🇺🇦 🇵🇸 🕊️ James Welker
@james_welker
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ジェームズ・ウェルカー（he/him）🇯🇵 queer cultures｜feminisms｜popular culture クィアスタディーズ｜フェミニズム｜日本文化史｜BL&yuri research→ @blmediainasia ｜Insta→jamesinyokohama 🟦sky→ jameswelker
Yokohama, Japan
Joined April 2009
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Coming in July
James Welker, Transfiguring Women in Late Twentieth-Century Japan: Feminists, Lesbians, and Girls' Comics Artists and Fans (Hawai'i 2024)
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A box of Japanese KitKats and Pocky I sent my sister in August 2017 just came back to me as undeliverable. I just can’t even…
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Folx in and near Taipei, I'll be giving a talk on
#BL
in Asia on Mon., Oct. 21 at National Taiwan University. Please come!
I might even talk about
@PenguinFrontier
's gorgeous art (attached) as part of the broader phenomenon of boys love media transfigured around Asia!
#BLinAsia
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いよいよ『BLが開く扉——変容するアジアのセクシュアリティとジェンダー』（青土社）が10月25日から購入いただけます！
BL Opening Doors: Transfiguring Sexuality and Gender in Asia is avail from Oct 25 (Eng book is in the works)!
目次はリンク先へどうぞ
#BLinAsia
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個人書店を支援しましょう！
2020年4月以降、全国の通販で買える個人書店一覧（4/8更新）
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Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia will be officially released in May. I just got my copy now!
I hope you’re all as excited about this collection of fabulous essays as I am.
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.
@JapanPostHD_PR
よ、外国人はこのサービス一切使えないですよ。外国人でも使えるサービスを作って下さい！送った方が私達の名前をどういう風に書いたかわからないから困ってますよ。ローマ字？全角字？カタカナ？スペル当てる？姓・名？ファースト・ラストネーム？一致する可能性が非常に低いです。
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Yaoi and BL Get Their Own Museum Exhibit in Japan, May 20 to July 16.
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I now have the cassette of Ai no kusabi (間の楔, 1989), not the 1st BL cassette but the one that apparently set off the BL audio drama boom, and the Oct 1989 issue of Shosetsu June containing the scripts of both that drama and of Tsutsumigafuchi (鼓ヶ淵, 1988), which was the 1st.
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おかげさまで、『BLが開く扉 ―変容するアジアのセクシュアリティとジェンダー』の第3刷が今月、出ました。
大人気のタイBLや中国のダンメイ（耽美）などの背景や当地のファン文化にご興味をお持ちの方、ぜひお読みください。
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I can't wait until the Japanese vaccine passport app finally comes out, freeing us to gather and move around more safely—but then won't accept foreign names.
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@Japanese_Puffin
@willeke4439
The black experience in Japan is a whole other level of troubling—extreme racism combined with xenophobia. I suggest looking for things by Baye McNeil and others who have written quite a bit about their experiences.
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I’m pleased to announce “From Cool Japan to Cruel Japan: A Roundtable on the Multilayered Effects of Japan’s Extreme Border Restrictions on Japanese Studies,” w/
@MOrtabasi
, Karl Cheng Chua,
@Bec_Edo
, Barbara Greene, &
@sydney_olney
, will be part of the
#AAS2022
program in March.
CFP: Cruel Japan? The Impact of Japan's Border Restrictions on Japanese Studies (Online AAS 2022 Late-Breaking Session) [Deadline Dec.30]
This online late-breaking session roundtable for AAS restrictions at various levels. Details:
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Japanese bureaucracies are collectively killing the field of Japan Studies.
During the fifth wave, while people were dying here every day, we managed to hold the Olympics, but now we can’t let in those who actually care about Japan who want to live here.
#crueljapan
#入国禁止
Guess this is the final answer from JF. Remind me again what I did wrong?
「三月までに日本に入れなければ支援が取り消しになる」と言われたが、私の間違いは「外国人」で生まれたことかも
#入国禁止 #開国しなさいニッポン
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Fuck
#WhiteMaleTerrorism
! Fuck the
#NRA
! Fuck the
#RussianCollusion
that’s funding the murder by white men of countless innocents in the US. And fuck the
#Republicans
who keep preventing meaningful
#GunControl
.
#GilroyGarlicFestival
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This is all too much. I feel like those struggling to enter Japan are plucking at the petals of a daisy as if trying to read tea leaves:
“Japan wants me.” pluck
“Japan wants me not.” pluck
…
Everyone’s waiting to see what the last petal will bring.
Much to be done if they want this to work.
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Y’all are doing your best to make people give up on even entering Japan & faith that Japan will respect their right to be here (banning permanent residents from returning last year), & now you’re setting targets that will require WAVES of immigrants. Do you listen to yourselves?
Japanese Govt. to recruit 2.3 million digital workers under Digital Garden City Nation Vision. | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News
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Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia has an official cover—with a gorgeous image by
@PenguinFrontier
!!!
The book—with 19 chapters by 21 scholars writing about BL around Asia—comes out in May & is available for preorder everywhere.
Details:
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@HeikoMeins
@ivynoelle
You’re right. But that’s not the system. So if you’re in the US (and done other places) if you don’t tip properly you are a bad human being.
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Would you all mind reporting this second review? It’s an attack on BL and has nothing to do with the book or the reality of the BL genre or its fans. It’s also tr
@ns
/phobic and anti-autistic.
Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia (Asia Pop!)
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Move over “Cool Japan.” Make room for “Cruel Japan.”
Japan is wasting not just people’s lives (how many yeeeears can people be expected to wait with no end in sight?) but also the opportunity to grow future scholars and promoters of Japanese culture.
I am withdrawing from the Japan Foundation fellowship. I am heartbroken, but I am done waiting. I am done "hanging in there." 🧵
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Wow! I knew this was happening but am surprised the US Embassy is warning about it.
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One participant has a collection of 8,000 zines from the Star Trek fandom alone.
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Keiko Nishimura, "Gendering a Machine：Material and Narrative Contexts of the Human-Robot Interaction in BL/GL Manga"（lecture in English）
Zoom & in person at Kanagawa U, Minatomirai Campus
Tues, Nov 15 17:15–18:45
Pre-register by Nov 12 to join us in-person!
(Details→Flier)
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I just got my hands on original drawings of the anime version of Hagio Moto’s 11gatsu no gimunajiumu (November Gymnasium) and the program from the original screening of what was arguably the 1st BL anime!!!!
Details at the link:
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Apropos of my
@fujocon
panel this weekend on trans* fans of BL, yuri, and other queer media, here's an article on a manga featuring a trans character being banned.
Takako Shimura’s Wandering Son Banned in Texas
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Congratulations! You’ve been accepted at Japan’s top university.
Just so you know, if the Jgovt doesn’t let you in by the start of classes in April, please put your life on hold for a(nother) year. We won’t make a work-around in consideration of your unfair & cruel situation.
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My office door was open but my light was off so I could see these colours and eight students stopped to admire the view. I actually invited them in to take their own photos of this lovely sunset view.
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CFP: Cruel Japan? The Impact of Japan's Border Restrictions on Japanese Studies (Online AAS 2022 Late-Breaking Session) [Deadline Dec.30]
This online late-breaking session roundtable for AAS restrictions at various levels. Details:
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I'm giving an online lecture, "Cool Japan, Queer Japan? On Global Fandoms of Boys Love (BL) & Yuri Media and Local LGBTQ+ Identities," for GESSHIN at Ca’ Foscari University (Venice) at 10:30 am CET on Thursday, 2 Dec. All welcome. Registration required.
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LGBTQ Issues and the Globalization of “BL”
「＜BL＞の国際的な広がりと、各国のLGBTQ」
Nov. 25 & 26, 10:00–18:00
Meiji Univ Nakano Campus
11月25日（土）・26日（日）午前10時～午後6時
明治大学中野キャンパス
Details/詳細：
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Lecture: Ben Whaley, “Shōjo Manga and the Holocaust: Looking for Love in the Concentration Camps,” Kanagawa University Minatomirai Campus & Online, June 15, 17:15–18:45 (JST)
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Reminder that LGBTQ Issues and the Globalization of “BL” 「＜BL＞の国際的な広がりと、各国のLGBTQ」is being held in Tokyo (in person only) Nov. 25 and 26!
This will be an amazing weekend!
LGBTQ Issues and the Globalization of “BL”
「＜BL＞の国際的な広がりと、各国のLGBTQ」
Nov. 25 & 26, 10:00–18:00
Meiji Univ Nakano Campus
11月25日（土）・26日（日）午前10時～午後6時
明治大学中野キャンパス
Details/詳細：
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@vitopipoca
I misread. My apologies. Shōjo’ai was, to my knowledge, never widely used in Japan, if at all. That use seems to have been coined overseas.
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I just got my hot hands on three more issues of the Takemiya Keiko official fanclub’s fanzine Sunroom (up to 17 issues now), plus my first copy of the club’s newsletter, Kaze!
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Japan’s first permanent LGBTQ centre is opening in Tokyo next month
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A very nice summary in English of last weekend’s symposium on BL and LGBTQ issues at Meiji University. Give it a read if you missed it.
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日本語の学術論文の中に「日本」でなく「わが国」を使うのがヘンでしょうね？日本人でない読者の僕はすごく抵抗があるんです。アメリカについての学術論文の中に「our country」だって書けないでしょう。
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The Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies at Illinois, where I did my PhD, has kindly introduced my new collection on boys love (BL) in Asia.
Illinois Alumnus Dr. James Welker, professor in the Department of Cross-Cultural Studies at Kanagawa University, Yokohama, Japan, published his latest collection, Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia, with University of Hawai‘i Press on 05/31/22
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Yet family members of residents & those seeking to move to Japan are still stuck outside Japan, incl people who’ve resigned their current jobs on the promise of starting a new job in Japan.
They’re willing to quarantine for two weeks, something not quite required of athletes.
Japan to begin allowing foreign Olympic athletes' entry next month: Nikkei: Athletes participating in this year's Olympic Games in Tokyo can begin entering Japan after it lifts its emergency declaration order next month, the Nikkei newspaper reported on…
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Look who's featured scholar in my uni's mag! Tho I know it's bc my research = "diversity," it's nice 2 b recognized.
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I'll be doing a talk at FujoCon this summer & am torn between talking about fans of BL, yuri, &c. who aren't cis—an extremely important topic that's not receiving enough academic attention—& something on BL in Asia—a fun & also important topic that is. Thoughts?
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Queer Transfigurations is officially out today!
Hard cover and digital versions are available as of today, and—according to U Hawai'i Press (
@UHPRESSNEWS
)—a paperback version is coming out next February.
It's a fun & informative collection. I hope you'll give it a read!
Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia will be officially released in May. I just got my copy now!
I hope you’re all as excited about this collection of fabulous essays as I am.
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@nyukoku_news
We can’t do 交換留学 if we send our students abroad but our partner schools can’t send their students here. That’s NOT!!! an exchange.
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I'm thrilled to be finally receiving the page proofs of Queer Transfigurations—even if the timing is less than ideal.
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Call me crazy, but if you review an article for a journal, that should earn you free access to the journal for a year.
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Now Japanese citizens without an existing flight reservation can’t renter either. That sucks. But to all those who said 仕方ない about foreign residents not being allowed to reenter the country where they live & work who are themselves now trapped abroad, 仕方ない back at you!
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Speaking of June, I just got what is reputedly the first BL voice drama, the 1988 Tsuzumigafuchi, released by the then new label June Cassette!
My archive is growing! Now to find a cassette player!
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The special “Queer(ing)” issue of
@Mechademia
I edited is now out in print (though not yet online).
I can’t wait to get my hands on it! So much queer media & fandom goodness!!!
In the meantime, here’s a photo of the TOC I shamelessly stole from
@hedahlbergdodd
’s Twitter feed.
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If you read Japanese check out this article on the BL and LGBT symposium last month at Meiji U.
＜サブカルWorld＞（35）日本発のBL文化 都内で国際シンポジウム：東京新聞 TOKYO Web
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As I go through the copyedits for _Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia_ I am repeatedly struck by how fantastic it is. I feel so fortunate to have gathered such a great group of scholars of BL in Asia. This book, due out May 2022, is something to look forward to!
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Guess who in KL today found an early 1990s Taiwanese pirated translation anthology of Japanese Saint Seiya parody dōjinshi with lots of BL? Me, that’s who!
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Why are conservatives in Japan so concerned about what “gaikoku” thinks about Japan’s masking norms/rules but not its persistent discriminatory treatment of women and LGBTQ people and permissiveness toward issues like parental child abduction?
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Please join me for an online public book launch for
Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia, next Wednesday 29 June, 4–5pm JST
(I'll also be doing a book launch event, including chapter contributors, at
@fujocon
, this Sat. June 25, 10:30–11:59 pm CDT (Dallas time).)
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I am thrilled to finally be able to announce Global Queer Asias, a new book series from
@UofMPress
, edited by Howard Chiang and myself.
Please spread the word.
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I finally have a copy of the third printing of 『BLが��く扉』(BL ga hiraku tobira/BL opening doors). I’m thrilled the book is still selling three and a half years after it first came out.
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I just got my FREE ticket to
#FujoCon
2021, an amazing three-day online BL con (at which I'm also doing a panel).
Did I mention that it's free!! (You just need to register in advance.)
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Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia will be out in paperback on Feb. 28. Now's your chance to pre-order your copy!
Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia will be officially released in May. I just got my copy now!
I hope you’re all as excited about this collection of fabulous essays as I am.
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I’m thrilled to get my hands on an advance copy of 『BLの教科書』(BL Studies: An Introduction), which comes out in a week.
What a fantastic collection of essays plus a few fun columns, including one by me!
I can’t wait to find a bit of time to start reading it!
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@vitopipoca
Regardless, someone above was asking if GL was being used instead of “yuri,” and that’s not true. Also only people who reeeally know the history of “yaoi” know its original broader application.
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This book on the history of yuri fan culture in Taiwan I just picked up looks amazing! I wish it were in English or Japanese! At least there are charts and timelines I can look at.
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In addition to a giant stack of Padua magazine, many of which have annual BL reports, I got the issues of Shōjo Comic with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd installments of Kaze to ki no uta. The opening scene is color!
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@Qnir
@chelseahandler
@SenatorCollins
I, for one (million), am donating to the campaign of
@SenatorCollins
’s opponent, the very capable
@SaraGideon
. Collins has no spine & no soul. Gideon has both—plus ethics. If you’re a US citizen join me in supporting the demise of Collins’s career. (Her soul is already dead.)
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Here are all the fantastic papers and panels on manga, anime, games, and fandoms at
@aasinasia
in Daegu later this month.
(The link takes you to a PDF with hyperlinks.)
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The Govt of Japan (
@MofaJapan_en
@MofaJapan_jp
@kantei
) is killing Japanese Studies by shutting the country’s doors to the world indefinitely—even as
@mextjapan
keeps promoting “International Japanese Studies.”
"Japan basically betrayed me.”
Japan’s strict border controls have locked out foreign academics and challenged the country’s soft power push
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At long last, paperback copies of Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia!
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What’s with people trapped outside Japan embracing Japanese xenophobic terms and attacking those of us who live here? The vast majority of foreign residents welcome new students and workers. We want open borders. Don’t throw Japanese xenophobia at us.
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I will also be at
@FujoCon
speaking with 5 chapter authors about our new book Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia. Whether or not you've read it yet, you're all welcome to ask questions & help us celebrate.
Join us Sat. June 25, 10:30PM-11:59PM CDT (US Central)
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Thanks to everyone for making Queer Transfigurations the “Number One New Release” in Asian Art History, Number Five New Release in Pop Culture in Graphic Design, and Number Ten New Release in Media Studies (Kindle Store)!
Queer Transfigurations is officially out today!
Hard cover and digital versions are available as of today, and—according to U Hawai'i Press (
@UHPRESSNEWS
)—a paperback version is coming out next February.
It's a fun & informative collection. I hope you'll give it a read!
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Happening this weekend in Tokyo: The first major BL symposium in six years!
Please register and come!
LGBTQ Issues and the Globalization of “BL”
「＜BL＞の国際的な広がりと、各国のLGBTQ」
Nov. 25 & 26, 10:00–18:00
Meiji Univ Nakano Campus
11月25日（土）・26日（日）午前10時～午後6時
明治大学中野キャンパス
Details/詳細：
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I've made lists of papers and panels related to queer studies, BL/danmei/yuri/queer manga, and comics/anime/games at
#AAS2023
.
DM me or reply if you'd like copies. (Sadly, I can't just post files here.)
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My chapter "From Women’s Liberation to Lesbian Feminism in Japan: Rezubian Feminizumu within and beyond the Ūman Ribu Movement in the 1970s and 1980s" in Rethinking Japanese Feminisms (2018) is now open access.
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I fear for the future of Japanese Studies, I really do.
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Speaking of latching on to Japanese words as if the concepts behind them are unique to Japan, I present The Book of Ichigo Ichie: The Art of Making the Most of Every Moment, the Japanese Way
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Manga for the Classroom
April 29th 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM (US, East Coast time)
Free Panel Discussion
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And just like that, Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia (pub. May 2022) is up on Amazon!
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Here’s a lovely summary of the talk I’ve been giving the past two years on BL in Asia.
In Professor James Welker's (
@james_welker
) lecture at The University of Tokyo, he took a regional approach to BL studies and gave an overview of the sociocultural impacts BL media has had in Asia.
Read more here:
#BLinAsia
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@vitopipoca
@hazukirenren
@720gou
@Eizzah__
I’m afraid you’re wrong. Both yuri and girls love are used here. I haven’t done surveys but I’m fairly certain yuri is still more popular among fans themselves. (Yaoi didn’t disappear overnight either. It was still being used well into the 2000s.)
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Look what's just been reviewed in the Asahi Shinbun!
「ＢＬが開く扉」書評 経済にも政治にも影響力
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So excited to see a new special issue of Asian Anthropology on "Queer Lives in Contemporary Japan," guest edited by Sabine Frühstück, with articles by Shu Min Yuen, Michelle H. S. Ho, Adrienne Renee Johnson
@HeadbangingHip
, & S. P. F. Dale!
Check it out!
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Check out Sirpa Salenius, ed. Gender in Japanese Popular Culture: Rethinking Masculinities and Femininities (Palgrave Macmillan 2023).
It’s
#OpenAccess
!! And has great looking chapters on BL, crossdressing, and more!!
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Check out this open-access book:
Martin Roth, Hiroshi Yoshida, and Martin Picard, eds. Japan's Contemporary Media Culture between Local and Global. Content, Practice and Theory (CrossAsia-eBooks, 2021)
Great chapters on manga, anime, games, and fans!!!
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I'll finally be giving a talk in Japan on
#BLinAsia
:
To Asia with (Boys) Love: BL Media & the Transfiguration of Gender & Sexuality
Jan 7, 6:00–7:30PM
University of Tokyo (Hongo Campus)
Details:
PS I'll be doing the same in CDMX Nov 29 & Seoul Feb 25
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Japan’s inhumane border rules have a very human cost.
Hello
@JapaninCanada
@JapanCons_vanc
I have a very important message for Consul General Hatori. I would appreciate a prompt answer and swift resolution to this issue, which constitutes a human rights violation.
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How cool is this?
@chillchill_bl
has a whole page introducing resources that students can use to write graduation theses on BL, including my own edited collection _BL ga hiraku tobira_ among many important academic studies of BL!
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I now have two theme music albums for Takemiya Keiko’s Song of the Wind and the Trees plus one for her Variations. They all date to the beginning of the 1980s. The records look hardly played. If only I had a record player to hear the music she selected.
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@_queerioes
I would add to the first thing you underlined that some BL artists are increasingly creating more realistic representations of "real" gay men. That seemed rather rare at the time Mark and I wrote that (in the early 2010s—academic publications take forever!) things are changing.
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Please join us for a lecture by Mark Bookman (Tokyo College):
What Can Japan Teach Us About Global Disability Studies? Lessons to Learn from the Perspective of an Overseas Wheelchair User
3:30–5 pm, Wed., Nov. 24, 2021
Kanagawa Univ., Minatomirai (KU community only) & Online
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My Portuguese-speaking amigas, amigos, & amiges, I'll be participating virtually (along with my scholar buddies
@khursten
&
@tbaudinette
) in
@blymecon
on July 30.
It's going to be a fun mix of panels and fun and games all celebrating BL. Be sure to register & join the fun!
AQUI ESTÁ A PROGRAMAÇÃO DA BLYMECON!
Lembrando que ainda teremos jogos, Artists' Alley e sorteios acontecendo durante todo o evento
Pode ser que haja alterações na programação até o dia do evento, então fiquem atentos a qualquer novidade!
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I’ll be at
@blymecon
this summer (in English with Portuguese subtitles). I’ll do my best to answer your questions!
Quer mandar uma pergunta para nosso convidado?
Nosso painel com James Welker terá uma sessão de perguntas e respostas!
Mais informações sobre James e o livro "Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia", que ele apresentará, no forms:
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Anti-Trump projection artist protests the president & Japanese PM at Yasukuni Shrine! ^^
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I just now started to read the huge BL feature in the July issue of Da Vinci. And, behold, there’s a reference to 『BLが開く扉』 (yay!), alongside news of the exciting new 『BLの教科書』coming out in a few weeks. It’s fantastic BL is getting so much mainstream attention now.
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Japan is hostile for LGBTQ people, but attitudes are shifting. Slowly. [gift link]
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