WARNING: The stuff I will be talking about might be uncomfortable for people, as the stuff I will be talking about will include talking about sex, society pressure, and suicide. If any of these might worry you, then I will post a TL;DR at the end
So I will not claim to be a expert of Japanese culture, I have never been to Japan, but I have watched countless reviews where the reviewer would talk about Japanese culture, and how it ties into anime. Plus, when you get so into something from a different country, you just kind of learn things while watching, as in a lot of anime will have similar food appear a lot, so I'm familiar with some Japanese Food and whatnot, it would be the same thing as any person not from America, learning about america by watching american made movies.
So anyway back to my main point, I feel like talking about this because this is a legit thing and issue, and I'm speaking from my experience of used to being into Yaoi/BL manga. So what even is this stuff? So yaoi (Otherwise known as BL, AKA Boys Love), is basically homosexual porn involving two men. Yuri (GL/ AKA Girls Love) is the female version of yaoi/BL. It has become so popular among women in Japan, because the way marriage works in their houses, the man has more power. So a reason why Japanese women gravitate towards yaoi, is because it can give them a sense of power that they normally would not be able to have at home, which I believe is not healthy. Yes I know it's a different culture, but if I don't think it's healthy, I'm gonna say it's not healthy, plus this "not healthy"mentality ties into Japanese culture overall.
You see, Japan has a pretty stern system: You are expected to go to college, graduate, and find a job. This puts tons of stress on people, and has actually lead to Japan having a huge population of NEETS (Not in education, Employment, or Training) and actually some the stress has gotten so bad, some of these people will end their lives with suicide...if some of you keep up with YouTube, you might have heard about Logan Paul visiting the "Suicide Forest" and just how he was extremely disrespectful to Japanese culture overall, but it's a real place, and it's sad. Other than that, you have people, young people, who can't take the stress and become "Hikikomori", which is a phrase to describe the people who have given up, and chose to live in their apartment/house, some cases are so extreme they will not leave their place of living, all because their society and culture has placed such huge responsibilities on them, cause if you don't have a job and are not doing well, you are looked down on.
So does this all tie into the homosexual porn? Well because the young Japanese adults have these stressful lives, animation companies, figure making companies, and books will sell pornographic stuff, whether it be homosexual or heterosexual, because there is a huge market for this stuff in Japan, probably for the purpose of "stress relief" if you get what I mean.
So to go a bit deeper into yaoi, this stuff is so popular in Japan, there are terms people have made up. If you want to refer to the "bottom" you call him "Uke" and the "Top" is a "Seme", plus if you are a girl into this stuff, and ship non-gay characters from any other media, you call yourself a "Fujoshi" which basically means "Rotten Girl", or "Fundanshi" if you're a guy. There is "non-sexually explicit" stuff in shonen-ai (The Japanese term for Boys love) and shoujo-ai, but the yaoi/yuri stuff is tons more popular, especially the yaoi, it has gotten up to the point that Yaoi-con, a actual convention for the promotion of gay boys love, is held yearly in California (Of course, lol). Also, yaoi has a lot of repeated themes, including being rape-y, yep cause the one guy clearly doesn't want to do it, and the other guy forces him to do sex, so yep that's rape in my opinion.
That's why when I hear of someone getting into anime, I want to warn them, and you might be asking at this point: "Why in everything that is known did you get into this stuff?", it's simple, I was a stupid college kid. Picked up a yaoi manga at Barnes and Noble (Yes they sell them, they are usually wrapped up in plastic, they also sell yuri manga as well) because I thought "I'll give this stuff a try because Christians are not nice to gay people, and me trying to read gay manga will make me understand them."...no it was a bad idea. But I do wanna say this in closing, NOT ALL ANIME IS BAD, Trigun, the creator has come out and said he is a christian, and there are plenty of amazing and beautiful anime to watch/manga to read, just research before watching/read anything. It would be like saying all of American animation is porn because "Fritz the Cat" or other animated "porn-like" shows exist, and I don't think that's fair to put everything as bad, when it's not. Plus, you have to remember this, Japan's main religion Shintoism/Buddhism, not Christianity, so most Japanese (And actually most eastern countries) do not know about the amazing redemption God has done for everyone, and how no matter our past lives, we can be reborn again in following God. Yes it will not be easy and past sins while forgiven, can still make life tough, I accidentally dipped back into watching "Shounen-ai" shows, but now I'm not and know better, my faith foundation just wasn't strong back then.
So if you actually read this whole thing, thanks ^_^
TL;DR: Basically Japan does not know Christianity and is a country that suffers a lot from it's culture. If they were to be introduced to Christianity, it might help to make their lives better.
Here is a long list of links with additional information if anyone wants additional information:
Yaoi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaoi
Marriage in Japan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marri...arriage in Japan is a,the need for a ceremony.
Religion in Japan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relig...l statistical,and 6.2 percent other religions.
The Suicide Forest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aokigahara
NEET: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEET#...tion of a person,Canada and the United States.
Hikkimori: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikik...Japanese:,general and the recluses themselves.
Fujoshi: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rotten girl (Fujoshi)
Yaoi-Con: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaoi-Con
An article talking about NEETs and Hikkimoris (It's a old article, but it looks like it has great info): https://www.frontiersin.org/article...he twenty-first,(socially withdrawn/isolated).
Trigun: https://beneaththetangles.com/2011/04/22/the-faith-of-yasuhiro-nightow/
So I will not claim to be a expert of Japanese culture, I have never been to Japan, but I have watched countless reviews where the reviewer would talk about Japanese culture, and how it ties into anime. Plus, when you get so into something from a different country, you just kind of learn things while watching, as in a lot of anime will have similar food appear a lot, so I'm familiar with some Japanese Food and whatnot, it would be the same thing as any person not from America, learning about america by watching american made movies.
So anyway back to my main point, I feel like talking about this because this is a legit thing and issue, and I'm speaking from my experience of used to being into Yaoi/BL manga. So what even is this stuff? So yaoi (Otherwise known as BL, AKA Boys Love), is basically homosexual porn involving two men. Yuri (GL/ AKA Girls Love) is the female version of yaoi/BL. It has become so popular among women in Japan, because the way marriage works in their houses, the man has more power. So a reason why Japanese women gravitate towards yaoi, is because it can give them a sense of power that they normally would not be able to have at home, which I believe is not healthy. Yes I know it's a different culture, but if I don't think it's healthy, I'm gonna say it's not healthy, plus this "not healthy"mentality ties into Japanese culture overall.
You see, Japan has a pretty stern system: You are expected to go to college, graduate, and find a job. This puts tons of stress on people, and has actually lead to Japan having a huge population of NEETS (Not in education, Employment, or Training) and actually some the stress has gotten so bad, some of these people will end their lives with suicide...if some of you keep up with YouTube, you might have heard about Logan Paul visiting the "Suicide Forest" and just how he was extremely disrespectful to Japanese culture overall, but it's a real place, and it's sad. Other than that, you have people, young people, who can't take the stress and become "Hikikomori", which is a phrase to describe the people who have given up, and chose to live in their apartment/house, some cases are so extreme they will not leave their place of living, all because their society and culture has placed such huge responsibilities on them, cause if you don't have a job and are not doing well, you are looked down on.
So does this all tie into the homosexual porn? Well because the young Japanese adults have these stressful lives, animation companies, figure making companies, and books will sell pornographic stuff, whether it be homosexual or heterosexual, because there is a huge market for this stuff in Japan, probably for the purpose of "stress relief" if you get what I mean.
So to go a bit deeper into yaoi, this stuff is so popular in Japan, there are terms people have made up. If you want to refer to the "bottom" you call him "Uke" and the "Top" is a "Seme", plus if you are a girl into this stuff, and ship non-gay characters from any other media, you call yourself a "Fujoshi" which basically means "Rotten Girl", or "Fundanshi" if you're a guy. There is "non-sexually explicit" stuff in shonen-ai (The Japanese term for Boys love) and shoujo-ai, but the yaoi/yuri stuff is tons more popular, especially the yaoi, it has gotten up to the point that Yaoi-con, a actual convention for the promotion of gay boys love, is held yearly in California (Of course, lol). Also, yaoi has a lot of repeated themes, including being rape-y, yep cause the one guy clearly doesn't want to do it, and the other guy forces him to do sex, so yep that's rape in my opinion.
That's why when I hear of someone getting into anime, I want to warn them, and you might be asking at this point: "Why in everything that is known did you get into this stuff?", it's simple, I was a stupid college kid. Picked up a yaoi manga at Barnes and Noble (Yes they sell them, they are usually wrapped up in plastic, they also sell yuri manga as well) because I thought "I'll give this stuff a try because Christians are not nice to gay people, and me trying to read gay manga will make me understand them."...no it was a bad idea. But I do wanna say this in closing, NOT ALL ANIME IS BAD, Trigun, the creator has come out and said he is a christian, and there are plenty of amazing and beautiful anime to watch/manga to read, just research before watching/read anything. It would be like saying all of American animation is porn because "Fritz the Cat" or other animated "porn-like" shows exist, and I don't think that's fair to put everything as bad, when it's not. Plus, you have to remember this, Japan's main religion Shintoism/Buddhism, not Christianity, so most Japanese (And actually most eastern countries) do not know about the amazing redemption God has done for everyone, and how no matter our past lives, we can be reborn again in following God. Yes it will not be easy and past sins while forgiven, can still make life tough, I accidentally dipped back into watching "Shounen-ai" shows, but now I'm not and know better, my faith foundation just wasn't strong back then.
So if you actually read this whole thing, thanks ^_^
TL;DR: Basically Japan does not know Christianity and is a country that suffers a lot from it's culture. If they were to be introduced to Christianity, it might help to make their lives better.
Here is a long list of links with additional information if anyone wants additional information:
Yaoi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaoi
Marriage in Japan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marri...arriage in Japan is a,the need for a ceremony.
Religion in Japan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relig...l statistical,and 6.2 percent other religions.
The Suicide Forest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aokigahara
NEET: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEET#...tion of a person,Canada and the United States.
Hikkimori: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikik...Japanese:,general and the recluses themselves.
Fujoshi: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rotten girl (Fujoshi)
Yaoi-Con: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaoi-Con
An article talking about NEETs and Hikkimoris (It's a old article, but it looks like it has great info): https://www.frontiersin.org/article...he twenty-first,(socially withdrawn/isolated).
Trigun: https://beneaththetangles.com/2011/04/22/the-faith-of-yasuhiro-nightow/
