If someone doesn’t check my hair soon, I’ll end up in a park bathroom with a Republican.

It’s Gay Time again! Yay!

It’s really just two things that I want to mention (only one is about Japan).

First, there is a really cool article at New York Magazine about gay people and gaydar and things of that nature. Did you know if you’re gay you’re more likely to be left handed (… I’m left handed), you’re index finger is more likely to be longer than your ring finger (… it’s just a coincidence that this is true with me as well, right? right?), and your hair is more likely to be a counterclockwise swirl (well… I don’t know this so I’ll say it’s clockwise). An interesting read no matter your orientation (even florasexuals like Michael Boyles).

Second, this is something that is kind of related to the article, but is about Japan. You know how people have this sense of when people are of a different persuasion (even if the people haven’t left from a small room where they were staying) and we, as a culture, have invented a word to describe this ability that we have? Well, the western version doesn’t work here. Of course, I’m not counting the blindingly obvious as part of gaydar.

The men are quite fashionable and many things that are gay (almost flaming really) are things you can easily see (Capri’s being one of them). But then, there’s the article that I linked to. In the article, it talks about how gaydar is cultural and that different cultures will have different tells (or maybe less, or maybe none). With that said, I think part of the reason might include, as I mentioned earlier, that many Japanese homosexuals are trapped in a permanent closet (I pull out my Beretta) that they don’t have too much incentive to leave considering the society as a whole.

However, I have a feeling that might start to change with the Japanese in my generation. I have sometimes seen couples holding hands, or things similar to that nature, in public. I know, you might think that maybe they’re just friends (really close girl friends do this with each other), but you can tell the difference between that and a lesbian couple. Unfortunately, pretty much all of the couples were lesbians. Maybe they’re just coming out?

Who knows. For anyone else who lives / has lived in Japan, give me your thoughts on this one.