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Unseen Japan
@UnseenJapanSite
The Japan you don’t learn about in anime. News, travel, culture, and history. Staff account. | Join our community: https://t.co/e2Qtdn6pIk
May 15, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
A lesbian couple in Tokyo says they were refused assistance in the delivery of their baby by two different hospitals. One physician flat out told the couple the hospital likely wouldn't provides services to a same sex couple. Image The couple said they were also told that, because they used a sperm donor, the hospital feared being sued by the unknown father if a procedure like abortion was necessary. Japanese law holds that the father's permission isn't required if a couple isn't married.
May 14, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
This is why we can’t have nice things: kissa (cafe) chain Komeda has temporarily stopped selling its kuro-neige black montblanc dessert. It appears anime otaku have been over-ordering it after a similar poop-shaped dessert was featured in the anime Lycoris Recoil. ImageImage This is our second time covering Lycoris Recoil. Previously the anime made news when its creative team felt forced to tell fans not to smoke a flower that is, in fact, poisonous. unseenjapan.com/lycoris-recoil…
Apr 3, 2023 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Shocking - shocking! - to see that the dude blogging for fascist dollars knows as little about Japan as he does the US.

While a lot of progress still needs to be made (particularly for trans folks), understanding/acceptance of LGBTQ people in Japan moves forward. A majority of Japan supports marriage equality, even though the main conservative political party is resistant. But even the LDP brass is working to pass an LGBT understanding bill. For now, partnership systems cover over half of Japan's population. unseenjapan.com/lgbt-partnersh…
Apr 3, 2023 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Why is Yasukuni Shrine (靖国神社) in Japan so controversial? It comes down to the 14 Class-A war criminals enshrined there - people who were never, in reality, supposed to be enshrined in the first place. Yasukuni Shrine Emperor Meiji constructed Yasukuni it under a different name (Tokyo Shokonsha) in 1869 to commemorate soldiers who died for the country after the Boshin War (1868-1869). He renamed it in 1879 to Yasukuni - "peaceful country".
Apr 2, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Renowned composer Sakamoto Ryuichi (坂本 龍一) has passed away at the age of 71. Sakamoto was a noted electronic music pioneer and international award-winning soundtrack composer, having supplied iconic scores for movies like Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and The Last Emperor. Sakamoto began playing piano at the age of 3, and in 1978 formed the influential electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra with Hosono Haruomi and Takahashi Yukihiro. In film, he not only composed award winning scores, but also acted as well.news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/4c170…
Apr 2, 2023 • 11 tweets • 5 min read
Some people say that there's no feminism in Japan.

Here's a century-plus of prominent Japanese feminists and their work. 🧵 Kusunose Kita (楠瀬喜多), a 45-year-old widow and landowner, sued the Japanese government in 1875 and refused to pay taxes because they wouldn't allow her to vote. Her victory was short-lived but she became known as the "Grandma of Civil Rights" in Japan.
Apr 1, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Fantastic news for a persecuted Ugandan LGBTQ woman who was awarded refugee status by a court in Japan: the Immigration Services Agency says it won’t appeal the court’s ruling, meaning her refugee status is confirmed! We wrote about this case here. It’s the first time a court in Japan has awarded refugee status on the basis of someone’s sexual identity. ISA refused her request for refugee status twice. unseenjapan.com/lgbtq-refugee-…
Mar 5, 2023 • 9 tweets • 5 min read
Weebs: Stop imposing queerness in Japan! It doesn't exist!!

Japan: Here's a heartwarming story about an older transgender woman living in rural Japan, her life, and the prejudices she works to overcome.

(Via @transincountry, the video's subject) Okuda Kei (62) left Shobara, Hiroshima at an early age. Despite early signs, she didn't fully realize she was a woman until age 58. She takes care of her 90yo mother now & hopes to make ppl in her town understand that "Sexual minorities aren't mythical creatures. We're real."
Mar 2, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Okawa Ryuho, Master of the controversial new religion Happy Science and self-described reincarnation of Buddha, Hermes, and a variety of mortal and celestial beings, has died at the age of 66. This sudden passing will come as a major shock to his claimed 11 million adherents. Image Happy Science has been a major player in the world of Japanese new religions since the 90s, engaging in proselytization via anime and running its own far-right religious party. Okawa’s unending series of spiritual medium “interview” books have been bestsellers. Image
Mar 2, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
A fake castle in Akabira, Hokkaido. During the excesses of the bubble era, multiple entities with excess cash on their hands built such castles. This one was a showroom and production facility for a doll company. OP, an urban explorer, has more pictures of the faux-castle sitting in mild disrepair besides a man-made pond. Other castles of this like can be found in Yonago, Tottori, and elsewhere.
Oct 25, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
A woman’s husband thought he was having an affair because he seemed so happy & was coming home late from work. So she hired a detective agency…and found out he was just a massive Hatsune Miku fan who was attending 3D concerts and singing her songs alone in karaoke rooms 💀 In the end, his wife accepted his otaku-ness and he made up for it by picking up the detective agency fee and taking her on a Disneyland vacation. So all’s well that ends well ❤️
Oct 23, 2022 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
The phrase #外国人に土地を売らないで ("don't sell land to foreigners") is trending on Japanese Twitter, the belated result of the fervent words said by musician Nagabuchi Tsuyoshi to a crowded venue in Kagawa some weeks ago. The involved tweets are about the quality you'd expect. Nagabuchi is referring to the selling off of large tracks of depopulating countryside to largely Chinese financial/corporate interests, but his words are exciting nationalists who see these capitalists ventures as a literal slow-moving foreign invasion.
Jul 18, 2022 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
The hashtag "So the LDP was just the Unification Church after all" (#自民党って統一教会だったんだな) trends on Japanese Twitter as users contend with discussion regarding the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party's connections to the "new religion" founded by Sun Myung Moon. This shows attorney and cult expert Kito Masaki appearing on Japanese TV to discuss Moon's arrival in Japan in 1993, post prison stint in the US for tax evasion/conspiracy, pointing out how LDP power broker Kanemaru Shin helped push the LDP towards Moon.
Jul 17, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
"Points for artistry"
"I thought it was that thing you use to stir matcha
Spent about 4 seconds confused as heck🍵😂"
Jul 14, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
"I'm certain there's YouTubers already planning on filming themselves venturing into cults. And they're going to be like 'they were friendlier than I expected.' Cause everyone loves a 'they look scary but they're actually nice~'-type story." 1/2
"Back in the day, the show TUNNELS had Aum Shinrikyo and their cult leader on to demonstrate how approachable they were (something I watched on in horror in realtime)." 2/2
Jul 12, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
"This is an announcement of the results of my PCR test."
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....("Yo! Say!" sounds exactly like 「陽性」: "Positive.")
The above song is TM Revolution's 1998 classic "Hot Limit." The song was TM Revolution's second single to hit #1 on the Oricon charts; since the song is nearly 25 years old, I guess we can now officially consider it an Oldie.
Dec 14, 2020 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
The NYT writer who wrote the article about Pornhub’s child exploitation that prompted Visa and MasterCard to refuse payment processing is now being harassed by...Japanese dudes who apparently love child porn. Because of course he is. Comments are calling @NickKristof a “f*cking feminist” and a “Chinese puppet”. Which is, um...
Oct 12, 2020 • 6 tweets • 5 min read
The new Japanese drama season has started in earnest, so a thread with my thoughts!

(1) 24 JAPAN - very much like its namesake. But I love the twist of the plot centered on the assassination of the country's first female PM. Very much in keeping with the times. Other surprises: Kimura Tae plays a major role, and a small (so far) appearance by Kurihara Rui - who I will admit I had no idea was half until he spoke a line with a perfect English accent and I looked him up. (His English name is Louis Kurihara.)
Mar 10, 2020 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
You know what? I'm sick of repeating myself. Here's a list of all the old, tired attacks that weebs use against us when they get a bug up their butt.

From now on, I'm just linking to this tread instead of replying to people b/c the attacks all follow the same, boring pattern. "You're importing Western SJW bias into Japan!"

No. Japan's marginalized communities are speaking up on their own behalf. This is particularly true when it comes to the conditions women face in Japan.

unseenjapan.com/infographic-ge…