ポット出版

おいかわけんじ。ジャーナリスト／研究者。
それまで一分もフランス語を学んだことがなかったのに、
フランス留学を決断。2002年UCLAエクステンションセンター・
夏期英会話講座・修了、グランゼコールの一つ、2004年
リール政治学院・夏期特別セミナー修了(European Summer
University Program at Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Lille)。
フランス国立パリ第九大学・Dauphine修士課程に2004-05年に在学。
多国籍企業の経営戦略が研究テーマ。大学では”英語”で講義を
受け、語学学校でフランス語を勉強するというチョット変わった
留学生活をおくる。

2004年7月3日から2006年3月25日までフランスに滞在。
リール、トゥール、パリにて生活する。

・ダニエル＝コーンベンディット欧州議会議員(緑の党)
・ダニエル＝ミッテラン前大統領夫人
・ジャンマリー＝ルペン『国民戦線』党首
・フィリップ＝ドヴィリエ欧州議会議員(MPF)
・ジャンリュック＝ロメロ地方圏議会議員(UMP)
・セゴレーヌ＝ロワイヤル国民議会議員(社会党)
・カミーユ＝カブラル・パリ17区議
・パトリック＝ブローシュ国民議会議員(社会党)
・ヤン＝ヴェーリング仏緑の党・全国書記
・ノエル＝マメール国民議会議員・市長(緑の党)

といった数々の政治家にインタビューする。

・共著『オカマは差別か』(ポット出版)、2002年1月。
・編集・共著『常識を超えて』(ポット出版)、2002年6月。
・単著『ゲイ＠パリ　現代フランス同性愛事情』(長崎出版)、2006年10月。
・単著『沸騰するフランス　暴動・極右・学生デモ・ジダンの頭突き』(花伝社)、2006年10月。
・単著『フランスは最高！』(花伝社)、2007年6月。

写真は、筆者が住んでいた学生寮の部屋から見た夜景。

新年になってパリのいたるところで「ハウルの動く城」(仏題は”Le chateau ambulant”)の巨大ポスターを見かけるようになった。そのかいがあってか、ハウルの動く城はパリにおいても多くの観客を集めている。

1/12から1/18に同映画を観たのは、パリ／パリ近郊で10万8051人。パリ／パリ近郊の映画入場者総数は80万4058人であり、この週では観客数一位の座についている【以上、データは『pariscope』(Hachette Filipacchi Medias)1914号、128-129頁より】。パリ市民は2001年で約214万5000人というから、入場者がパリ市民でかつ一人一回だけ見たとすれば、おおよそパリ市民の5%がわずか一週間で、『ハウルの動く城』を見た計算になる。この調子で行くと近い将来、5人に1人の市民がこの映画を観るために映画館に足を運ぶことになるであろう。 続きを読む…

続きを読む…

　予約投票プロジェクトで、『PHOTOエッセイ Gay @ Paris』がアップされました。
　同プロジェクトでは、100人が予約をすれば、本が刊行される……という仕組みになっています。
　内容は

-大統領がゲイ雑誌に登場する。
-国民の65%が同性愛に理解を示す。
-ゲイ術家(Gay Artist)が文化の一支流を担う。
-パリ市長はゲイであることを公言している。
-駅のキヨスクではゲイ雑誌が売られる。
-大学にはゲイの出会いパーティーのチラシが配られる

　そんな「ゲイ＆レズビアンの天国」フランスの性事情について報告するというものです。

　東郷健＆及川健二・共著『常識を越えて　オカマの道、七〇年』(ポット出版)が完売するのが先か、予約投票が100人に達するのが先か、分かりませんが、どうぞ御支援願えれば幸いに存じます。

　第二部『東郷健が闘ったもの』を私が執筆しています。

　予約の際には、ペンネーム／ハンドルネームもしくは実名を御記入ください。メールアドレスは公表されません。
予約はこちらから

　ゲイとレズビアンの雑誌『TETU』が2004年10月29日、30日にフランス人1003人を対象に電話調査を実施したところ、「同性性愛者は異常な性指向を持っている」という設問に対して、次のような結果が出た(『TETU』2004年12月号90頁より)。 続きを読む…

　ゲイとレズビアンの雑誌『TETU』が2004年10月29日、30日にフランス人1003人を対象に電話調査を実施したところ、「同性性愛者は異常な性指向を持っている」という設問に対して、次のような結果が出た(『TETU』2004年12月号90頁より)。

まったくもって賛成　：17%
どちらかといえば賛成：14%
まったくもって反対　：17%
どちらかといえば反対：44%
どちらともいえない　： 8%

2004年2月に実施された調査では、同じ設問に対して、次のような結果だった(『TETU』2004年12月号90頁より)。

まったくもって賛成　：17%
どちらかといえば賛成：14%
まったくもって反対　：18%
どちらかといえば反対：44%
どちらともいえない　： 7%

　10月調査の時点で、61%のフランス人が同性性愛者を異常性癖者と見なしていないことが伺われる。

　ゲイとレズビアンの雑誌『TETU』が2004年10月29日、30日にフランス人1003人を対象に電話調査を実施したところ、「同性性愛者は公共の場で自分たちが同性性愛者であることを示すような行為は避けるべきだ(たとえば路上でキスをするなど)」という設問に対して、次のような結果が出た(『TETU』2004年12月号90頁より)。

まったくもって賛成　：23%
どちらかといえば賛成：18%
まったくもって反対　：18%
どちらかといえば反対：38%
どちらともいえない　： 3% 続きを読む…

これから10回ほどにわたって「フランス人とホモ・フォビア」シリーズを展開していく。

　ゲイとレズビアンの雑誌『TETU』が2004年10月29日、30日にフランス人1003人を対象に「同性愛嫌悪」(L’homophobie)に関する電話調査を実施した。「同性性愛者は異性性愛者と同様の権利があたえられるべきだ」という設問に対して、次のような結果が出た(『TETU』2004年12月号90頁より)。

まったくもって賛成　：40%
どちらかといえば賛成：25%
まったくもって反対　：12%
どちらかといえば反対：18%
どちらともいえない　： 5%
続きを読む…

　パリのゲイタウンにある書店のウィンドウに9月初旬、ドラノエ市長の写真が表紙の『La vie, passionnxJ燕ent』(Robert Laffont)が飾られていたので、手にとった。発売と同時に売り切れたのか、発売日前に特別に入荷したためだったかは分からないが、ウィンドウに一冊、あるのみであった。その場ですぐ購入し、辞書を片手に読み進めていった。同著の全文朗読CD(6枚組)も買い、フランス語学習に活用している。 続きを読む…

　パリに同じく留学中の友達とともに、1月12日からフランスでも公開されたスタジオジブリ作品『ハウルの動く城』を見た。いろいろな駅には巨大ポスターが掲示されており、宣伝に力が入っている。公開に先立ち過去の宮崎駿・作品がいくつかの映画館で再上映され、宮崎駿・展が現在も催されている。ずいぶんな人気だ。 続きを読む…

　昨年9月にフランスで刊行されたBertrand DELANOEパリ市長(以下、ドラノエ市長)・著書『La vie, passionnxJ燕ent』(Robert Laffont)の邦訳版が、ポット出版から年内に出版されることになった。同著出版のために沢辺均・社長が直々に動き翻訳権獲得交渉にあたり、見事、手中に収めた。 続きを読む…

　年賀状を送ってきた人々に返事を書いている。テスト勉強に向かうべく机に向かったら、年賀の返事を出していないことに気がつき、作業に取りかかった。宛名書きが疲れたので、ゲイのパリ市長が書いた『La vie, passionnxJ燕ent』を紐解いたら、シラク大統領が2002年、ゲイ雑誌『TETU』のインタビューに答えた……という個所を発見(72頁)。 続きを読む…

　フランスに来てから(日本においてもそうだが)、私はメッセンジャーをつかって誰かと会話したりチャットしたりしたことがない。その代わり、パソコンに向かい原稿・日記を書いている。 続きを読む…

　パリの生活に慣れてしまうとさして気にならないのだが、日本から来たばかりの人ならばコンドームの自販機が地下鉄構内に設置してあるのを見て、奇妙に思うのではないか。パリの大きな駅には、コンドームの自動販売機が設置してあり、よく眺めてみると世界的なブランド「Durex」の製品であることが分かる。
　そういえば、国際大学都市(※１)の学生食堂近くにある男性用トイレにも、洗面台の隣にコンドームの自販機が設置してある。女性に確認してもらったところ、女性用トイレにも自販機が設置されているそうだ。私が現在、パリで住まう10階建ての学生寮にもコンドームの自動販売機が共用洗濯機の近くに設けられている。 続きを読む…

　　今週から大学にて試験が始まる。生活はテスト対策シフトに移行している。” Bring it on!”の精神で臨みたいものだ。一科目のテストにつき3時間、割かれる。日本の大学に比べて比較的長い。『戦略的経営論』の担当教官の話によれば、同科目では英文で書かれた20〜30頁ある企業のケーススタディ(過去にBMWが取り上げられたらしい)を読み、成功・失敗の原因について論ずるという形式だとか。総合力が試されるわけだ。 続きを読む…

　“同音異語”の話、最終回。

　フランスのファースト・フードの店にいくと、色々なサンドウィッチを食べることができる。フランスのサンドウィッチは、ホットドッグを挟むような縦長のパン(日本のに比べて味に深みがあるが)に、野菜や肉、チーズを入れて食べるのが一般的だ。四角く切ったパンに、薄っぺらいハムやチーズを挟む日本式のサンドウィッチとは、ずいぶん異なる。
　ツナのサンドウィッチは”sandwich de thon”という。”Thon”(トン)とは、フランス語でマグロを指す。
　
　私に「ぽっぽー」の話をしてくれたフランス人講師は、
「ツナのサンドウィッチは、韓国人はいやがるかもね」
　といった。
「韓国語で”トン”という発音は、糞の意味。”トンのサンドウィッチでもいかがですか”といったら、”Non, merci”というでしょうね」

　残念ながら、韓国人に問いただしていないので、それが事実かどうか分からない。機会があれば尋ねてみたいと思う。

TOGO Ken, The Legendary Okama: Burning with Sexual Desire and Revolt

By Kenji Oikawa

Translated by Katsuhiko Suganuna
———————————————————————————-

TOGO Ken is the oldest Gay activist

On the evening of 27 November 2000 in a lecture hall at Waseda University, a frail figure stood under a pink spotlight in front of a colorful hand-made poster advertising “The Legendary Okama ; A Speech by TOGO Ken.”

Who, exactly, is TOGO Ken? When TOGO’s name is mentioned, what comes to most people’s minds is his self-proclaimed status as an okama, his many unsuccessful attempts at winning election to the House of Councilors or his various arrests on obscenity charges. Yet, despite these usual images, TxJ怫xJ�?is much more than a politician, a gay bar owner or the editor of a gay magazine. For instance, attorney Makoto Endo, who reveres TOGO as a Buddha figure, once commented that “What is special about TOGO is that he questions everything that 99 per cent of the population takes for granted and he acts on his doubts. His rebellious spirit is his great attraction, and the fact that he constantly challenges authority.”

In 1971, TOGO ran in the election for the House of Councilors for the first time and he continued to run in elections over the next two decades, making his last attempt in 1995. TOGO puts his motivation for engaging in politics this way: “Why on earth are there no representatives from oppressed groups of people in the Diet? Liberty and equality for whom? Why are there no representatives from the bottom of society at all?” Looking at the frail figure on the stage, I was struck by the fact that his slender body would snap like a twig if it were stepped on. Wondering about the source of his tenacious and rebellious spirit, I decided to pursue TOGO for some answers.

Right-Winning Organization attacked him

It was already well after midnight when I first visited TOGO at his bar named “Saturday” in Shinjuku’s Ni-chxJ恪e. He still hadn’t arrived and there was only one part-time staff member standing behind the bar. There were only about ten seats in front of the bar counter, and behind them was a bookshelf full of back numbers of TxJ怫xJ廖箔 monthly magazine The Gay. Numerous pictures of naked guys were pasted on the walls. It wasn’t until after 4 a.m. that TOGO arrived, dressed in jacket and jeans. Although he said “No interview today!” he did answer my questions. Due to the weather, I thought that he might have caught a cold. I was worried by his repeated sniffling during our conversation and I asked him, TOGO, are you sick?
“Well, since I was attacked by the right wing, my nose hasn’t been so good!” he replied.

The incident referred to occurred back in 1984. In the August 1984 edition of a monthly magazine called Shin-zasshi X (New X Magazine), the Zatsumin no Kai, an organization run by TOGO, contributed an opinion piece with an illustration. The illustration depicted the provocative scene of His Majesty the Showa Emperor being raped by US General Douglas MacArthur. Branding the illustration “disrespectful,” a right-wing group protested to the publisher. Parking their sound trucks outside the publisher’s offices, they screamed abuse from dawn till dusk and at one point they broke into the publisher’s office and trashed it. TOGO’s home was also picketed in the same manner, and he received threatening phone calls.

Then, one day, a member of a right-wing organization was riding his bicycle down the street in Shinjuku when he came across TOGO by chance. Although he had never met him in person, he recognized TOGO from his television campaigns when he was running for office. He pedaled close to him and called out “Hi TOGO.” But TOGO denied that it was him and tried to get away. “You liar, you little asshole,” shouted the right-winger in a rage and ploughed straight into TOGO with his bicycle, knocking him over and then bashing him. He then rode away without getting caught.

TOGO remembers the incident this way. “I saw a good looking guy on a bicycle coming towards me from over there, and I was wondering ‘Which bar does he work at? What a handsome man!’ and I thought it would be nice to give him a smile. At that moment, all of sudden he crashed into me on his bicycle, and I was like ‘Nooooooo’.” After being attacked, TOGO reported the matter to the police, and two months later, the right-wing activist was arrested. But why on earth did TOGO publish the “disrespectful” drawing even though he knew he’d be attacked by the right wing? The background to his behavior is related to the incredulity that TOGO feels toward Japan’s “Emperor system.”

TOGO Challenged national election 15 times

TOGO was born in Kakogawa city in HyxJ怫o prefecture. His grandfather was a member of the House of Representatives and his father was a member of the Hyogo Prefectural Council. According to TOGO, his mother was a schoolteacher who married into the TOGO family as a second wife after the divorce of the first wife. Since she was only their step-mother, she was bullied by the children of her husband’s ex-wife. After her husband’s death in 1941, the first-born son of the husband’s ex-wife, who became the household head, treated her as his servant. His treatment of her was so harsh that her teeth fell out. It can be said that TOGO’s hatred of the patriarchal family came from the abuse he and his mother experienced at the hands of his half-brother and his father.

TOGO says, “Back then the head of the nation was the God Emperor, and the head of the family was the father, and after his death, the first-born son became the head. The authority of the household head was clearly related to the patriarchal authority embedded in the Emperor system.” He goes on, “Although after the war, the Emperor declared that he was human, he continued to be Emperor. He completely avoided accepting responsibility for the sufferings of the victims of the war. The declaration of his humanity was just a strategy to deflect attention from his ultimate responsibility for the war and its consequences.”

For years, every time TxJ怫xJ�?has campaigned in the election, in his television broadcasts and in his speeches on the streets, he has continued to proclaim that “if the Emperor’s chin (a pronoun used only by the Emperor) is a symbol of Japan, I prefer the symbol of a man, his chin chin (a slang term for the penis)”. TOGO comments that “It is difficult to understand that all people are equal, unless we think of them having sex. Even the Emperor has a dick—and he uses it. We are not so different from each other.”

TOGO’s outspokenness often gets him into trouble. I asked him how many times he has been arrested so far.
“I don’t remember every time,” he replied.

Repeatedly Arrested

Among other offences, TOGO has repeatedly been arrested on obscenity charges. In 1986, for instance, he was caught by Customs when he tried to bring in magazines from abroad which depicted uncensored pictures of male genitalia. Since he refused to pay a fine, he was prosecuted by Customs in a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court where he was eventually found guilty of contravening Japan’s obscenity laws.

About this case, TOGO comments that “Originally there was no such word as ‘obscenity’ in Japan. In the Edo era, there existed male brothels where men rubbed against each other’s chin chin. I don’t understand what obscenity is. What’s so obscene about the human body? Why on earth should the act of loving between two people be obscene? Love is a form of free expression and it is not right for the authorities to crack down on it.”

By the way, TOGO once had a wife. She passed away in 1999. They were separated for a long time, and finally, toward the end of her life, she told him that she wanted to divorce. They had one boy and two girls. Deciding that he “had to live an honest life”, early in his marriage TxJ怫xJ�?left his family for Tokyo where he began to run a gay bar. Later on, he brought his first born son and daughter to Tokyo and raised them by himself. One wonders how such an unconventional father was looked at through the eyes of his children.

“As far as I’m concerned, my father used to have little meaning for me but I finally came to a point where I could think about him calmly and objectively. I realized that you should not condemn a person who acts against common sense. Now I am able to look at TxJ怫xJ�?not as my father but as an individual.” So says TOGO’s son who once harbored such rage against his father that he punched him. However, for the last eight years, it has become a New Year’s custom for TOGO and his son to visit the Ana-hachiman shrine to purchase good-luck talismans for the coming year. TOGO’s grandson, who is more than ten years old now, also accompanies them on these shrine visits. “The existence of my grandson works as a cushion in my relationship with my son. When my grandson is around us, I become a so-called ojiichan (grandpa) rather than a father to my son,” says TOGO.

“I want to shoot photos at the exact moment”

When I again visited his bar “Saturday” early one morning, there were no guests—only TOGO himself standing alone. TOGO was telling me about this guy who he’d love to shoot photographs of. The explicit photos that TOGO takes for his own magazine The Gay are the magazine’s main selling point. TOGO says that although he hasn’t had sex for more than 20 years he enjoys talking dirty to naked guys who are his type. He loves it when their small shrunken cocks gradually rise up in response to his words. When the models get really hard, pointing up at ceiling—that’s his greatest joy. “I want to shoot photos at the exact moment that those men, or all men, feel sexual ecstasy. But that is a very difficult thing to do. One time, one guy shot his load from here to there…” says TOGO, pointing at the phone. It seems that it was surprising even for TOGO to see this guy’s load shoot almost three meters ahead. But these days he feels lonely because he cannot find any good men.

What he most adores now is his beloved cat named “Chin”. According to TOGO, she was abandoned in front of his house covered in her own blood from an accident to her shoulder. Chin was hovering between life and death. TOGO took her in and raised her like his own daughter. Her name “Chin” was taken after the Emperor’s use of the pronoun chin, a kind of imperial “we”. He adores her even more than his own children. Now he lives on just because Chin is with him. “She is a really refined cat”, said TOGO humorously.

TOGO told me that he wanted to show me something interesting, so we left the bar in the early morning light. Kan-kon kan-kon, the dry sound of wooden clogs tapping on the concrete streets, was echoing all over the now deserted district of Shinjuku Ni-chxJ恪e. There was hardly anybody on the streets at this time in the morning. How many people would be able to imagine that Shinjuku Ni-chome is one of the foremost gay areas in the world by just looking at its morning face?

Gay is Love

We arrived at a 500-meter-long underpass connecting the Shinjuku San-chome subway station with Japan Rail’s Shinjuku station.
“This is it. This is what I wanted to show you.”
We viewed an immense jam-packed crowd of people all dressed in hues of grey or black surging past us. “Look at all these people rushing to get to work on time, surging past like a big wave. I have watched this scene for more than 20 years. This is like a funeral procession of living people.”
TOGO was lurching into the crowd, taking rhythmic steps right and then left.
“I have been discriminated against by people from this crowd. This drunken old okama is walking against the wave of this crowd. Every time I see this, I feel that I must continue to live.”

Then and there I asked TxJ怫xJ�?why he continues to use the word “okama”, a word that sounds discriminatory. As the term “okama” is often used in the phrase “kama wo horu” (digging an okama), some gays feel uncomfortable with it, saying that it emphasizes anal sex.

“I love the word okama very much…. I feel free to love this word because of the fact that I have been discriminated against through its use”. His face was still red, but his eyes showed sobriety, as if he wasn’t drunk at all.
“There is no need to justify love between men by adjusting the wording. What’s wrong with men loving each other, and women loving each other? What is shameful is to live your life lying to yourself, and not being able to love another person.”
TOGO dares to embrace the word “okama,” a term that symbolizes contempt for homosexuals.
“I believe that okama originally comes from the Sanskrit word kxJыa, which means love. Therefore, the origin of okama is love.”
Saying this, his facial expression softened. His anger and sadness slipped away, leaving a soft and very charming smile on his face.

　1月17日(月)、18日(火)と、大学のクラスにおけるプレゼンテーションが2日、連続つづいており、先週から英語によるスピーチ原稿を推敲しつづけた。発表初日、30人程度の学生を目の前にしたスピーチはなかなか好評だった。五分弱のスピーチに『ジョーク』を四ついれたのだが、すべてのジョークで笑いをとれ、教授からも評価された(フランスの大学なのに講義を英語で受けている。このことについては、後日アップ予定の『留学の作法』で報告する)。 続きを読む…

　前回の話の続き、城塞においてである。
　石できた城塞の中を鳩が自由に飛び回っていた。せわしなく飛んでは城壁で休む鳩に、

「ぽっぽー、ぽっぽー」

　と呼びかけていたら、フランス人講師がニヤリと笑って、

「ポッポーだって？ドイツ語ではここのことを指すんだよ」

　といって、 続きを読む…

　日本ではよく知られた話だが、フランスでは乾杯の音頭の際に、

「チンチン！」(Chin-Chin)

　と唱和する。一橋大学でフランス人留学生が乾杯の音頭をとったら、セクシュアル・ハラスメントをしたという理由で、国外退去処分になるかもしれない。
　Chin-Chinの語源は中国語の「請請」だという。乾杯の際、私は気恥ずかしくてつい口ごもってしまうのだが、パリで知り合った日本人の女子学生にも聞いたら、「絶対いえませんよね」と、同調してくれた。「郷に入れば郷に従え」(A Rome
il faut vivre comme a Rome.)で、気にかけず「チンチン！」という日本人女性も男性も中にはいるのだが。 続きを読む…