Queer drinkin'

This week I have an entry for gay bars.

gei bā (gay bar) ゲイバー

This one took some time as I wanted to carefully read over the information I had scattered over three books on my shelves.

The most useful was McLelland, Mark J., Suganuma Katsuhiko and James Welker. eds. Queer Voices from Japan which is an interesting collection of essays spanning decades of queer culture and history in Japan.

I'll be asking my gay friends in Japan if there are any major gaffs in this entry.

A group does more

This week I cover what at first I thought was just a term used for a fan phenomenon and found it also is applied to clubs and other types of groups.

What I am referring to is the:

circle ("sâkuru") サークル

Ooku: The Inner Chambers by Yoshinaga Fumi

An update to my recommendations pages

Ooku: The Inner Chambers by Yoshinaga Fumi
VIZ Media

During the Edo Period (1600-1868) Japan was an enigma to the West. What little was known was from the few accounts of 16th century missionaries and merchants. The nation had closed itself off from the rest of the world to preserve itself from disruptive influences and the threat of invasion. But what if something else happened at this time, what if a disease known as the 'red pox' had started in the North and spread throughout the land killing the majority of adolescent boys leaving a large female population who then took on the traditional males roles and actually run the country.

Order the first volume of Ooku: The Inner Chambers from The Right Stuf

Cautions: Violence, as would be expected with samurai, and sexual situations including male-male.

Updating recommendations

My recommended title pages are grossly out of date due to my neglecting them for far too long. To make up for this I am:

1. Removing some of the out of print titles, some I am considering keeping as especially worthy of mention.

2. I will be adding new titles, each of which will be mentioned in this blog as I add them to the page. For now I will attempt to do at least one title, either anime or manga, a week, sometimes more.

3. I will also replacing dead links.

4. I will reduce the number of links to the Right Stuf web site, in the past I linked to each volume in a series. As these pages are recommendations for titles people may have not heard of I will link only to volume one and let the reader search for the later ones.

In the case of anime I will link to box sets when those are scheduled for release and remove the link to the first volume of the earlier release as box sets are significantly less expensive than buying a series individually.

Coping with a slippery eel

This week I have two cooking related entries. Both are used in preparing eels for cooking.

meuchi 目打ち

unagisaki (eel knife) 鰻サキ

References from Oishinbo A la Carte and Samurai Champloo for both entries.

Cloth under the cloth

Ever wonder what is traditional to wear under a kimono?

Or how upper class women dealt with hot weather under those layers of cloth?

This weeks entry is just on that.

koshimaki (hip wrapping) 腰巻