Job Discussion Forums

[vallillo1983]

Just wanted to know, where do you guys work? As a gay male I want to meet like-minded souls!!
Do you guys work for NOVA or Shane?

[Glenski]

Are you serious????

Gay teachers have no "home central". They work wherever they can find employment, just like non-gays.

[ironopolis]

[GWUstudent]

I agree with Glenski...I don't think there is a particular school or place that you could consider a gay headquarters.

Just go about your life in Japan as you would anywhere else. You will meet all kinds of people, gay, straight, whatever. I imagine that the bigger cities would have more gay clubs than a rural area.

[japan_01]

It would be interesting to see the numbers of gay male teachers in Japan.
Many of my students ask questions in regards to my sexuality. They tell me that many of the male foreigners living in Japan are gay. I am in no way suggesting that ESL male teachers are all gay but apparently there are quite a few. (According to alot of my students)

[BradS]

I know quite a few at the school I'm working for.

Seriously though, there's not much in the way of descrimination against homosexuals in Japan. A lot of Japanese people don't seem to know much about gay people though and in fact I've met a few who say that there are no gay people in Japan. (they obviously don't watch tv here).

Any Japanese staff or students who you tell you're gay will more likely give you a "so gay people are real" shocked response than a "Eeewww, you're a dirty man" descriminatory one.

In general the closer you work to Tokyo (specifically Shinjuku) the more "normal" reactions you'll get.

[kikyou21]

for some reason there seem to be an awful lot of gay JETs in Kyushu and western Honshu. i don't know if they did that on purpose or what's going on with that.... but to answer your question, Fukuoka and Oita seem to be "gay teacher central." good luck!

[Hoser]

If you want to meet up with gay teachers then you ought to go visit ni-chome in Shinjuku.

[womblingfree]

You're likely to meet gay teachers wherever you go, although best not to shout about it. Eikaiwa life is all about keeping your head down (if you'll excuse the pun).

At my eikaiwa branch (AEON) there were two full time teachers, the Japanese head teacher and an emergency teacher all gay men. Also one lesbian.

Head for Shinjuku ni-chome if clubbing is your bag.

[Miyazaki]

[seastarr]

[emypie]

Don't go live in a rural area, you will not find 'like minded' people out in the boonies!!!!

I live in Tokyo and I have met LOADS of gay teachers (and other professions too, of course). But don't expect to find some kind of gay support group at your school. Homosexuality is not openly encouraged or approved of in Japan.

Seems to me that you CAN do whatever you want in Japan and people will simply turn a blind eye, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. Good, in that you can have some privacy and nobody will harass you. Bad, in that you may be treated as invisible.

You just gotta know where to go - in Tokyo the 'gay district' is Ni-chome, in Shinjuku, but it's a gay district in terms of entertainment. But when I say 'district' it's not like how in Toronto a lot of gay people live in a specific region or neighborhood that is easily identifiable. I don't think you'll find that in Japan.

But if you go to a big city that you KNOW has a vibrant gay community and you frequent it often, you'll be fine.

[zignut]

[seastarr]

I agree with that statement, however, I assumed we were talking about people who were out of the closet, since the poster was talking about meeting other like minded individuals.....I did know most of the teachers in my area quite well...Nova was also quite gossipy and I think that if any of any of the teachers in my area were openly gay, everyone would have known, just as everyone knew if someone was dating a student or another teacher. I dont presume to know anything about anyone's sexuality, its quite a private matter....I was just sharing my experience in that I did not know (of) any gay teachers in my area. I have a lot of gay friends and many of them do not appear to be sterotypically gay, but they are proud of their sexuality and make no qualms about sharing it...I didn't meet anyone like this in my area in Japan...that was all I was saying.

[zignut]

I'm certainly prepared to agree that Nova is gossipy. You've got me there.

I'm gay, and I worked in Tokyo and then Aomori-shi at several Nova branches. My experience was always that people were surprised to find out I was dating some guy or putting out ads in Metropolis. I guess I don't think EFL or foreign travel in general invites much testing of social or gender boundaries, even in Japan, where androgyny is de rigeur among young men. I suppose it's lucky that I'm not given to the kind of behavior that tends to tip people off, though you can certainly get away with a lot more of it in Tokyo than in other countries. I suppose I shouldn't begrudge the straight guys for wanting to feel fashionable for once...

Not to make this a much bigger discussion, but I think one can consider him or herself "out" if friends know, but not acquaintences. Basically, it all comes down to the answer to the question, "Do you have a boy/girlfriend?" Does one say: "No," or "I don't date boys/girls."? Sometimes I don't choose to out myself in such a situation, but I'm still proud to be qu-eer.

Anyway, I think the OP can expect to find in Japan coldness at the worst, and never hostility. And no matter where you live, there's going to be some fringe scene. I'm sure that even in the US, for example, there are enclaves in South Dakota, Mississippi, etc. Generally, I agree with Glenski and other posters - there's no central location for gay teachers, but the cities are where you'll find the most by virtue of population size, among other things.