Cross Dressing in Japan

It's been awhile, ad-mist all the introspection we have gone through here in Cyrsti's Condo.  We haven't had time to rummage through the closet and find a pair of comfortable traveling shoes and head to Japan.

This post comes from Rocket News 24 :

"Crossdressing and genderbending are not only long-time staples of Japanese anime and manga, but also of TV and celebrity culture. From this, anyone would think that Japan was one of the most open and accepting countries when it comes to people who don’t fit into traditional gender roles or relationships. However, the reality outside of media and entertainment is often quite different. Family and work life are both still clearly divided down gender lines, and men who engage in anything that blurs or crosses these lines are generally shunned. But could the girl who dumps a guy just because he turns up to a date in a dress be the one who’s really missing out?

Terms such as transgendered and transvestite have loaded meanings in English that don’t always correlate with Japanese views, so in this case we’ll be using the Japanese term ‘otoko no ko‘. The terms otoko no ko and josoushi are used  to describe a man who dresses like, and sometimes also lives like, a woman. Otoko no ko has the same reading as the word for ‘boy’ (男の子), but in this case the final kanji character is replaced with the one for ‘daughter’ (男の娘), which changes the meaning.

According to Naoko Tachibana, the otoko no ko boom began around 2009 and continues to grow with the launch of makeup magazines and salons catering specifically to them. It’s certainly true that companies have been scrambling to get their fingers in the pie of this niche market with all kinds of unnecessary products.

This post is a very interesting look at the cross dressing culture of Japan and you can read more by following the "Rocket 24" link above!