News Sushi #59 And we keep serving News Sushi!
Editor Note:It is Friday and that means it is time for the World Famous, soon to be Intergalactic Famous, News Sushi from our very own, Hamish Downie. Hamish brings us a decidedly different slant on Pop Culture as viewed through the lens of a non-native living in Japan.
Thank you Hamish, for your insights.
I know I’m not supposed to get political… but this week, big things are rumbling here in Japan, so it’s hard to ignore.
A friend of mine who works in Law and HR in Japan posted this blog to his followers on linkedin recently:
Same sex marriage in Japan takes a step closerhttps://t.co/YcaCk4ioiJ
— Hamish Downie (@hamishdownie) April 17, 2019
Quote: “21+ Japanese and global organisations have now endorsed the business case for equal marriage in Japan, including Robert Walters and most recently Japan’s in-house bengoshi lawyers association, the Japan In-House Lawyers Association (JILA).”
As I said on twitter, Japan takes a step closer to acceptance. Which I hope is not too political for some to digest.
On the other hand, we need to temper this with the very real problems that outing can still cause here in Japan [trigger warning].
Concerns rise in Japan over growing number of LGBT people being publicly ‘outed’ https://t.co/yw0ti3pW6u
— Hamish Downie (@hamishdownie) April 21, 2019
If anyone has ever wondered why my partner is closeted, part of the reason can be found in the above article. In a society where “the nail that sticks out gets hammered down” (Japanese proverb), it’s hard to be different.
That said, the waves of change are starting, however small.
I wrote a piece covering @mrgayjapan
@Tiger_Shigetake LGBTI people in ‘Japanese society need to have a voice and speak out freely’. #mrgayworld #mrgayworld2019https://t.co/f1qUzB91Pe @mrgay— °•◦Ꭶʜᴀᴍ°•°₩ᴀʀᴀɪᴄʜ◦•° (@Sham_WRcH) April 13, 2019
As someone who finds beauty pageants horribly outdated, it’s important to sometimes remember that they can also be acts of defiance. To say, “I’m here”. We are here in Japan.
If you love Japan, you don’t leave it. You stay and make it better. If we all run from the assholes of the world, then the assholes will run the world. https://t.co/MQCdmzPMRS https://t.co/IsOYwbm4sw
— Jake Adelstein/中本哲史 (@jakeadelstein) April 10, 2019
Just a quote from Jake for anyone who might say, “if you don’t like it – go home”.
And now for something completely different…
Everyone’s favourite Punnisher is back!!!!
HOT LINK OF THE WEEK!
That’s all for this week!
Thanks for visiting. Let us know what you think.