LGBT Night @genroncafé (Guest Speakers: Tagame Gengoroh, Christopher Lowy) The Transformation of Being “Out”
*Bilingual event for both of English and Japanese speakers.

Date: December 12 (Fri), 2015

Time: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Door Open: 6:00)
*After the event, there will be an ordinary bar, so you can enjoy your drink.
*You can also purchase my books from Pot Publishing Co. at there. If you need my autograph, please ask me freely.

Tickets : ¥3,100 (Include 1 drink)
Advance Tickets: ¥2,600
*Genron Supporters members or those with a valid student ID can receive 500 yen back by displaying ID at the door.

More detail of the event and to get the advance tickets is HERE.
And the event will be also live-streamed on Niconico Live.

Place: Genron Café in Gotanda, Tokyo

The outline of the event:

Though LGBT rights in the United States varies greatly by state, the rapid shift in public opinion favoring the expansion of these rights to the national level is an undeniable reality that has translated into policy change.

Examples of such change include the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in 2010, the passing in the Senate of the first LGBT anti-discrimination laws in 2013, and the reality that currently 31 states allow same-sex marriage. Along with these changes has been a steady stream of high-profile individuals – politicians, actors, intellectuals, and athletes – coming out of the closet, as well as the highly publicized “It Gets Better Campaign.”

Another change is in the understanding of what it means “to come out”: that is, “coming out” is normalizing, changing from something one must do to something one can or can’t do, with the implication being that at some point “coming out” – and thus being “out” – will become obsolete.

What effects have these changes had on the gay community in Japan? Internationally acclaimed manga artist Tagame Gengoroh can help answer that question: with the start of his new serialization in Monthly Action, “My Younger Brother’s Husband” (Otōto no otto), Tagame for the first time addresses a straight audience.

Problematizing the issue of same-sex marriage, Tagame confronts head-on the domestic reality of being gay in Japan in an ever-growing gay-friendly international community. With “My Younger Brother’s Husband,” Tagame, who has done much to preserve the history of gay art in Japan (see his two-volume Gay Erotic Art in Japan), seems to be distancing himself from the “membership” (kaiin) culture associated with earlier generations of gays. But in a country where so few people in the public sphere are “out,” how can Japan’s gay community begin to cope with international standards and expectations for openness (which is so often determined by what happens in the public sphere) when domestic circumstances are not favorable to it and, for many in the gay community, coming out is viewed as more troublesome than it is worth?

Join us for a bilingual discussion with Tagame Gengoroh about manga, outness, and where Japan’s gay community is headed! (Christopher Lowy)

I’m waiting for your coming and watching! 😉