Whose Words are Legitimate? Transgender Rights and Politics of Translation in Japan

This paper examines how transnational anti-transgender discourses from the UK and the US have influenced Japanese LGBTQ politics. In the 2010s, transnational LGBTQ-related discourses and political visibility have generally contributed to mainstreaming LGBTQ activism and human rights issues in Japan. Since 2018, however, transnational anti-LGBTQ discourses, especially against transgender issues, started to be influential in Japanese online media as British gender-critical feminist discourses have been introduced and translated by ‘feminist’ online users. These introductions often contain mistranslation, lack of context, or anti-LGBTQ groups’ misinformation. In response to the introduction of anti-transgender, gender-critical feminist discourses, Japanese pro-transgender rights feminists and activists also started to introduce and actively translate criticisms and explain contexts of gender-critical feminism within the UK, for example how the LGB Alliance is regarded by LGBTQ and human rights activists in the UK. Thus, the introduction and translation of British and US LGBTQ-related discourses have become part of the LGBTQ rights and political struggle in Japan. This paper discusses how transnational pro-/anti- LGBTQ discourses have influenced Japanese LGBTQ rights issues and considers the political role of translation. Especially, this paper examines the danger of political usage of ‘translation’ over human rights issues and political situations when the polemics treat different social and cultural discourses as the authoritative. Dr Kazuyoshi Kawasaka is a principal investigator of the DFG-funded project (‘Sexual Diversity and Human Rights in 21st Century Japan: LGBTIQ Activisms and Resistance from a Transnational Perspective’).