This morning on Twitter, the Yuriten Yuri Fair organizing committee announced, with sincere regrets, that the Yuriten 2018, which was scheduled for March 17-25 in Tokyo would not be held as planned. You can read the message, in Japanese, on their website.) At the same time, I received an apologetic email from the organizing committee.
Marketing manager Uchida-san explained to me that one of the photographers, Yuria, had previously been included in an exhibition at the Marui Building in Ikebukuro. Apparently there had been “complaints” about Yuria’s photgraphs focused on female thighs. Marui management asked the Yuriten to pull Yuria’s photographs, but they refused. As a result, Marui decided they would not host the event. A follow-up article can be found in Japanese on Fashion-Press.net. I wrote back and assured Uchida-san that I supported their decision.
Although I personally do not care for Yuria’s photographs, I agree with and offer my full support for the decision to not remove them from the exhibition. I also wonder how common it is for a Japanese event to push back at demands by venues to make “people” comfortable.
As of this morning USA time, Yuri manga artists were cautioning fans to not panic, as a new venue was being scouted and there was positivity that a new location would be found. The Yuriten organizers have also said that the Osaka and Fukuoka event dates have been confirmed and will be held
As it happens, my area of the world was supposed to get one more winter storm tomorrow and so, I have canceled my trip to Japan. I apologize to anyone who hoped to meet up with me. However, as long as any new dates for Yuriten do not conflict with anything previously planned, I will do my very best to make the event when new dates and location are announced.
Once again, I want to offer my full support to the Yuriten organizers and wish them very successful Osaka and Fukuoka exhibitions, and hope that I will be able to attend Yuriten one day soon!
I’m sorry that that happened. I hope things turn around. That just seems strange that they have to cancel a whole event for that. But at the same time its a different culture different rules.
I’ll be looking forward to what you have next
Well, it surprises me too, given the prevalence of romantic friendship and different yuri subtext in Japanese pop culture. But, apparently the case really is in different rules and I can only express support for the organizers.
I have had an email from someone outside the situation who felt that the decision was “very Japanese.” ^_^
Isn’t there kind of a double standard? I assume that the photos were taken by a woman. Yet I’ve seen things taken by men that are far worse. I was baffled because I honestly just looked at the images and they were rather innocent. But who am I to judge. I hope all goes well for them.
I don’t know the answer to any of that. What standard is is being judged against? Even in the US, the laws about photos and drawings in regards to pornographic intent are different. The event venue said there were “complaints”and of course we have no way of knowing what that may have been.
Additionally, although the artist is using a woman’s name, there’s no reason to assume they are female. Would that change your opinion of the photo? Why? Think about that for a moment. This is why art is all personal interpretation. We can only assume that the artists wants us to see these photos as “Yuri” whether we do or not is up to us. In a group, I found them objectifying and kind creepy, but I dislike thigh-staring. You might love it. Both are valid. This is why my position is I do not personally like this photo collection, but I agree with the organizers.
As it happens, they have obtained another location, which is announced on March 17’s YNN report.