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These two phrases are also supposed to represent a comparison between the anus and vagina with pots and pans (Cherry 1987: 115) and a pun on the word onna (woman). In Chapter 2 I discussed the recognition of female same-sex desire with the introduction of compulsory education for girls. These relationships were designated with the letter ‘S’ connoting ‘sister’, ‘sex’ or sho-jo- (prepubescent girl). Jennifer Robertson asserts that these relationships came under the category of do-seiai and were portrayed as non-sexual and ‘innocent’ (Robertson 1998a: 68).

All the women I talked with were involved in different ways and to differing degrees in issues relating to their sexuality on a daily basis. To assume this lived and acquired knowledge is somehow Identifying the lesbian in contemporary Japan 37 beyond or outside ‘real’ women’s understandings is highly problematic and therefore I have no intention of characterising them as either anomalous or in opposition to mainstream notions of what it is to be a ‘real Japanese woman’. Nevertheless, their choice of sexual identifications does need to be understood within an historical context of Japanese socio-linguistic meanings particularly given the negative and exclusionary techniques that have been employed over the past hundred years.

It’s like that here too. (Longinotto and Williams 1993) The decision on the allocation of secondary gender, which takes place in the form of both masculine and feminine, and often racialised re-constructions, is generally made on the basis of the physical appearance of the girl and to some extent on the individual’s personal preference. Nevertheless, otokoyaku are usually taller, have deeper voices and ‘exude kosei (charisma) which is disparaged in “females”’ (Robertson 1992a: 171). ’ In addition, many of the Takarazuka productions are based on classic Western works and the actor’s physical appearance is grounded in a re-invention of foreign ‘maleness’ and ‘femaleness’.

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