Update from Kirk: This was an April Fools post. It originally showed an image of the famous onnagata Bando Tamasaburo in a poster calling for a ban on cross-dressing. The post received a complaint. I spoke for about an hour with a Japanese LGBTQ friend of mine about whether the post was appropriate. She thought it was funny and understood what I was getting at. She also said that she thinks it’s probably true that a significant number of LGBTQ folks in Japan might not enjoy the joke – especially because one has to read a lot of text in order to fully understand the intent. So, I decided to remove the image (it’s replaced now by an image from an article about the Tennessee law).

— original text of post (slightly edited) —

Kirk here with some news about what seems to be an international trend. As you may be aware, Republicans in Tennessee have passed “anti-drag” legislation (it was a straight party-line vote):

Tennessee Passed the Nation’s First Law Limiting Drag Shows. Here’s the Status of Anti-Drag Bills Across the U.S. https://time.com/6260421/tennessee-limiting-drag-shows-status-of-anti-drag-bills-u-s/

Well, according to the Japanese article I’m sharing, folks in Kumamoto with similar concerns have started putting up posters decrying the gender confusion caused among children who are exposed to onnagata performances (kabuki performances where men play the parts of alluring females). Heaven forbid!

The poster reads “Protect Kumamoto’s children! Men dressing up like women is just wrong!” and has a picture of famed onnagata Bando Tamasaburo wearing a Yamaga toro (paper lantern).

I’m pretty sure the report is credible for two reasons:

  1. There’s a picture associated with the article and I think the existence of a picture pretty much proves that it’s real;
  2. It’s on the internet and I believe everything I find on the internet.

On the other hand, the following points do give me some pause:

  1. It’s on a site called “kirkmasden.com,” which I’ve never heard of before;
  2. The website doesn’t look much like a typical internet news service;
  3. The first line of the article says “April fools!,” which does tend to make me slightly suspicious.

Happy April 1st!

これはエープリルフール（欧米の習慣で、四月一日は嘘をついてもよい日として楽しむこと）の投稿です。

熊本で「女装禁止運動」は起きていませんが、アメリカのテネシー州で「ドラァグ」（異性装）のショーなどを禁止する法律が制定されたことは事実です。また、テネシー州だけでなく、他の州でも同様の法律の制定が検討されているそうです。そのニュースを聞いて「歌舞伎の女形や宝塚などの文化はテネシー州では違法になるのか」と思い、そうした法律を揶揄するエープリルフールのFacebook投稿を準備することにしました。からかいたい相手はあくまでも女装などに神経を尖らせる心の狭い政治家などで、日本の伝統芸術としての女形や人間国宝の坂東玉三郎様などを一切揶揄しているつもりはありません。ご了承ください。