KJ #64

UNBOUND: Gender in Asia

In this special issue of Kyoto Journal, we have sought to bring together an updated and revelatory album of gender identities. Despite enduring traditions and a strongly ingrained patriarchy, here in Asia the concept of gender can be far more ambiguous and fluid than is often assumed. We named this issue ‘Unbound’ in the hope that it will unfetter fresh ideas and dispel assumptions, introducing perspectives on gender in many societies and leaving readers free to make up their own minds. It contains a unique and illuminating array of contributions from Asian and non-Asian writers, poets, translators, photographers and visual artists.

Editor: Sally McLaren
Contributing Editors: John Ashburne, Justin Ellis, Jenny Hall, Kobayashi Mika, Rebecca Jennison, Eric Luong, Deidre May
Design: John Einarsen, Jenny Hall, Naomi Hennig, Eric Luong, Markuz Wernli-Saito
Interns: Ikegaya Chiaki. Helen Polychronakos, Sugawa Megumi
Editorial & Research Assistance: Pia Arboleda, John Badalu, Mike Davis, Nia Dinata, Nina Ibarra, Dejan Alankhan, Anna Kim, Kimberlye Kowalczyk, Michele Milner, Sarah Jane Norman, Albie Sharpe, Matsumoto Miki
Unbound Online: Jason Cowlam, Eric Luong

PRESS RELEASE

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FULL CONTENTS:

05 Introduction — Sally McLaren
06 Sanctuary — Photograph by Komatsubara Midori
08 Bali Ayu and the Transformation of Gender — Photographs & text by John Ashburne
10 INTERVIEW: Questioning Gender: an Interview with Japan-based Psychotherapist Kim Oswalt— Stewart Wachs
14 I Want to Be Myself: Perspectives on Japan’s Transgender Community — Justin Ellis
16 IN TRANSLATION: Nakedness is Another Sort of Clothing — Yin Lichuan, trans. by Andrea Lingenfelter
18 Shimada Yoshiko
20 Butsudan Boys — Photographs by Saito Hiroshi
22 Oh/Okamura Haji
24 Flaunting Gender — Deidre May; Photographs by Micah Gampel
26 Looking for Antigone in Modern Japanese Society — Kyoko Gardiner
29 Spirit of the Mountains — Women’s Feature Service and Sangat
30 Josephine Ho on Gender & Sexuality Activism in Taiwan — David Frazier
34 Host Clubs — Photographs by Matthias Ley
38 All About Me — Ghazel
39 Re-de-signing People —Tamarah Cohen & Kerstan Bond Cohen
40 They Call Me ”Bunda” (Mother):
an Interview with Indonesian Celebrity Dorce Gamalama — Justin Ellis
43 Only Widows and Daughters:
Dynastic Female Political Power in Asia — Sally McLaren
44 Plastic Beauty — Fraser Newham
46 The Fantasy of Gender — Photographs by John Ashburne
48 Metrosexuals: Men Commercializing Themselves — Osada Hironori, trans by Sally McLaren
50 IN TRANSLATION: Swimming the Darkness
Puta — a poem by Elynia Mabanglo, trans. by Pia Arboleda and Jorge Andrada
51 Subversion in Elynia Mabanglo’s Puta— Pia Arboleda
52 The State Plays Stylist — Philip Cornwel-Smith
54 Sir, Your Slip is Showing: Cross-Dressing Shamans in Korea — Lauren W. Deutsch
56 BuBu de la Madeleine
58 Cut Sleeves and Flower Boys:
A Brief and Incomplete Homosexual History of Asian Men — Chong-suk Han
62 Women of Japan — Photographs by Laurie Toby Edison
66 Pursuing Islam’s Inherent Gender Equality — Deidre May interviews Zaitun Kasim of the Sisters in Islam
69 The Taslima Nasrin Phenomenon — Manosh Chowdhury
70 Taking on the System: Sumitomo Women’s Victory for Equality in the Workplace —Catherine Whyte
72 The Ajosshi — J. Scott Burgeson; Photographs by Ahn Young-sang
76 A Good Marriage Should Begin with Tears — Jenny Hall
78 FICTION: Everything Wrong with Japanese Men — Kaori Shoji
80 Beyond Boundaries in Indonesia: Activist Dede Oetomo on Waria — Justin Ellis
82 Bringing Glamour to the Game? India’s First Female Cricket Anchor Mandira Bedi — Nagamallika G.
84 What Kind of Girl Dresses Like That? — Helen Polychronakos
85 Big Women Walking Proudly — Cherry Mi Young, trans. by Robert Fouser
86 Keeping it Cheerful: Gay Culture and Japanese TV —Philip Brasor
88 The Moving Gay Identity: Tongzhi in Taiwan — Yow-Jiun Wang
90 FICTION: Conjugal Life — Rashida Sultana, trans. by Khademul Islam
93 IN TRANSLATION: A Japanese Feminist in Occupied Shanghai —
Tamura Toshiko and the Magazine Nu Sheng — Tu Xiaohua, trans. by Tan Ban Chong
96 Takarazuka Review: Moga Yoga — Lauren W. Deutsch
99 Happy Balance — Sato Nao
100 REVIEWS
108 CONTRIBUTORS

UNBOUND ONLINE

• A Princess Ever, an Empress Never? — Justine Bornstein
• India’s Bandit Queen: On Women in India — Catherine Pawasarat
• Art work by Yamaguchi Yuka
• Photographs by Miyamoto Takeshi
• Explaining Host Clubs to Western Men — Yamagishi Reiko
• Karma & Women — David Loy
• Sex in the City & Memoirs of a Geisha: The Way of Tea(se) — Lauren W. Deutsch
• Lost in Tradition — Watanabe Noriko
• Re-envisioning the Macho: Masculinity in Philippine Visual Culture — Reuben Ramas Cañete
• Women in Wartime — Jenny Hall
• Gay Jakarta — Justin Ellis
• Re-de-signing People (full version) — Tamarah Cohen and Kerstan Bond Cohen
• Unbound Links: Gender in Asia on the Web