Despite Tran’s findings in the Hong Duc compendium, many claim that there are currently no laws against homosexuality in Vietnam, or in earlier periods of Vietnam’s history. This assertion has been made by researchers in Vietnam (Khuat et al. 2009), Anglophone researchers (Pastoetter 2001), international legal and human rights organisations (AsylumLaw 2009; ILGA 2012; IGLHRC […]

Contemporary Vietnamese vernacular terms for homosexuality (pe-de and dong tinh luyen ai) may have first emerged during French colonialism (1854—1954). Vietnamese same-sex homoerotic and socially sanctioned forms of gender transgression, however, have existed across multiple sectors of society, including in spiritual shamanism and in domestic histories of the legal treatment of sodomy dating back to […]

Natalie Newton Introduction Xuan Dieu (1916—85) is perhaps one of the most prolific and well-respected authors in modern Vietnamese literature, authoring over 450 poems and short stories. Hoai Thanh, a fellow poet and founder of the Vietnamese New Poetry movement in the 1930s, once called Xuan Dieu ‘the prince of love poems (ong hoang cia […]

Until recently the majority of sexual minority studies on Japan have been conducted by sociologists or historians. However, analyses of sexual minorities and queer cultures employing literary criticism (for instance, Kuroiwa 2008; Angles 2011; Vincent 2012), critical theories (for instance, Shimizu 2008; Mackintosh 2010; Suganuma 2012), linguistics (for instance, Maree 2007), and cinema criticism (for […]

In Japanese society, sexual minorities, who suffer from various forms of discrimination and dis­advantage, have reason to feel solidarity with other marginalised groups, such as persons with disabilities. In the case of transgendered persons, they are actually seen as having a disability, because of the ubiquity of the term GID (gender identity disorder), seidoitsusei shOgai […]

There has been a widespread perception that Japanese society is ‘tolerant’ towards homosexuality and queer cultures in general (Vincent et al. 1997: 46—47). This type of observation is often made when Japan is compared to the West in binary terms with regard to sexual norms. Some have supported such an assumption by simply referring to […]

Japan is, needless to say, a country of diverse ethnicities and nationalities, despite claims to the contrary. The popular assumption which says that Japan is a culturally homogeneous nation only perpetuates the myth of a distinctive ‘Japaneseness’ at the expense of ethnic and national minorities living in the country (Befu 2001). Immoderate reliance on the […]

The term ‘queer’ was once replete with memories of abuse and discrimination against homo­sexual people. Since the 1990s, however, many activists and academics alike, particularly in North America, have started to redefine the notion of ‘queer’ and use it as a critical paradigm through which to call into question the hegemony of heterosexuality in society. […]

While academic studies as well as equal rights movements for gays and lesbians in Japan have advanced since the 1990s, concerns for other sexual minorities have also been raised. Amongst these others, issues surrounding transgendered persons have garnered much public as well as academic attention since the early 2000s. The use of the term ‘transgender’ […]

There have been numerous works published by both academics and non-academics who have attempted to critique heteronormative understandings of Japan’s culture and society. The majority of such critical works have appeared since the early 1990s. In general, these works can be categorised into two streams. Some focus on the contemporary social situation facing members of […]