Is Japan more transgender friendly?

Thank you for those who have taken the time to read my original posting on transgender issues in general. I received an email from the reader who was making a point of asking me not to refer to Caitlyn as “He” since she has made the decision to live with Caitlyn Jenner, I should be respectful of that. I completely agree with this and although I was trying to be as neutral as possible in my original posting, personally I am very supportive of anybody who are trying to be true to themselves without harming other people regardless of what the issues are.

So I decided to re-write my original posting about Japan being more transgender friendly than the U.S. This is based on my experience of living in these two countries.

Bruce Jenner said during the interview with Diane Sawyer that she identified herself with a woman. There was widespread speculation that Bruce Jenner was going through this transformation and that she was finally coming out to be true to herself.

Personally, I was very touched by her interview. It is not always easy to be true to ourselves especially when millions of people are watching you and you are going through this change under public scrutiny.

As growing up Hafu in the countryside of Japan, I can totally related to her experience. Not quite the same but I did have this public face and it was very important for me not to talk about my heritage because nobody would notice anything unless I told people that I was Hafu. That was a horrible feeling because that is basically giving myself this message that it was not ok to be true to myself.

The interesting thing is that America is a society of diverse people and cultures. But there are so many people who don’t tolerate certain things mainly because of their religions.

Japan is a very homogeneous society that has always been culturally isolated and that the country has a long way to go in terms of cultural diversity. But how about transgender, gay and lesbian people? Are they treated any better in Japan? Interestingly, I do feel that the majority of people in Japan don’t see these issues in good or bad. In America, many religious people feel that it is not ok to change your sex or to be attracted to same sex because God created us as male or female. So you are violating that if you “choose” to change the nature.

So it becomes a huge deal in the U.S. but the majority of Japanese people are non religious, therefore many of us don’t have very strong opinions on this issue. It is still difficult and these people do face discrimination in both countries. But I feel that transgender people are more celebrated in Japanese society as there are so many transgender celebrities who became very popular because of their brutal honesty and characteristics.

My favorite transgender celebrity is Matsuko Delux. I just love how she is brutally honest and is not apologetic about being who she is. I believe that her attitude, just being who she is the reason that made her a very popular TV personality.
She wears thick makeup and put her hair up in a unique way. She is so popular for her no-nonsense brutal bluntness. She doesn’t care what you think of her. I personally love her but there are so many transgender celebrities in Japan and they have publicly shared their difficult past and struggles on TV and their stories continue to inspire us.

What do you think? Do you think Japan is more transgender friendly than America? I think so and I like it that way.