Archive for the Events Category


Yuri Event: Yuriten Osaka Report, Guest Review by Zoey B

April 8th, 2018

Today we have a Yuri Event Guest Review by a brand new Guest Reviewer, Zoey B! Zoey commented that she was in Osaka in time to catch the first round of the Yuriten Exhibition, which was open from March 30-April 8 (so it closed a few hours ago in Japan) and offered to tell us all about it. So let’s let her get on with it. Take it away, Zoey!

The event took place in the event space of the Namba Parks shopping mall – given the size of the shopping mall, the actual event area was smaller than expected. We got there soon after it started at 11, and were surprised to find that there were only a few people lined up outside to get in. 

Photo copyright Zoey B. 2018

The staff were controlling how many people were in the space, so you were able to enjoy looking at the exhibits at your own pace without feeling crowded. When you enter, you can see to the left the shop and check-out area, but you first head to the right through the exhibits.

Photo copyright Zoey B. 2018

The exhibits were laid out on the walls, with each author’s work grouped together by series, or photographers work grouped together. There were a few illustrations and signed author messages that were made specifically for the event, which was nice to see – and you were able to freely take pictures (as we did). It reminded my wife of going through an art museum; with little plaques about each authors’ work, it was a good way to introduce people to new series they may not have tried yet.  

 

Photo copyright Zoey B. 2018

Once you had gone through the exhibit – which had a good amount of different artists and series, covering major series over the last decade from what we could tell – you were naturally led into the shop area. The merchandise was all separated by series – each would have copies of the books, as well as clear files, posters, or other specific merch made for the event. The merch seemed to be designed to fit the content of the series – eg 2DK, G-Pen was focused on office supplies, whereas Kase-san had a make-up mirror and tote bag that you could see the characters using. Galette and other magazines were also there, and there were some Yuriten-themed items as well – we got a double-sided clear file, with the illustration on one side and the photograph version on the other!From the shop area, you could either get into line for the check-out or go out directly – though it did feel like you were strongly encouraged to buy something. The whole time we were there, I don’t think that the line to check-out was less than 15-20 people at any point, so we hope it was doing well! Most of the items did seem to be marked-up for the event, however – clear files for Y500 – and not great quality for the specific items. The choice of merch per series was quite limited – only two or three items – but there was a lot of stock of the books and magazines actually being shown. 

 

Photo copyright Zoey B. 2018

The ratio of people attending was interesting (assuming genders for the purpose of this). There were a lot of male attendees, but there seemed to be more female attendees – including ourselves – which was nice. A lot of people were buying books rather than the other goods, and some people had entire baskets full of seemingly all the books you could get there! Impressive.

The feel of the event itself was not quite what we had been expecting – my wife said that she had expected it to be more of a celebration of Yuri, whereas it came across more as a pop-up shop with an art exhibit. It was definitely good! – how it was set up allowed you to really take your time, appreciate the displayed artwork and series, and leave you wanting to read each work. It definitely seemed to succeed as a way of generating interest in Yuri as a genre – just not as we’d imagined it. With the chance to take our time, it made the event more enjoyable.

As we were there for the opening day and time, we were expecting some presence of the actual authors or publishers, but there were only the Village Vanguard staff (the hosts for the Osaka Event). It does make sense, though, as the last two days of the scheduled event are planned to be the signing portion – for Osaka, the 7th and 8th April. You were allowed one book per person – having to have purchased vouchers from Village Vanguard for your chosen series in advance – each author scheduled for some time in the two days. We did not get to see this, but maybe next year! 

Photo copyright Zoey B. 2018

Overall, it was a very organized event, which my wife and I enjoyed going to very much. The displays were very nicely done, and we’re hoping that it grows bigger and better next year. Thank you for bringing it to our attention! 

Erica here: Thank you Zoey for the report and the photos. I’m even more excited about it now, because it seems so…pleasant. ^_^ I’m especially interested in seeing it displayed at Studio Lightbox in Aoyama. 





Boy’s Love, Yaoi and Yuri and Queer (But Not Necessarily LGBT) Media in Japan, Lecture by Dr. James Welker

March 30th, 2018

It was my very great pleasure to visit Temple University on Monday, March 26, 2018 to attend a lecture entitled Boy’s Love, Yaoi and Yuri and Queer (But Not Necessarily LGBT) Media in Japan, by Dr. James Welker. 

It was great. James blazed through the early history of same-sex relationships as represented in art and literature in order to set the scene for the Year 24 Group and their work in “shounenai” (the term early BL creators used) and carefully made his way from same-sex relationships in manga from the mid-20th century to the present day.

I wasn’t familiar with all of his material, which was wonderful! I love when I get to find new tidbits of early Yuri to enjoy. And to this end, James made  a couple of really key points I wanted to share with you. He strongly hesitated to call anything the “first” because, when working with ephemeral media, someone will always find something older. ^_^

I took very general notes for the lecture, which you can follow on my Twitter thread. It wasn’t meant to be comprehensive, just some off-the-cuff tweeting as prompts, so don’t look for cohesion.

A main point of his was that shounenai was originally explicitly created to circumvent restrictive gender norms. James also focused on the tenuous relationship between LGBT representation and BL and Yuri. A  key takeaway was that these queer-but-not-LGBT media allow straight people to identify with either partner, since in a same-sex relationship, the gender roles might be similar, but aren’t the same. A straight reader can read BL or Yuri and find themselves identifying with either partner in a way that heterosexual gender norms won’t allow in straight media.

He noted that Sailor Moon was the first series that was parodied in doujinshi both by men and women, which I found fascinating. (By the early 2000s when I visited Comiket, most of the popular series had both male and female circles selling, but of course it makes sense that the shounen stuff has a lot of BL parodies. In the same way, I took it for granted that Sailor Moon had both straight and gay doujinshi.)

The audience was very receptive and number of the students were familiar with comic markets and BL fandom, which was nice.  I asked if he felt that there was something he’d like to see in BL, for instance, as I’d like to see the further overlapping of Yuri and lesbian, James replied that he’d like to see BL stay separated, in a sense, from gay comics, to allow it to remain a space for transgression in sexuality and gender, as it was originally in the 1970s. It’s a valid perspective and I had a long think about it (on my very long ride home.) 

Ultimately I came to the decision that I disagreed with him, not because I don’t think transgressive spaces are important, but because I believe sexual/gender “transgression” and “identification” without a sense of reality creates a fandom with less empathy, in a sense. Eroticization and fetishization of same-sex relationships doesn’t automatically include thinking of this in the context of real people and their lives.  When Yuri and BL were just getting their start in the USA, BL fandom was notoriously anti-gay. Their fantasy was pure, real gays people were gross. This is not a generalization, this is a thing I heard articulated by real people. This is also true for straight men who consume lesbian porn.  The enjoyment of lesbian or gay porn does not translate directly to support for either lesbians or gays. ^_^; 

But, as the LGBTQ community has made some inroads in BL and Yuri fandoms, I’ve seen a shift to more empathy for LGBTQ rights from those fandoms. It’s not that simple a correlation, of course, but I think it encourages me to always work towards seeing more lesbian representation in Yuri. I don’t think it takes away any space for gender or sexuality transgression for readers…more representation opens the possibilities for identification for readers on other spectrums, not just gay/straight and for the recognition of real humans with real-world representation needs. And, realistically, I see “Yuri” as an umbrella term that can accommodate both lesbian narrative and fantasy girls love.

We’ve had some further discussion on the point. James was not drawing a hard, clear line, and neither am I. This is more about the needs of fandom and further evolution of the genres the varying needs of their creators and audiences shifting over time.  In the bigger picture, I believe manga has plenty of space for both of these perspectives – and many others, as well!   ^_^ This was a great beginning to an ongoing conversation.

If you ever have a chance to hear James Welker lecture, I recommend it. It was a blast, and I’m glad I dragged my butt down to Philly to be there. I learned a lot. ^_^ 





Yuri Event: Yuriten 2018 Exhibition Rescheduled With New Tokyo Location

March 19th, 2018

It is my very great pleasure today to confirm that the Yuriten 2018 Yuri Art Exhibition has a new Tokyo location and has been rescheduled!

Yuriten 2018 will take place in Osaka, March 31-April 8, and now, in Tokyo April 28-May 4 at Lightbox Aoyama. Fukuoka dates and locations are still being finalized. 30 artists are still confirmed for the show and Village Vanguard now has a webpage up for creator goods.  A reliable informant tells me that they can be purchased via buying service. Ole reliable uses Buyee.

I took a look at Lightbox Studio and I have to say, it’s a pleasant venue and location. And, so I have rebooked my Japan trip and will definitely be there for the opening of Yuriten in Tokyo!

I’m going to do a Yuribu tour while I’m there, as well. There’s one I haven’t been to, yet. ^_^ If there’s anything else I can get to between now and then, I’ll do my best!





Events: Yuriten Yuri Fair Postponed for Tokyo

March 12th, 2018

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!





Tokyo Journal: Comitia, CAT 2, Character Alley and Yuribu

November 25th, 2017

Hello Okazu Readers! I am writing you from beautiful Tokyo! (This is said with no irony. I like cities and have always liked Tokyo.)

Every morning I am greeted by this view. We’ve had lovely weather.

Made a short visit to Animate, in which we found the Yuribu (Yuri club) proudly displayed by the door.

Only bought one book, because it was the last copy on the shelf there, but will be back to do actual book shopping later. Instead we bought these.

Remember a few weeks ago, when I reported there was the Animate Girls Festival and Asagao to Kase-san anime had a booth? This is what is left from the goods at that booth. I bought everything that remained (except two that escaped my notice.) 

The wife bought a Sailor Moon collaboration purse at GU, with a little jewelry to hang off it.

We had a lovely dinner with James Welker, who always makes us feel at home.

We’ve hit up half of Book-Off, and a bookstore here, but it was Thursday that we really got the buying ball rolling. At Comitia, I bought multiple copies of Galette, and a number of other original Yuri doujinshi. Not as many as in previous years, because after the 35th one titled “Hajimete” or “Hatsukoi” I just felt a bit eye-rolly. Folks, please learn to write a story beyond “there is a girl, she likes another girl. The other girl likes her. The end.” Thank heavens for some of the folks doing Yuri about adults.  I’ll do a much more detailed review of everything when I get home. 

We then wandered through the Kaigai Festa, the International Comics Festival, where I spoke with folks at the TCAF table. And I spoke with Sonia from France, as I bought her English-language Yuri comic (about schoolgirls in love for the first time, of course).

Next day we hit up Mandarake where I managed to find some stuff to buy (duh) and had a nice lunch with Deb Aoki. The three of us stopped for a rest at the Murakami-owned coffee shop, where I had a Murakami latte.

It was a very relaxing way to ease into buying too much stuff, because the next day, we hit high gear. 

Comic Arts Tokyo 2 is the second year of a small independent comic show, held at the Tokyo campus of Temple University. I found a number of awesome people and things. Among them were An Nguyen, creator of So Pretty, Very Rotten, a very talented artist named Erica Ward (so, obviously I will remember her name! ^_^) And I bought this awesome painting from Makiko Kodama.  Yes, I went to a comic show and bought a painting. ^_^  This is all the things. Rokurokubi is my favorite youkai, in uniform, kissing another Rokurokubi, cutely in a cafe. Squee. 

 

We then had lunch with the indefatigable shoujo scholar Fujimoto Yukari-sensei,  who was delightful as always. She  had a gorgeous Utena-collaboration themed handbag, based on Anthy’s dress from the movie. We were so jealous.

It was a magnificent night so after we left Fujimoto-sensei, we decided to head over to the Toyokawa Inari Shrine. We made some offerings, lit some incense and candles and said farewell to Bruce. It’s been a rough trip without him and we apologize to everyone we’ve met with for moping, but we’d been coming to Japan with him for 12 years and we feel his absence keenly here.

Once that had been done, we headed over to Tokyo Station Character Street. Where I unloaded a mass of money in a beauty shop that was selling Sailor Moon, Utena and other series goods. This store had bath and beauty items for adult women, who just happened to want their bath bombs to look like, you know, the Outer’s henshin wand toppers. (^_^);

And an Utena bath set, journal, stickers and calendar which will need to be put together before you can see how awesome it is.

 

And then we dragged ourselves back after a lot of walking and shopping. Next up, Harajuku for Kiddyland and the Eternal Sailor Moon shop and probably Yamashiroya.