Moving/Living in Japan as a Gay Woman

5 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

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   **Moving/Living in Japan as a Gay Woman**

   Hello, apologies for the formatting as I’m on mobile.

   I will be moving to Japan in the coming year to attend language school, and then university. I’ve spent a long time saving and I’m in the final stretch of work now to be able to commit and move. As the title states, I’m a gay woman. I see so many posts on various threads and subs about being a gay man, as well as most videos about being gay in Japan is from a man’s perspective. It’s great that there’s information out there, but I see nothing about being a gay woman. For context, I plan to live and study in Tokyo, which to my knowledge is much more accepting (eg Tokyo Rainbow Pride). I do not plan to live in Tokyo BECAUSE of this however. I’ve simply weighed my options.

   My main questions are;

   1. Quality of life: How is it living as a gay woman in Japan? Do you face any discrimination? Have you lost friends, or people that you know have lost friends/family? How do the public react in general?

   2. Dating: What is the dating scene like? This doesn’t have to be narrowed down to just Tokyo, but Japan as a whole. Do other women take you seriously? Do men respect it? How easy is it to meet people?

   I currently live in England and to this day still get men telling me I haven’t found the right man, or they could change how I feel. I’ve been out since my early teens, and I’m currently in my 20s. Safe to say I’m fairly uninterested in men as a whole.

   I don’t find negativity discouraging and still plan on moving, as I know they are making major progress especially in regards to same sex marriage. Any and all advice is appreciated, other than obvious homophobia which can be taken elsewhere.

   Thanks in advance, and I’m happy to answer further questions 🙂

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2. No one cares what you do on your private life.

3. Like who cares. Life is so crazy busy here. No one has time to think about others actually.

4. I suggest watching [her channel ](https://youtube.com/@YesQueen) 🙂

5. (disclaimer: neither a woman not a lesbian.)

   1) I have had lesbian friends in the past but discrimination has never come up. Which is not the same as it not existing,.of course, but in general no one really cares about policing each others private lives.

   2) I’ve heard it’s difficult, and particularly if you keep to gaijin circles it can get kind of incestuous – everyone’s dating someone’s ex, etc.

   If your Japanese is good and you rely more on apps, you might have a better time; there are some for queer people, though I’ve never used them.

   In the real world, there are also girls-only parties for lesbians and bisexuals as well, which it seems would be a good place to pick up or at least meet new people – check TIPSY_Girls on Twitter for an example.

   Best of luck!