Comment Policy
Offensive, harrassing or baiting comments will not be tolerated and will be deleted at my discretion.
Comment spam will be deleted.
Please leave a name and either a valid web-site or e-mail address with comments. Comments left without either a valid web-site or e-mail address may be deleted. Atom Feed LiveJournal SyndicationLOLcats feed
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
An Excerpt
from Boye De Mente's Bachelor's Japan, 1962.
'Another area of Japan's mizu shobai which is peculiar if not unique is the role played by the country's ample collection of "gay" boys who in Japan are known as "sister-boys."[Like so many other words fashionable in Japan today, the term "sister-boy" was taken from an American movie (Tea and Sympathy).] Here, where there are no legal or social sanctions to inhibit them, the "gay" ones really let their hair down, many of them dressing and acting like women in public as well as private. ... To the Japanese these bars are known as "Flowers of Evil," and because they are staffed by young men and boys, do not come under the anti-prostitution law. Most "gay" boys range in age from 18 to 25. Customers of such bars include middle-aged men (especially from the entertainment world), Geisha, cabaret hostesses (who are tired of men or are looking for men they can order around) and widows. Foreigners are regular customers at 30 percent of these bars. ... One out of ten Japanese men is extremely effeminate in looks and manners when compared with the average male, but this is as much of a racial-social as a sexual characteristic, and newcomers should not to [sic] too hasty in hanging tags on milksop types.'
Here are some sisterboylinksforyou. (Most are probably not work safe. Few are in English.)