Nobuko Yoshiya! Out and proud lesbian! Author of lesbian lit & stories with titles like “Husbands Are Useless”! What’s not to love about her?
Her middle-class, conservative background did not necessarily predispose her to become the lesbian icon she’s known as today, but Nobuka Yoshiya never quite seem to fit the role of the good, dutiful wife she was supposed to take on. She developed early on a love of reading and writing that came in the way of her learning domestic skills (who can relate?). When she moved to Tokyo in 1915, she started breaking away more visibly from gender norms and expectations: she adopted a more androgynous style, cutting her hair short (thus also emulating Western fashion of the 20s), she traveled extensively, and she’s recognized as one of the first Japanese women to own a car and a racehorse. She loved horse racing and golf, and designed her own house, which became the Yoshiya Nobuko Memorial Museum after her death (but if you want to go see it, make sure to plan in advance: it’s open only twice a year, in early May and November, for three days each time).
Even though she was one of 20th-century Japan’s most popular, commercially successful and prolific writers, there’s not a whole lot of scholarly work on her or translations of her writings, at least in the English-speaking Western world – perhaps because the bulk of her writing was serialized romance and teen girls’ novels, and thus not seen as a contender for the ‘serious literature’ category. Even so, she enjoyed an especially broad readership among young women; she pioneered the Class S genre – which refers to literature dealing with strong friendships and romance between schoolgirls – and was influential in developing shōjo (schoolgirl) anime, manga, and literature.
Yoshiya was in a lifelong partnership with Chiyo Monma, a math teacher in Tokyo whom she met in 1923. Their life together was no secret, and Yoshiay openly talked about it in personal essays and magazine interviews. Their relationship was both romantic and professional, as they worked together as author and secretary. Since same-sex marriage was not possible in Japan, Yoshiya adopted Monma in 1957: this was the only legal way that made it possible for lesbians to share property and make medical decisions for each other – in short, to be recognized as family for each other. Their relationship only ended with Yoshiya’s death in 1973.
(I STILL can’t get over the “husbands are useless” thing.)
The “Fresh Off The Boat” star made an impassioned speech at Saturday’s Women’s March in Los Angeles, where she encouraged women to fight fetishization and stereotypes about Asians and opened up about her own negative experiences with men.
“I march today for Asian-American women who have been ignored, or judged or fetishized or expected to be a certain way to fulfill a certain idea of what a sweet girl should be,” Wu said in her speech. “To that, I say you can be anyone you want to be.”
