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    Travel Virtually Through Queer Japan

    Jacob Anderson-Minshall
    | 12/03/20

    Travel Virtually Through Queer Japan

    Travel Through Queer Japan

    Poster for the Queer Japan

    The new documentary Queer Japan, which premieres December 11th in virtual theatres and on-demand, features trailblazing artists, activists, and everyday people from across the spectrum of gender and sexuality in Japan.

    Culled from over 100 interviews conducted over three years, this kaleidoscopic exploration of  queer Japanese culture reveals LGBTQ+ people defying convention with unconventional lives. Travel across Japan to meet dozens of unique characters including, iconoclastic drag queen Vivienne Sato, erotic manga artist Gengoroh Tagame, councilwoman Aya Kamikawa (the first transgender elected official in Japan), and nonbinary performance artist Saeborg who uses rubber to create a second skin for kink parties. 

    See Japan in a whole new light. Meet some of the film's subjects in the slide show below. 


    Poster artwork by Sophia Foster-Dimino.

    Meet the cast

    Queer Japan

    Some of the film's LGBTQ+ cast, from back left Atsushi Matsuda, Gengoroh Tagame, Akira the Hustler, Tomato Hatakeno, Hiroshi Hasegawa, and Nogi Sumiko.

    Photo by Hiroyuki Takenouchi.

    Director Graham Kolbeinsm

    Graham Kolbeins Paul Sepuya

    Queer Japan's director Graham Kolbeins is a Canadian filmmaker, writer, and designer living in Los Angeles. He's the queer-identified director of the short film The House of Gay Art, and the co-director, with Dorian Wood, of the short film PAISA. His documentary web series, Rad Queers, profiled subjects including trans artist Edie Fake and Latinx leather organization Payasos L.A. A recipient of a Japan-U.S. Friendship Commision 2016 Creative Artists Exchange Fellowship, Kolbeins spent five months directing the feature-length documentary Queer Japan.

    Along with Chip Kidd and Anne Ishii, Kolbeins is also the co-editor of two books on Japanese gay art: The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame and Fantagraphics’ Eisner-nominated anthology, Massive: Gay Erotic Manga and the Men Who Make It. The team also collaborated on Koyama Press’ English-language edition of What Is Obscenity?, a graphic memoir by Rokudenashiko chronicling her arrest on obscenity charges for making 3D printed vagina art.

    Kolbeins is the co-founder and creative director of the apparel brand MASSIVE GOODS, a fashion brand, publisher, and creative agency representing queer and feminist artists from Japan including manga artists Jiraiya and Gengoroh Tagame in collaborations with global fashion brands Opening Ceremony and Mishka NYC.

    As a videographer, Kolbeins has worked with a number of acclaimed performance and multimedia artists including Ron Athey, Cassils, Fanaa, and Rafa Esparza; musicians San Cha and Dorian Wood; and playwright Virginia Grise. His latest web series, Stretching with Graham Kolbeins, features the filmmaker on a pink yoga mat and exists "at the nexus of fitness, body positivity, and political discourse."

    Photo by Paul Sepuya.

    Hiroshi Hasegawa at Tokyo Rainbow Pride

    Hiroshi Hasegawa at Tokyo Rainbow Pride

    Writer, magazine editor, and activist Hiroshi Hasegawa shaped gay culture in the '90s and put a spotlight on HIV through Badi and G-men magazines, working alongisde GengorohTagame. Today, Hasegawa is a community leader and an advocate for those living with HIV through the nonprofit organization JaNP+.

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins

    Vivienne Sato

    Vivienne Sato

    Artist, film critic, and drag queen Vivienne Sato eschews identity labels and is known for bold blue lipstick and towering wigs. “I suppose I want it a little — for people to complain, to say something. I want to be the noise, you know?”

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Atsushi Matsuda

    Butoh dancer Atushi Matsuda

    Butoh dancer Atsushi Matsuda began his creative journey as a drag queen in Kyoto’s inclusive queer scene, going by the name of Cherry Vanilla. As his drag became more conceptual and genre-defying, he found a new sense of belonging in the celebrated butoh troupe Dairakudakan.

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Dokumurasaki Kano at Department H

    Kano Dokumurasaki in Queer Japan

    Kano Dokumurasaki at the legendary underground Tokyo fetish party Department H.

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Gengoroh Tagame at The Eagle in New York City

    gengoroh tagame at the Eagle-in-new-york-city.

    Gay erotic artist Gengoroh Tagame is known around the world for his hardcore BDSM-themed manga, and G-men, the seminal gay magazine he co-edited in the 1990s. These days, Tagame has hit the mainstream with his first family-friendly manga, the sensitive family drama My Brother’s Husband (Volume 1 and 2)

    Akira the Hustler

    Akira the Hustler

    Contemporary artist, bartender, and activist Akira the Hustler works to create social change with the intersectional activist group Tokyo No Hate, taking on anti-Korean hate groups in a series of contentious counter-protests.

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    The FTM Party Grammy Tokyo

    Queer Japan

    At the FTM party Grammy Tokyo. 

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Simone Fukayuki

    simone-fukayuki

    Simone Fukayuki, drag queen of the West, serving looks in Osaka.

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Tokyo Rainbow Pride

    Toyko Rainbow Pride

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Drag Queen Margarette at Department H

    Drag Queen Margarette at Department H

    When not MCing Department H in drag as Margarette, To Ogura, runs the queer bar/bookstore Okamalt in Tokyo.

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Go-Go dancer at Club Explosion in Osaka

    Queer Japan

    The queer Club Explosion in Osaka, Japan.

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Saeborg

    Queer Japan

    Nonbinary performance artist Saeborg creates (and performs in) a rubber second skin as a pig, part of the underground rubber fetish scene (rubber furries).

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Hiroshi Hasegawa and Genoroh Tagame

    Queer Japan

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Atsushi Matsuda dancing with Dairakudakan.

    Atsushi Matsuda dancing with Dairakudakan.

    Tomato Hatakeno

    Queer Japan

    Transgender activist and video game guide book author Tomato Hatakeno is a powerful voice advocating for understanding and equality. She moved from from sex work to advocacy in the mid-90s, when she began her long-running website for the trans community, Transgender Cafe.

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Vivienne Sato

    Queer Japan

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Nogi Sumiko

    Queer Japan

    Multimedia artist Nogi Sumiko embraces ambiguities of identity, and channels her outsider status into irreverent art pieces, performing as a mischievous sheep that refuses to follow the flock.

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Tokyo Rainbow Pride

    Queer Japan

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Tokyo Rainbow Pride

    Queer Japan

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Genoroh Tagame

    Queer Japan

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Tokyo Rainbow Pride

    Queer Japan

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Tomato Hatakeno

    Queer Japan

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Aya Kamikawa at Tokyo Rainbow Pride

    Queer Japan

    In April 2003, Aya Kamikawa became the first out transgender person elected to public office in Japan.

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Nogi Sumiko

    Queer Japan

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Tokyo Rainbow Pride

    Queer Japan

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

    Vivienne Sato

    Queer Japan

    Still from Queer Japan courtesy of Graham Kolbeins.

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