Beefy Asian Children! And also: HIV in the Gay Scenes of Tokyo as well as Taiwan
In the June problem of POZ, we highlighted a collection of LGBT-related publications for Pride. One was Shinjuku Tale Vol. 2, a digital photography publication by visual artist Kaz Senju. The pictures record Tokyo's Shinjuku Ni-chome neighborhood, which boasts virtually 350 gay and lesbian bars, a lot of which are \"the size of a walk-in storage room and also seat just 4 to 10 people,\" according to Senju.
Those pictures left us needing to know more about Shinjuku as well as exactly how HIV matches the scene there, so we emailed the New York City-- based musician, that has actually been taking a trip throughout Asia. You can learn more regarding his job at\u00a0bear-magazine.com and also by following his Instagram @kazviju (we include a few of his blog posts and also pictures throughout the meeting listed below).
A picture from the primary edge of Shinjuku Ni-chome, the gay location of TokyoCourtesy of Kaz Senju
My present digital photography project is called Chunky Oriental Boys. I have been traveling around Asia-- Tokyo, Osaka, Taipei, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh and also Shanghai. My designs stand for the LGBTQ neighborhood, specifically the fast-growing, gay Asian bear neighborhoods.
During guide finalizing event for my previous photo publication, Shinjuku Story, I obtained remarks that the gay scenes I captured in Tokyo have several stocky men, which amazed the target market in the USA, which has the impression of Eastern gay guys being skinnier or womanly. My new job is capturing various parts of LGBTQ areas in Eastern cities to transform that stereotyping.
Every gay and also lesbian bar in Shinjuku has a box of free prophylactics in the washroom or at bench counters. This complimentary condom circulation is a part of the tasks by AKTA Community Center in Shinjuku, Tokyo. They have lots of volunteers or \"distribution children\" that walk Shinjuku, distributing cost-free prophylactics and also info concerning totally free and anonymous HIV screening. AKTA has actually been a part of the LGBTQ area in Tokyo for over 17 years, supplying vital assistance for HIV-positive people and also different avoidance programs.
There are around 1,400 brand-new situations of HIV reported in Japan yearly, considerably smaller than the USA [which has to do with 39,000 a year] Over half of these brand-new HIV instances in Japan are among gay men, connecting HIV with gay sex. [UNAIDS reports that 57% of HIV situations and 39% of AIDS situations arised from homosexual sex in 2016] The challenging part is that 30% of HIV infections were located just after advancing to AIDS, showing an absence of passion in HIV testing, avoidance as well as understanding of early medicine to decrease the results of the virus.
In Taiwan, there was a massive spike of brand-new infections around 2005 to 2006. There were 4,000 new instances, with greater than 70% connected with shot drug use. The bright side is that brand-new infections are dropping-- a record in August 2018 stated the rate reduced 26% from the previous year.
LGBTQ people are approved at the office. Tokyo Rainbow Pride in April brought more than 200,000 individuals and also significantly bigger company sponsorships than previous years. Regardless of the success of this occasion, true acceptance is still far away in Japanese culture. In a public speech, Japanese parliament member Mio Sugita commented that LGBTQ individuals can not replicate and also are as a result unproductive individuals, ruining typical family worths. She is not alone; at least six various other parliament members made similar prejudiced remarks against the LGBTQ neighborhood in 2018. There are comparable stigmas connected to individuals coping with HIV in Japan. Japan requires to surpass the Rainbow occasions and also business drifts to shielding legal rights with regulation.
Kaz Senju papers Tokyo's gay bar scene with photos and also interviews.Courtesy of Kaz Senju
I was lucky to have a two-year teaching fellowship at Aesthetic help during my MFA study at the International Facility of Photography\/Bard College. Through that internship, I have generated more than 30 videos, recording artists that are living with HIV and help. My most recent job was Last Address Homage Stroll: Times Square, a strolling trip of [historic AIDS-related websites, such as the addresses of musicians] making tributes to [writer] Reinaldo Arenas as well as [director and dramatist] Reza Abdoh. I likewise video-recorded Samuel Delany reviewing from his Times Square Red, Times Square Blue where the Capri [adult film] movie theater used to be. [You can find out more regarding the Last Address tribute strolls below and enjoy the Delany analysis here.]
I'm celebrating Satisfaction by having a book signing event at the Bureau of General Solutions Queer Division at The LGBT Facility in Greenwich Village at 1 p.m., Saturday, June 29, with queer image artists Matthew Papa, Michael Craft and Michael McFadden. The event will certainly be regulated by my instructor, Nayland Blake. I likewise prepare to attend the march with Parsons, part of The New Institution, where I teach the art of digital photography.
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