Telling Her Story: Narrating a Japanese Lesbian Community

This paper explores queer Japanese women's narratives of their own histories and the history of the “Japanese lesbian community,” which has been constructed as a space outside the heterosexual mainstream, a space where queer women can find at least temporary refuge. It begins with the acknowledgement that the evolution and the shape of the community, along with the identities of the women who comprise it, are shifting and contested. This paper specifically looks at the long history of the lesbian bar scene as well as more recent history of lesbian dance parties; the early role of lesbian feminism and activism; lesbian community-based and commercial publications, paying special attention to the critical role translation has played in Japanese lesbian discourse and the construction of multiple lesbian identities; and, finally, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) pride events and film festivals, through which the larger LGBT community has been gaining increasing visibility. This paper argues that while some of the building blocks of the community are borrowed, from the “West” as well as from the Japanese gay community, there has also been creative translation, adaptation and resistance to these imports. The resulting Japanese lesbian community is a complex and local construct, an innovative bricolage firmly sited in Japan.