Toky-Oh No: Everything Wrong With 'Queer Eye: We're in Japan!'
Graphic by Margeaux Rocco. Image via Instagram
There is a unique form of heartbreak that manifests the minute your “fave” becomes a “problematic fave.” The disappointment sits in your stomach like a poorly digested meal and you just keep wondering whether —by the laws of the transitive property (currently bracing myself for a proper roasting by a math major for my flimsy but nonetheless witty analogy) — you’re problematic for having a problematic fave. And more importantly, what harmful narratives would you be complicit in spreading if you did continue supporting this now-problematic fave?
Such was the entirety of my internal monologue the minute I laid eyes on the first episode of Queer Eye: We’re in Japan! in my Netflix recommended list.
In this four-episode special, the five-pronged entourage responsible for the mass popularity and viewership of Queer Eye (2018) — Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Antoni Porowski, and Jonathan Van Ness — jet off to Tokyo to spread their message of self-acceptance (and the French tuck) across the Pacific. But like most, if not all, western shows that make the dreaded ‘journey East,’ these four episodes are riddled with cross-cultural clumsiness and straight up Orientalism.
Disclaimer: the Fab Five are thankfully not “problematic faves,” at least in my book.
BUT while I did not have to rethink the ethics of my love for the illustrious Tan France and the squadron of queer icons that have breathed life into (and made significant profit for) the 2018 remake of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (2003) — thank God — I did have to sit down and solemnly flow-chart out exactly what elements of this new season were responsible for the PFT (“problematic fave” tingle).
Here are the (conveniently numbered) fruits of my labor:
1 — Collectivism vs. Individualism:
First up is one of the most obvious — and therefore the most frustrating, in my opinion — assumption that ‘just doing you’ and prioritizing your individuality works in other, non-American, non-Western cultures too. I’m glad that many of us agree on the bogus-ness of the “one size fits all” idea in fashion, but I just wish that that same indignance could also be applied to conversations about cultural differences.
In the first episode of the season, “Japanese Holiday,” the Fab Five are tasked with helping Yoko Sakuma, a hospice nurse who has dedicated her life (and her entire living space) to taking care of elderly patients after her own sister passed away alone in a hospital.
While I get that one of the overarching messages of Queer Eye is learning to love and (therefore care for) yourself, I’d just like to say that it ain’t that easy. In what I like to call the ‘emotional makeover/pop-therapy session’ (also known as Karamo’s section), Karamo tells Yoko not to feel guilty for her sister’s death or dwell on this idea that she could’ve done more to help. He then says: “[y]ou have to live for yourself.” This is where my PFT alarm bells went off.
Not because I disagree. Or because I don’t respect the work Karamo and the rest of Queer Eye does. No, I was feeling the PFT because I was taught growing up that ‘living for myself’ was selfish, that it was my responsibility to take full advantage of the opportunities that my parents gave me and repay them. I was not ‘me,’ I was a member of my family; a unit in a collective. I am not Japanese, nor is my family from Japan, but these Confucian family values are still present in a lot (but not all!) of modern Asian societies and families across the globe.
So while I — and I’m sure Yoko and other viewers — appreciate the sentiment behind Karamo’s words, I’d just like to say:
It’s just not that easy.
Just because it works for you, in your country, with your cultural background, does not mean it works for everyone. Yes, I agree that making time for yourself and engaging in self-care (which Yoko did not in the beginning of the episode) is important, but that does not mean that she has to subscribe to individualism in order to do so.
Whew ok, moving on.
2 — LGBT Stigma in Japan
Honestly, on this point, the gif says it all; they really did try.
Gay marriage is not legal in Japan, at least on a federal level. Gay people, and other members of the LGBTQ community for that matter, still face active discirmination in Japan — legally, socially, and privately.
And yet, Japan is often seen as one of the more sexually liberated countries in Asia — a trope that the Kiko Mizuhara, the local guide for the Fab Five (and wildly famous, internationally known Japanese celebrity) pulls on relentlessly in the second episode of the season, “Crazy In Love.” She takes the Five to gay bars, and introduces Kan — the hero of the second episode — to some of her gay friends. And while I am all for community building and forming relationships, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this episode (and in fact this entire series) was helping to cover up some of the very real issues of discrimination that members of the LGBTQ community in Japan face.
And unfortunately, my PFT instincts weren’t too far from reality. According to Nagayasu Shibun, an openly gay freelancer and activist in Japan, in 2015, a Japanese college student took his own life after being outed to his peers. That same year, a survey done by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research reported that as many as 72% of the respondents would be “displeased” if they found out that their child was gay.
Shibun addresses how harmful this façade of sexual acceptance is in his article on Nippon.com. Thanks to things like the prominence of cross-dressing in Japanese pop-culture and “boy’s love” (a genre of manga and literature in Japan dedicated to love between male-identifying individuals), Shibun says that “people often conclude that LGBT discrimination is not a problem in Japan and that Japanese people are generally tolerant towards sexual minorities.”
“Most LGBT people keep their identity closely hidden and live in fear of what might happen if their secret is ever exposed…[t]hey are forced to cope with social exclusion and isolation, and thoughts of suicide are notoriously high among sexual minorities.”
Once again, none of this is meant to accuse the Fab Five themselves; after all, five thirty- or forty-somethings can’t single-handedly perpetuate every form of discrimination against LGBTQ individuals in another country. But they can spread this detrimental misrepresentation that ‘everything is okay’ — when that is most definitely not the case — via these episodes.
Chances are, not every viewer has been to Japan. They also may not know the level of LGBTQ acceptance there either. And so it’s very likely that they will believe the falsely positive representation of LGBTQ acceptance in Japan as shown in Queer Eye: We’re In Japan!, hence my PFT.
3 — Emotional Boundaries!
Here’s a (very lukewarm) hot take: where you come from and how you were raised have lasting impacts on your ability to open up to people.
I know this article is teeming with disclaimers, but I’d just like to say, once again:
That just because I identify as Asian does not mean that my experiences are true for all people who identify as Asian.
Just because I come from a conservative household does not mean all Asian households are conservative.
And, just for good measure, Japanese and Chinese cultures are not the same.
Alright, now that that’s over with: I grew up in a family where talking about how you feel was just not anyone’s modus operandi. Obviously going off to college and years of effort (on both ends) and being affected by American culture have changed that, but watching Karamo coax (read: force) the emotional vulnerability out of Yoko when she was talking about her sister (and the obvious discomfort on her face) made me uncomfortable.
Of course, Karamo is just doing his job. Getting people to open up, and then figuring out a way to help them based on the information he gets, is his thing.
But to go back to PFT issue numero uno, it’s just not that easy to open up when you grow up learning that that is exactly what you should not do.
I also worry about how viewers might interpret the slight reluctance on the part of Yoko and Kan to completely open up — something that I personally experienced when I was younger (thanks Confucius!) — as evidence to back the ‘emotionless Asian’ stereotype that is unfortunately still very much alive (thanks Alex Jones!).
There is SO much more that triggered my PFT in this new season of Queer Eye and this article could literally go on forever (kudos to anyone who read this far) but I’d also like to point out that I don’t support cancel culture (and honestly I don’t even love the term “problematic fave”). I ultimately still see this season as an active effort, on the part of the Fab Five, to step out of the safety of Western thinking. I also think this is a great opportunity for viewers who have never been to Japan or Asia to at least gain some background knowledge and exposure.
But I’m also not going to give the Fab Five brownie points for asking if they should take their shoes off in the house (*cough* Tan *cough*). Representation is not worth commending if it’s misrepresentation.
I ask all you lovely readers (and potential/probable viewers and fans of Queer Eye) to be critical about what you watch and to be on the look out for any signf of PFT.
(Also, if you’re interested NBC published a really interesting article about what this new season of Queer Eye says about mainstream LGBTQ advocacy.)