LGBT JETs

[Kirari]

Hey LGBTQ's and friends! Short video of the First Annual Tokyo Pride Parade from last weekend~! http://youtu.be/ZsuFLBiMg3k

[nyc_to_japan]

Hey LGBTQ's and friends! Short video of the First Annual Tokyo Pride Parade from last weekend~! http://youtu.be/ZsuFLBiMg3k

Yes!! Omg!! I can't wait to go to next year's!!!!

!!!!!

[Kirari]

Hey LGBTQ's and friends! Short video of the First Annual Tokyo Pride Parade from last weekend~! http://youtu.be/ZsuFLBiMg3k

Yes!! Omg!! I can't wait to go to next year's!!!!

!!!!!

'Yeah! Hopefully they'll get even more support for next year and have some more floats and things. I bet they won't even have any protestors! I don't think I've ever been to a Pride event where there wasn't at least one lonely guy with a sign, lol.

[traviisty]

Hey LGBTQ's and friends! Short video of the First Annual Tokyo Pride Parade from last weekend~! http://youtu.be/ZsuFLBiMg3k

Yay!! This is great! Can't wait until next year!!

[Mordoc]

I pretty much haven't seen a gay event since I left Tokyo 9 months ago. It was good times, but being on the other side of the country makes it a bit hard. That being said, there are amazing things to do everywhere, and Stonewall while still in it's infancy is growing and hopefully all the new folks will contribute and help make it great.

As far as wifi at the hotel in Tokyo, it's non existant... unless you provide it. I brought an Airport Express and an ethernet cable, plugged it in and my room had free wifi, and now that I'm in my apartment, I have free wifi at home too.

[Kirari]

As far as wifi at the hotel in Tokyo, it's non existant... unless you provide it. I brought an Airport Express and an ethernet cable, plugged it in and my room had free wifi, and now that I'm in my apartment, I have free wifi at home too.

Wow, I might need to get one of those~ Does it work anywhere, like if I took my laptop out to a cafe or something? Or just in the places that expressly provide internet (like the hotel, your home, etc)?

[KaminaSan]

So am I the only person who noticed that like 75% of those participating were caucasians dressed in cosplay?

The first thing that caught my eye was a blonde in a pikachu kigu...

[nyc_to_japan]

So am I the only person who noticed that like 75% of those participating were caucasians dressed in cosplay?

The first thing that caught my eye was a blonde in a pikachu kigu...

LOL....good call...weeaboo pride??

[Mordoc]

As far as wifi at the hotel in Tokyo, it's non existant... unless you provide it. I brought an Airport Express and an ethernet cable, plugged it in and my room had free wifi, and now that I'm in my apartment, I have free wifi at home too.

Wow, I might need to get one of those~ Does it work anywhere, like if I took my laptop out to a cafe or something? Or just in the places that expressly provide internet (like the hotel, your home, etc)?

It's a router, so you need to have a wired internet connection to plug it in to. Actually any router will work, but some can be much more of a pain to set up. The Keio Plaza hotel provides free wired internet, so you are basically taking that already existing internet connection and just broadcasting it wirelessly.

[Shem]

Bumping this up now that placements are out.

I'm heading to Shiga-ken.

Just wondering- are any other LGBT JETs planning on having a partner come with them to Japan? Or am I unique in that regard?

[OdysseyOfNoises]

Just thought you might like to know that I am a fellow gay Shiga ALT. There are 5 or 6 of us in total in the prefecture (as is, this is of course subject to change).

Your situation, that is, your partner coming with you, is unique in Shiga, as far as I'm aware. However, I don't believe that it should cause any problems.

People of any persuasion in Japan are highly secretive about their personal relationships. I have never really seen any public affection here at all; it is just not the done thing.

To use a personal example, I almost never hear any teachers at either of my schools say anything about their home or family life. I have been here nine months and I couldn't tell you much at all about any of my JTE's families or similar. That's just the way it is.

If you follow this you shouldn't have any problems. Discretion, in any situation, is the best policy here. Do not tell people things that they don't need to know. As the foreigner you might well get a lot of questions about your personal life, but stand your ground. You should not be held by different standards.

Of course it is up to you how much you want to divulge, but I'd recommend that, unless you become EXTREMELY close to someone and you know their opinions on things, to keep your work and personal life totally separate.

[Shem]

Thanks for the advice, Odyssey. I had a topic on this over at ITIL and I was probably already thinking in that kind of direction. My personal life doesn't really come up in my day to day life as it is, except amongst friends. Is it alright if I send you a PM over on the ShigaJET forums to ask a few more questions in detail (it'll be in a few hours, I have work now)?

[OdysseyOfNoises]

Thanks for the advice, Odyssey. I had a topic on this over at ITIL and I was probably already thinking in that kind of direction. My personal life doesn't really come up in my day to day life as it is, except amongst friends. Is it alright if I send you a PM over on the ShigaJET forums to ask a few more questions in detail (it'll be in a few hours, I have work now)?

Sure.

[Seteskh]

I'll be going to the Hyogo prefecture with my husband.

Has anyone brought their significant other with them and want to share? What sort of visa were you able to arrange for him/her? If he/she comes over as a temporary visitor and has to leave after 90 days, is there a restriction on how quickly they can come back to Japan?

[JupiterStar]

Heya! I'm kiiiind of bringing my girlfriend over with me? But it's a weird situation. We met while I was living in Scotland during grad school, then about a year after we started dating I lost my job and couldn't get another before my visa expired and I had to return to the states, so we've been long-distance for a year and a half now She tried coming over here but lacked the money to try school and couldn't get a job, but luckily we both had met because she was pointed my way for Japanese language advice; she's TEFL certified and wanted to go teach in Japan already but got derailed by family deaths and I'd wanted to as well but did the grad school thing first while I had the money. She did NOT get into JET, unfortunately, but she did get into another program (I can't remember which, I think Interac?) and she's already been told she's being placed near me. Basically, what we did was we researched locations together, picked out a handful that we both could agree on, and then made sure we requested them in specific orders on every application we filled out for ourselves just in case. She's being placed in Hiroshima while I'm in a suburb of Okayama-shi, so while it's not ideal it's MUCH better than the 18 hour 3-times-a-year-or-less situation we've got right now! The plan is, when we're both finished with our respective programs after however long, we'll try to move in together; apparently, as long as we've lived together for 5 years in any country, we can start moving on a spousal visa through the EU and use the whole her being Scottish thing to get that done and then move to any number of places with nice legal couple status stuff, yay!

Though...she is VERY affectionate, and growing up in Scotland with a gay father she's always been very, very out in the open, even when I'm uncomfortable with PDA. I keep telling her that we'll have to tone it down a little bit in public out of politeness, but maybe I should just link her this thread!