dating-show-netflix |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-07-10 |title=Netflix’s The Boyfriend is not just groundbreaking – it’s the antidote to Love Island |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/netflix-the-boyfriend-japan-b2577321.html |access-date=2024-07-14 |website=The Independent |language=en |archive-date=2024-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240712082409/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/netflix-the-boyfriend-japan-b2577321.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-07-10 |title=Netflix's groundbreaking gay dating show The Boyfriend is nearly perfect |url=https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/reality-tv/a61550326/the-boyfriend-netflix-review/ |access-date=2024-07-14 |website=Digital Spy |language=en-GB |archive-date=2024-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713202105/https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/reality-tv/a61550326/the-boyfriend-netflix-review/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It is the nation's first [[Same-sex relationship|same-sex]] dating program. It premiered on July 9, 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wangu |first=Elah |date=2024-07-10 |title=The Boyfriend: Latest News, Release Date, Cast & Trailer |url=https://screenrant.com/the-boyfriend-latest-news-release-date-cast-trailer/ |access-date=2024-07-14 |website=ScreenRant |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/japans-first-same-sex-dating-reality-show-is-coming-to-netflix-062024|title=The Boyfriend on Netflix is Japan’s first same-sex dating reality show|first=Emma|last=Steen|date=July 9, 2024|website=Time Out Tokyo}}</ref>

====Media====
The subscription-based gay magazine ''{{Ill|Adonis (magazine)|lt=Adonis|ja|アドニス会}}'' was published from 1952 to 1962.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UrcFreVIyaQC&q=adonis+japanese+magazine&pg=PA133|title=Queer Japan from the Pacific War to the Internet Age|last=McLelland|first=Mark J.|date=2005|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9780742537873|language=en}}</ref>

In 1975 twelve women became the first group of women in Japan to publicly identify as lesbians, publishing one issue of a magazine called Subarashi Onna (Wonderful Women).<ref name="vice">{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/lesbian-history-archive-artifacts/ |title=The First Lesbian Porn and 10 Other Revealing Artifacts from Lesbian History |publisher=VICE |access-date=2019-07-11}}</ref>

In the early 1990s many forms of media started to show interest in gay culture and especially the experiences of gay men. They focused on gay men in relationships with heterosexual women. Examples of media being produced in this time are the movies: ''[[Okoge (film)|Okoge]]'' (Fag Hag, 1992), ''Kira kira hikaru'' (Twinkle, 1992), the drama series ''Dōsokai'' (Class Reunion, 1993), and the movie adaptation of Matsu’ura Rieko’s 1987 lesbian-themed novel ''Nachuraru ūman'' (Natural Women,1994).<ref name=":1">Kawasaka, Kazuyoshi; Würrer, Stefan (2024): Beyond Diversity: Queer Politics, Activism, and Representation in Contemporary Japan. Düsseldorf University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110767995 (Open Access). p. 3. 

</ref> Moreover, new gay magazines established themselves such as ''Badī'' (Buddy, 1993–2019) and G-men (1995–2016) and forged new ways in which the gay community could represent and build a community.<ref name=":1" /> Additionally, new magazines about lesbian experiences were published that challenged heteronormativity unlike former publications that often sexualised and pathologised lesbian experiences.<ref>Sugiura, I. (2007): Lesbian discourses in mainstream magazines of post-war Japan. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 11(3–4), 127–144. pp. 129–133. </ref><ref>Welker, J. (2017). Toward a history of “lesbian history” in Japan. Culture, Theory and Critique, 58(2), 147–165. https://doi.org/10.1080/14735784.2017.1282830. pp. 149–156. </ref> In 1987 the first commercial publication by and for lesbian women ''Onna o aisuru onnatachi no monogatari'' (Stories of Women Who Love Women) was published.<ref name=":1" />

One of famous Japanese director [[Hirokazu Kore-eda]]'s earliest movies, a documentary called ''August without Him'', released in 1994, follows Hirata Yutaka, the first openly gay [[AIDS]] sufferer in Japan. Filmed over a series of months, it contrasts his public life as an outspoken figure on the lecture circuit with his personal descent into illness and death.

With the rise in visibility of the gay community and the attendant rise of media for gay audiences, the [[Hadaka Matsuri]] ("Naked Festival") has become a fantasy scenario for gay videos.<ref>''Male homosexuality in modern Japan: cultural myths and social realities'' By Mark J. McLelland, p.122; accessed through Google Books</ref>{{Vague|date=June 2018}}

[[Bara (genre)|Gei-comi]] ("gay-comics") are gay-romance themed comics aimed at gay men.  While [[yaoi]] comics often assign one partner as a "uke", or feminized receiver, gei-comi generally depict both partners as masculine and in an equal relationship.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YbohAAAAQBAJ&q=gei+comi+japan&pg=PA95|title=Naughty Girls and Gay Male Romance/Porn: Slash Fiction, Boys' Love Manga, and Other Works by Female "Cross-Voyeurs" in the U.S. Academic Discourses|last=Bauer|first=Carola Katharina|date=2013-05-17|publisher=Anchor Academic Publishing (aap_verlag)|isbn=9783954890019|language=en}}</ref> Another common term for this genre is ''bara'', stemming from the name of the first publication of this genre to gain popularity in Japan, ''[[Barazoku]]''. Yaoi works are massive in number with much of the media created by women usually for female audiences. In the west, it has quickly caught on as one of the most sought-after forms of pornography. There is certainly no disparity between [[yaoi]] as a pornographic theme, vs [[Yuri (genre)|Yuri]].

Lesbian-romance themed anime and manga is known as ''[[Yuri (genre)|yuri]]'' (which means "lily").  It is used to describe female-female relationships in material and is typically marketed towards straight people, homosexuals in general, or lesbians despite significant stylistic and thematic differences between works aimed at the different audiences.  Another word that has become popular in Japan as an equivalent term to Yuri is "GL" (short for "Girls' Love" in opposite to "Boys' Love"). There are a variety of yuri titles (or titles that integrate yuri content) aimed at women, such as ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'', ''[[Oniisama e...]]'', ''[[Maria-sama ga Miteru]]'', some aspects of ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' (most notably Haruka and Michiru), ''[[Strawberry Shake Sweet]]'', ''[[Love My Life (manga)|Love My Life]]'', etc.; and there are a variety of yuri titles of anime such as ''[[Kannazuki no Miko]]'', ''[[Strawberry Panic!]],'' ''[[Simoun (anime)|Simoun]]'', and ''[[My-Hime]]''. ''[[Comic Yuri Hime]]'' is a long-time running manga magazine in Japan that focuses solely on yuri stories, which gained merges from its other subsidiary comics and currently runs as the only Yuri Hime named magazine. Other magazines and anthologies of Yuri that have emerged throughout the early 21st century are ''Mebae'', ''[[Hirari (magazine)|Hirari]]'', and ''[[Tsubomi (magazine)|Tsubomi]]'' (the latter two ceased publication before 2014).