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Paper short abstract

An ethnographic and auto-ethnographic study hailing from two years of fieldwork and six years of working within Tokyo’s drag scene, exploring how the drag queens of Japan form and articulate their identities and divide into subgroups based on age, micro-culture, and ethnic/linguistic background.

Paper long abstract

This paper explores the development of Japan’s drag queen communities and the identities of the performers therein. In particular, it examines the intergenerational divisions and tensions among the drag communities, and how multiple ‘waves’ of drag have formed under the influence of indigenous queer entertainment, imported pop and queer cultural movements of the so-called West, and the global drag boom of the last decade. As the interest in Japan’s queer cultures and drag performance art grows, so too does the tension between older counter-cultural waves of drag queens and the newer, seemingly mainstream waves. This research shows the future of Japan’s drag identity will balance these different factions.

This research includes a literature review of the history of queer counter culture and cross-dressing from the Meiji Era of Japan onwards, including key subcultures such as the danshō (1950s), gei bōi (1960s to 1980s), and the eventual recognition of modern day terms and identities such as new half (a problematic, but still widely used term) and drag queen. The paper also draw on the presenter’s fieldwork and participant observation as both a journalist and active drag queen in Shinjuku Nichōme, looking at drag shows, viewing parties, drag gogo dancing, and some amount of hostessing, as well as the drag community’s problematic relationship with Japan’s blossoming ballroom scene. This presentation also relies on in-depth interviews with nine drag queens and drag-adjacent performers from different generational waves, ethnic and regional backgrounds, and sub-genres of drag.

This study shows that Japan’s drag is divided deeply along lines of generational waves and creative ideologies (the ‘indie’/counter-culture versus mainstream/drag boom). At the same time, it is also united by a universal awareness of the importance of queer art and shared pride in contributing to the wider drag community. Concurrently, this work documents the changes in the communities analysed, with drag queens of different sub-genres increasingly mixing in spaces such as hostess clubs and special event festivals (such as New Year’s parties). How these factions balance their commonalities and differences will be a task for the queens who will shape the coming era of Japan’s drag.