The New-Half

Meet Ai Haruna one of the hottest idols on Japanese television today. You can catch her on any of the major cable channels doing the various things Japanese celebrities do: eating, singing karaoke, running obstacle courses, seducing male pop stars wearing a schoolgirl outfit. Part of her celebrity is the cutesy factor that she embodies. The other part I’ll get to in a minute. But before I go any further first things first: given the opportunity would you smash? I may sound crass but real talk, topics that involve women I wouldn’t play 1-on-1 lose my interest fast. In light of probably having already offended many readers (women) I’ll pose my question in a more innocent fashion: on a scale from 1 to 10 where would this Japanese idol rate (5 being smash-able)? And don’t be shy, scrutinize as you would when buying a used car or even a new laptop (I hope you would be so critical when looking at any potential partner). Ok, grab a pen quick and write her score down. Having given her a rank and having thought about all the unmentionable acts associated with this ranking (a 5 meaning that you would lay the D like a bad test paper), I must ask: how many points does she lose on your scale now knowing that just 10 years ago she was still a man? And I’m not talking in symbolic terms either about inner turmoil and cross-dressing, I quite literally mean the Franks & Beans: penis and testicles. Testes. Meet Ai Haruna, formerly Kenji Onishi, leader of the new New-Half movement in Japan.




It would seem odd given Japan’s conservative views on sexual identity that the transgender community would be so openly embraced. Keep in mind that homosexuality is still frowned upon and that gay marriage is forbidden. So it is remarkable that Japan is relatively open to entertain fluid definitions of gender as evidenced by the prominence of the transgender community in popular culture. From Ai Haruna to Ikko, a transgender female make up artist who doesn’t quite hold the illusion of being a woman as convincingly as Ai does, transgender individuals are regular TV personalities and regular topics of interest. There is even an anime series entitled “You’re Under Arrest” that features a transgender police officer.

Some point to Kabuki theatre as influential on the Japanese openness towards gender. To this day, Kabuki actors are born into the profession and are all male. The hyper feminine characters that are typical of Kabuki plays then are always performed by men. The male actors train for years to master the movements that will hold the illusion of femininity; they also obviously maintain very feminine features such as raised cheekbones, slender physiques, and full lips. The illusion is completed with full dress and make up signifying womanhood. Such was the appeal that in Kabuki’s long history there were rumors of teenage actors being sold to wealthy male clientele for sexual intercourse.






Japan’s attitudes of Gender as something fluid can obviously still be felt today. Many of the youthful male celebrities look, by western standards, incredibly fey. In fact you would be hard pressed to assign a sex to some of the younger male entertainers. I often joke that the fashion conscious Japanese male is prettier than the average Canadian girl, but there is truth to that statement. Metrosexual culture in Japan is extremely feminine and widely practiced where men will get their hair colored and permed, their nails manicured and pedicured, will buy bags (purses), and will accessorize their outfits that your girlfriend could maybe fit into. In this way Japanese culture would seem to be more accommodating to more permeable definitions of gender, where femininity actually signifies masculinity.

However, there are still gaps in this theory. I have yet to see female to male transgender individuals or even masculinized female celebrities to begin with. The trend is always male to female, so I don’t know exactly how open the Japanese public would be to embrace transgender males, throwing into question just how open Japan is with the transgender community. In fact, digging deeper, according to studies by gender researcher Junko Mitsuhashi Japanese people do not necessarily recognize being transgender as a distinct identity. When asked about the sexual identities of celebrities Osugi, a gay male, and Ai Haruna, a transgender female, many people will lump them together under the umbrella term “okama” denoting unconventional masculinity. People still view both as simply unconventional men.

Whether or not the popularity of the transgender community signals a change in attitudes or just a passing fad only time will tell. Because in such a fickle society as Japan, fads get dropped quicker than loose change.