“Have you ever thought of the relationship between studying Japan and American queer identity (the same way you think about English learning and J queer identity)?”
Additionally, learning about my second language identity has made me curious about others’. It was very cool to write about my experiences learning Japanese and living in Japan, and I find that writing about it allows me a different mode of expression than speaking; writing can often be therapeutic and help me make connections, etc. I wanted to see what that experience might be like for my Japanese queer friends, many of whom are still trying to figure out their own sexualities.
Even more significantly, and like myself, I think many people in America are currently questioning how we think about human sexuality and to help us think us through this issue, we are interested in other cultures. It’s a fascinating comment “I’m gay in English, but not in Japanese” because it can have so many possible meanings.
Finally, as I wrote in my proposal (which you can view at http://DiscoveringVoices.wordpress.com), there is something quite unique about Japan and its history and expressions of sexuality. For example, American is a young country and until fairly recently has never really had a “normalized” culture of male-male intimacy the way Japan had at one time. So many reasons, 働く犬.
