I started using my 2nd Japanese Twitter account a.k.a. my bar business account to share short videos, like this one about homophobia and J-pop vocal covers. In the video below (don’t worry, it’s subbed in English), I talk about this weird experience I had on a Japanese train about 10 years ago in Tokyo and how it taught me the… Read more →
I updated my YouTube channel with the short video I had previously uploaded to Twitter (my 2nd Japanese account). It’s a Q&A video where I answer this question I’ve received from a few customers at my bar, “I can’t help feeling grossed out by the idea of homosexuality. Is that a wrong thing?” Make sure to turn on English subtitles. Read more →
This video is about 3 years old but for some reason I didn’t post it here on my blog. It’s on my English channel, which I’m rejuvenating (finally). So make sure to subscribe to this channel even if you’re already subscribed to my Japanese channel! Read more →
One of the reasons I started this channel was because I had activist/scholar friends who struggled with English when communicating with fellow activists, researchers, scholars etc. from other cultures. I wanted to help them. Some of my past videos are directly catered to that kind of audience, but here’s my serious attempt to create a repository of social justice vocabulary… Read more →
How do we talk about sexism, heterosexism, and ciscentrism in anime/manga when it’s part of “their culture”? Can we criticize misogynous, homophobic and transphobic anime/manga without being ethnocentric and arrogant? What’s the best way to address them? Or should we all shut our mouths and let them be? Would that make us anti-feminist and anti-queer? Read more →
In this English lesson video, I explain to ESL learners the meaning of the word “sound” in the sense of an argument being logical and based on truth, then move on to explain validity and soundness using one of the homophobic arguments recently made by Japanese lawmaker Mio Sugita where she argues that students should not be taught about LGBT… Read more →
Consumers and creators of BL are often the target of online harassment and attacks. But I think there’s misogyny and homophobia behind that. (This video is in Japanese but subbed in English.) Read more →
How do I say “bless you” in Japanese when someone sneezes? Why do Japanese people say “itadakimasu” (I shall take/eat it) before eating something? Well, language and culture are closely tied to each other. And to really speak a second language naturally, you need to learn the culture as well. But, what if that second culture contains something bad, like… Read more →
There is a growing number of educators, public speakers, workshop organizers etc. who publicly talk about LGBTQ issues. But not all of them are good. In this video I share with you some common mistakes those people make in their lectures/workshops, and explain why they are wrong. Read more →
“Hate crime is nonexistent in Japan,” “Japan only recently started having pride marches,” “homosexuality is accepted in Japan because of the traditional male-male shudo sexual/romantic culture,” “Japanese media are LGBT-friendly,” and “Taiga Ishikawa is the first openly gay politician in Japan” are all false! Read more →
