# The precarious state of the Japanese furry community



## ShikiByakko (Jul 13, 2015)

Hello, I would like to talk about a subject that is rarely talked about in the English speaking furry community: Problems in the Japanese Furry Community.

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the Japanese furry community, or if you have had a chance to participate in it via going to conventions or any other of interaction, and in the surface it probably seems like any other furry community, but the more you get deep into it you start to realize there is something that is unique, to say the least, about it in japan.

To put it plain terms, even thou there are many LGBT members of the community, homophobia is rampant, and in many cases not only tolerated, but either encouraged or seen as a "valid point".

Many Japanese furry artists, who have history of making homophobic remarks, also like to spread rumors, that usually involve some "unknown" person, a "friend of a friend" who told them about their rape experience perpetrated always by some "overly gay" stereotype (according to the Japanese stereotype). They claim to rise awareness about rape in the Furry community, but in reality most of them just use it as a cheap way to then claim thats the way homosexuals recruit people inside the furry community, and that's the reason why there are so many.
Every time anyone calls them out you get called a rapist, or rape apologist, almost always get harassed by their fans and there is really no counter movement against this. For the most part Japanese Furry keep their silence and escape any possibility of conflict, leaving these abusive members to almost dictate the narrative for the community.

My personal experience is the next:
I got a request from a close friend of mine to talk public of my opinion about a furry artist called "Mikazuki Karasu" (ä¸‰æ—¥æœˆã‹ã‚‰ã™) who was at the time propagating a rumor of an anonymous acquaintance who was a minor, who had received sexual solicitation messages from a "Homosexual member of the furry community", and who finally lured this kid and supposedly raped. Almost everyone simply said that they should report it to the authorities, but instead of doing this, calming that "They don't want to report it because they don't want any more trouble", he started a campaign saying that this was the result of what is known as a "Kuso-homo" (Shit homo), homosexuals who lurk in the furry community with the sole intention of recruiting children into homosexuality. He even claims he was a victim of this once, because a fan of his, even when he knew that he was straight (which is dubious, because he has talked about having a boyfriend in the past, "when he was gay", claiming that now he is 100% straight), he dared to send him a love letter, which make him sick at his stomach, and then claimed this person was a stalker, because he dared to say to him that even in he was straight, he was still in love with him.
I confronted this individual via twitter, calling him on his homophobic remarks, and an avalanche of trolls came to my way. People saying that being blunt about my remarks, and not taking shit gave a "bad name" to homosexuals, saying that I probably was a child rapist, and things like that.
It went to the length that these trolls started to dig things about me, and started to harass my ex-boyfriend. Funny thing is that most of my friends from the furry community instead of helping, just told me to forget it and "ignore it".

After that incident, a few permanent trolls have been harassing me all the year, making false accounts with my name, some of them even dug even more about me, and started to make harassment calls to the company I work for.

And now in the latest installment, another artist called "pizza" (pizademokttero), who is also known to make homophobic comments constantly, made a "cautionary" manga about the "Darkness of the Furries" where he depicts 2 male "furries", a "Week and gentle Furry" dog, being invited to the house of an "Evil Furry" cat, to go the next day to a furry event, and just found himself being assaulted by the "Evil Furry" saying "Did you thought you were going to stay in my house for free", and then a narrator tells how the Week and gentle furry was unable to say no to the evil furry, and in the end was raped, as shown in a last panel with the Gentle Furry crying while the evil one tweets about how he just slept with the gentle one, ending in a note saying that "Behind that gentleness there is always a nefarious motive".

This comic started to be used by many homophobes in the community to make an example of "how the homos attack". The creator trying to "bring balance" said at one point that there are some "homos" who are more dangerous than others.
Then I decided to create a critic of this comic by changing the text so that all the rape situation was just a dream created by the "gentle furry" based on his prejudices, and how he couldn't sleep near this guy because he was so tense thinking he was going to get raped, and posted it on twitter.

The creator of the original came and told me that he gave me no permission to repost and modify his work, to what I responded that since Twitter is based on the US, all copyright claims have to conform to US law, and that according to US law what I did was a parody doing social commentary using his original work, and therefore was protected. Which sparked an explosion on trolls who, like the previous time, told me how I was a rape apologist, that I was damaging the image of this guy, and that I was, once again, a "bad image for homosexuals". I got a false DMCA filling from someone who wasn't even the original author of the comic, who used false contact information. People insists that I was violating japanese copyright law (while the same people use pokemon avatars), and I'm now just constantly harassed by people, just for speaking out.

Basically in the Japanese Furry community only homophobes have a right to speak, and people expect you to acknowledge the ridiculous points made by homophobes or you get harassed by almost everyone.

Honestly, at this point I really don't have any desire to continue to take part of the Japanese Furry Community until homophobia stops being the norm.


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## Butters Shikkon (Jul 13, 2015)

I think the entire Japanese culture needs to wise up and treat the LGBT community better. (I often ponder how they became so homophobic when they've enjoyed homosexuality in their histories for a long time) 

It's a serious issue not just for furries but all Japanese folk. Know any activists you can support there?


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## ShikiByakko (Jul 13, 2015)

There are almost no LGBT activists in japan. The word "Gaylib" (from Gay Liberation) which is used in japan to refer to LGBT activists, is a dirty word, who even most LGBT people try to get away from.
The are some support groups, but most of them are Tokyo based, and are mostly just "safe places".

So yes, it is a general problem in the Japanese society, but the sad thing about the Furry community, is that because of the number of LGBT people in the community being way more than in the "normal society", there is more openness in terms that, people do not have to hide who they are. I know for a fact that many people felt safe for the first time in their life when they started to interact in the Furry Community, but that same openness have made homophobes way more vocal than in the "normal society", which is kind of almost a paradox.


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## Astus (Jul 13, 2015)

I am utterly confused by all of this text... I already knew that most Asian culture was not supportive of the LGBT crowd... but I don't quite understand all the rest of it and how it applies to the furry fandom... maybe one well developed thesis statement from someone could help me out


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## Butters Shikkon (Jul 13, 2015)

Have you ever encountered pro-gay art? (I'm not talking about the endless supply of porn the middle class furries enjoy so much on this site) I'm talking about art that conveys the condition of the current day oppressed homosexual. 

Because art conveys emotion, it's easy to combat hateful art with emphatic art/photos. I remember there was a woman who took people's horrendous facebook comments and put them along side their smiling happy pictures. She made a collage of this. It was so thought provoking to see their nastiness juxtaposed alongside their happy facade. 

Fight art with art.


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## ShikiByakko (Jul 13, 2015)

To put it simple. In Japan there is this common notion by people external to the furry community that all Furries are gays. To combat this, homophobes inside the furry community in japan, who in many instances are popular artists or celebrities inside the community, attack other members of the community, asking the LGBT members to "behave", claim that the reason there are so many LGBT people is because "homos" have infiltrated the Furry culture and are recruiting them inside the community, basically trying to shame anyone who is a sexual minority in the community to go back to the closet.


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## ShikiByakko (Jul 13, 2015)

Butters Shikkon said:


> Have you ever encountered pro-gay art? (I'm not talking about the endless supply of porn the middle class furries enjoy so much on this site) I'm talking about art that conveys the condition of the current day oppressed homosexual.
> 
> Because art conveys emotion, it's easy to combat hateful art with emphatic art/photos. I remember there was a woman who took people's horrendous facebook comments and put them along side their smiling happy pictures. She made a collage of this. It was so thought provoking to see their nastiness juxtaposed alongside their happy facade.
> 
> Fight art with art.



Thats a rather good suggestion.
But not to be pessimistic or anything, but most of those things get completely ignored (Â´ãƒ»Ï‰ãƒ»ï½€)


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## Butters Shikkon (Jul 13, 2015)

ShikiByakko said:


> Thats a rather good suggestion.
> But not to be pessimistic or anything, but most of those things get completely ignored (Â´ãƒ»Ï‰ãƒ»ï½€)



Were you expecting a quick solution? That's cute. :3


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## Astus (Jul 13, 2015)

ShikiByakko said:


> To put it simple. In Japan there is this common notion by people external to the furry community that all Furries are gays. To combat this, homophobes inside the furry community in japan, who in many instances are popular artists or celebrities inside the community, attack other members of the community, asking the LGBT members to "behave", claim that the reason there are so many LGBT people is because "homos" have infiltrated the Furry culture and are recruiting them inside the community, basically trying to shame anyone who is a sexual minority in the community to go back to the closet.



Ahhhhh thanks for the clarification... 

I'm not quite sure how to feel about this... it's basically furries demeaning furries who have a non heterosexual orientation, which is pretty much the equivalent of a heterosexual person hating on others for not being heterosexual... except anthropomorphic animals are involved... 

I'm surprised humans haven't destroyed the world yet, I really am.


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## Volkodav (Jul 13, 2015)

Wooo this looks like a rad thread and a good read
ill post here so i can find the thread to read in the morning


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## Amiir (Jul 13, 2015)

Butters Shikkon said:


> the middle class furries



Lolwut. Since when is the furry fandom split in classes?


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## Butters Shikkon (Jul 13, 2015)

Amiir said:


> Lolwut. Since when is the furry fandom split in classes?



The poor furs don't buy much art, and the rich furs go for comics and more artsy stuff than porn. 

Also...furries are...human people...you know? People have classes.


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## Taralack (Jul 13, 2015)

Amiir said:


> Lolwut. Since when is the furry fandom split in classes?



Get back to work you lower class scum

*sips on tears of people still waiting on commissions*


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## Amiir (Jul 13, 2015)

Butters Shikkon said:


> Also...furries are...human people...you know? People have classes.



Sadly they do... And thank you for clearing up that furries are human people. I thought they were donuts until this mindblowing revelation


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## Butters Shikkon (Jul 13, 2015)

Amiir said:


> Sadly they do... And thank you for clearing up that furries are human people. I thought they were donuts until this mindblowing revelation



That's because you've got that setting on the treadmill too slow, fattie. :V Run faster and you won't have time to think of food!!! >:3


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## ShikiByakko (Jul 13, 2015)

Butters Shikkon said:


> Were you expecting a quick solution? That's cute. :3



Something like an anti-prejudice bomb would be good (Â´vÏ‰v`*)


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## Amiir (Jul 13, 2015)

Butters Shikkon said:


> That's because you've got that setting on the treadmill too slow, fattie. :V Run faster and you won't have time to think of food!!! >:3



I don't get it


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## Butters Shikkon (Jul 13, 2015)

Amiir said:


> I don't get it


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-4P1WPE-Qg


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## Ratical (Jul 13, 2015)

ShikiByakko said:


> And now in  the latest installment, another artist called "pizza" (pizademokttero),  who is also known to make homophobic comments constantly, made a  "cautionary" manga about the "Darkness of the Furries" where he depicts 2  male "furries", a "Week and gentle Furry" dog, being invited to the  house of an "Evil Furry" cat, to go the next day to a furry event, and  just found himself being assaulted by the "Evil Furry".



The  unfortunate thing about any online meet-up is that they can have a dark  intent. This isn't unique to furry or gay communities, but any time you  associate with strangers you meet on the internet you're taking a risk.  But pinning this sort of behavior solely on furries or homosexuals is  prejudice, defamatory, and ignorant. I would guarantee the number of  times this sort of thing happens within the furry community would be  less than everyday sexual assault since, as a social community, we're  usually held accountable for all our actions. Basically, even though bad  things _can_ happen, we tend to police our own.

I'm sorry things  are rough over there, Shiki. I know language is a barrier, but is there  any way a collaboration between the English and Japanese fur communities  could help? Historically (and unfortunately) we've been separated  despite having a common interest, but I know there are artists who  participate in both. It just breaks my heart to know that a group of  people from the same culture, with the same interests, can't work past  something like homophobia and just enjoy it.

Thanks for bringing this up, and I really hope you can still enjoy  being a furry somewhere. It's tough when you're surrounded by them, but  don't let idiots ruin something you love.


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## ShioBear (Jul 13, 2015)

well i hope it gets better. im moving to tokyo in 3 years to teach english. and i plan on wearing a suit  to partys.


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## Willow (Jul 13, 2015)

Butters Shikkon said:


> (I often ponder how they became so homophobic when they've enjoyed homosexuality in their histories for a long time)


Well to be fair a lot of their gay media is really focused on stereotypes


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## The King Maker (Jul 15, 2015)

Sounds a bit hypocritical, considering they are the world's premier source of homosexual related entertainment in the form of yuri and yaoi manga and anime. 

Although Japanese society is a bit tweaked in its own right. The population is on a decline. The country has just hit it's lowest population record in 15 years. Elderly folk are now outnumbering teens & pre-teens. A workaholic lifestyle for men and subservient marriage for women are starting to take it's toll.  Guys think "women are too hard to get." Girls think "I don't wanna be some man's slave." Kids are going "what's the point?" Yeah, a fair amoutn fo things need to be fixed. 

As for your situation, I'd say continue on with the fight. Evil triumphs when good furs do nothing. Spam, e-mails, phone calls, this is the worst they can do. Meaning, you've got them riled up. You've got them scared. Press on with the attack. Be the voice of the voiceless. And once others see you taking a stand, they'll be less afraid to move from the sidelines.


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## ShioBear (Jul 16, 2015)

The King Maker said:


> Sounds a bit hypocritical, considering they are the world's premier source of homosexual related entertainment in the form of yuri and yaoi manga and anime.
> 
> Although Japanese society is a bit tweaked in its own right. The population is on a decline. The country has just hit it's lowest population record in 15 years. Elderly folk are now outnumbering teens & pre-teens. A workaholic lifestyle for men and subservient marriage for women are starting to take it's toll.  Guys think "women are too hard to get." Girls think "I don't wanna be some man's slave." Kids are going "what's the point?" Yeah, a fair amoutn fo things need to be fixed.
> 
> As for your situation, I'd say continue on with the fight. Evil triumphs when good furs do nothing. Spam, e-mails, phone calls, this is the worst they can do. Meaning, you've got them riled up. You've got them scared. Press on with the attack. Be the voice of the voiceless. And once others see you taking a stand, they'll be less afraid to move from the sidelines.



you do know that more people watch disney films than anime in japan right?  people who obsess over anime are looked  down upon just as much in japan as in north america. 
and the LGBT  communities is basically ignored. they dont hate it they just see it as weird and avoid it. no gay bashing in japan. 

also if you make a big stink in japan your gaijin ass is more likely to get deported than noticed.


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## Amiir (Jul 18, 2015)

ShioBear said:


> also if you make a big stink in japan your gaijin ass is more likely to get deported than noticed.



Oh my God, this reminds me of something http://cipheroo.deviantart.com/art/Not-Even-Japanese-WIP-542163283


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## dischimera (Jul 18, 2015)

So is that why the artist seem to act so low-profile all the time? I never imagined the kemono artists had this kind of problem. I remember some other artist who claimed to have direct contact with japanese ones saying furry wasn't seen as bad as in the west. Guess that was a load of bollocks.

If you don't mind me asking, since this is something I've always been curious about, is language barrier the only reason so many kemono artists seem to isolate themselves from the english furry art communities?


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## Imperial Impact (Jul 20, 2015)

fucking wow, I cannot wait until tomorrow.

>FaF
>knowing japan's problem with gays


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## MaximizedNOVA (Jul 21, 2015)

But... But... ã§ã»... 

They are my number 1# source for Furry Yaoi/Bara. Can't imagine this is the reason why some kemono artists have disappeared.


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## Yarra (Jul 21, 2015)

Thanks for posting this, I found it very informative.


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## ShikiByakko (Jul 30, 2015)

dischimera said:


> If you don't mind me asking, since this is something I've always been curious about, is language barrier the only reason so many kemono artists seem to isolate themselves from the english furry art communities?



Language is always a good reason, but it also has to do with the fact that japan is closed to almost anything foreigner. Japanese people are afraid of the "outside world", and they almost see it as some alien place where weird things happen that have little to nothing to do with their lives.

In reality it is more of a vicious cycle where because they don't understand English then they do not get enough information from outside japan, and that at the same time confirms the idea that japan is special, because it is doing it's "Own thing", which once again underestimates the utility of learning English, and therefore English education is horrible, and the cycle continues to eternity.

There are Japanese guys who do interact with the English furry community, but most of them are just people from second life.


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## PriestessShizuka (Jul 30, 2015)

I think, based on your first post, if your intent is to start a big internet rally calling out folks on their, from your standpoint, socially immoral remarks, then you're going about it all the wrong way, and you're really just asking for trouble, starting drama, reeling in waves of trolls, and getting yourself in a big mess.

One problem many Americans or westerners face when meeting other cultures is being unable to tolerate a different culture's very different beliefs. Attacking them for their beliefs, first of all, is never a good idea. Remember that they aren't just making homophobic remarks because they're "so evil" and so mean. They actually do think they are on the moral high ground, and you're not going to just easily tell them "No that's wrong and you should be ashamed of yourself."
You have to find a way to respect others' differing beliefs even if they completely clash with yours, and you can't fathom how they can think that way and think it's right. There's also still racism and xenophobia in some parts of the Japanese people, but again, *attacking them for their beliefs and shoving your ideals down their throats is NOT the way to show them what's right and what's wrong.

*I believe that one of the best ways to "convert" other people's ideals into yours is to teach by good example.
In another situation, for example, to teach a racist, white supremist person to not be racist, you *DON'T*: Yell at them, calling them a racist; call them a hater; call them a bigot; force them to be a servant for a black person, force them to only say nice things to black people after trapping them in a room with a black person who expects them to treat him like a god
What you *DO* is: Have blacks and whites people show them kindness, generosity, friendship, justice and love. This is the best way to teach a racist that all are human, equal, and can love and deserve to be loved.

So applying that here, you should not fill homophobic Japanese peoples' minds with the idea that all LGBT activists have always been hateful, obnoxious, loud, rude and full of spite. You should treat them the way you *want* to be treated.

That's just my suggestion.


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## ShikiByakko (Jul 31, 2015)

There is something some people seem to get wrong.
First, I'm not American, nor I'm some kind of gaijin that just got here some months ago.
Some of the most important formative years in my life happened while in Japan, and happened many years ago.

In fact, I was saved by the kemono community, while I was having deep depression problems and even suicidal thoughts because of my sexual orientation. I'm sorry, but I'm not an outsider trying to shove the outsider ways on others, in fact, I started to discuss with people because a friend asked me to. He told me that the way things are going, LGBT people will not be able to stay open on the Kemono community.

Here in Japan, the worst way to deal with problems is just ignore them, like most people do, because in the end, because how this society works the most loud, abusive and obnoxious people, eveen if they are a minority, if they go unchallenged, thair views remain the norm.
Just a few days after the last drama, popular Kemono gay datting game "Morenatsu" was cancelled because of the backlass of all the drama.

People in japan do not come out of the closet, so there is no way to show the general population how gay people actually are.
The situation in Japan is kind of simillar to the US before all the riots of the 70's, people do not unite, and I just keep seeing some gay people inside what could be the only place they thought they could be safe pushed to the limit.

What I'm actually tring to do is trying to get all the people who just do nothing engaged, I'm showing "this is wrong" not to attack those peoples, I'm doing to show others that they don't have to just take it when they are getting bullied. At the very least not in the only place they have been able to express themselves freely.


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## PriestessShizuka (Jul 31, 2015)

I see. That's fair.
My apologies for my misinformation on your behalf ^^


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## Cocobanana (Aug 1, 2015)

All of the Japanese should see Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, that'll learn 'em.


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## shurra (Aug 19, 2015)

Your post has connected a bunch of dots in my head... I've noticed a large number of Japanese artists who draw gay stuff seemingly randomly up and delete all their art with no explanation (and Aogami suffered a lot of harassment on pixiv too), so I now think it is because of massive jerk-waffles and the toxic environment that they created in the Japanese furry community making them wish to no longer be a part of it. It would be nice if they would just join the English speaking furries rather than removing everything and letting the a-holes win... but yeah, I understand that with not knowing English that would not feel very rewarding for them and would impede their ability to actually be part of the community. 
And yeah, the Japanese not liking foreigners is exhibited pretty clearly in the back of doujins with author notes that basically say "please don't share this, I don't want dirty uncultured foreigners getting their freeloading fingers on my work" which was kinda shocking the first time I saw it. It's almost as if Donald Trump started making gay furry porn.


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## TrishaCat (Aug 19, 2015)

I didn't know all this. I'm honestly surprised; I'm used to coming across lots of gay kemono artwork, so the fact that Japan has such a low tolerance and closed community of the LGBT community is unexpected to me. Still, I suppose what pictures people put on the internet shouldn't be any indication of the amount of acceptance of the LGBT community over there, so I really should've known better.

Wow, things sound awful over there. I hope you're endeavors in improving the state of things are successful. Bullying is awful, and especially so for a place with such a high suicide rate. :/

By the way, kind of off topic but how do you have such a strong handle on the English language, and what brings you to this site anyways?


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## ShikiByakko (Aug 22, 2015)

Battlechili1 said:


> By the way, kind of off topic but how do you have such a strong handle on the English language, and what brings you to this site anyways?



I'm not a "pure" Japanese, per se.
Also, I do like the international furry community, and I'm interested on anything that has to do with it.
I've been part of Furaffinity for a long time, but I was more of a passive user, watching, reading, but really not shearing that much.


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## Nerine (Mar 20, 2016)

Japans a backward ass place, proof is in there lack of sensitivity toward subjects such as rape, racism and the disabled.


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## Simo (Mar 20, 2016)

Nerine said:


> Japans a backward ass place, proof is in there lack of sensitivity toward subjects such as rape, racism and the disabled.



Though on the other hand, of so-called advanced countries, the US has a pretty lousy record when it comes to racism, treatment of the disabled, and rape, even to this day. Racism in particular has become very much of a problem, with the rise of figures like Trump, and this desire for people to want to blame those that appear other than themselves. 

~

But as for furries in Japan: I can't say I've ever met any, though it would be interesting.

Do they have any furry cons there?


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## Nerine (Mar 21, 2016)

Simo said:


> Though on the other hand, of so-called advanced countries, the US has a pretty lousy record when it comes to racism, treatment of the disabled, and rape, even to this day. Racism in particular has become very much of a problem, with the rise of figures like Trump, and this desire for people to want to blame those that appear other than themselves.
> 
> ~
> 
> ...



I don't live in the US, I'm Canadian


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## Simo (Mar 21, 2016)

Nerine said:


> I don't live in the US, I'm Canadian



You're very lucky! This country has gotten really nutty these days, as the right wing has gone into spasms of religious fervor, nationalism and race-based fear. The US can be pretty creepy, that way.


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