#yoshiko kawashima

[mongooseandson]

The Odyssey of Benedict Arnold: Vol. II

Available now through most online retailers, bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and etc.

This is a 160 pg, 6.5 x 6.5" Print-On-Demand softcover edition continues Arnold's journey. This one contains Chapters V - VIII of the story, some extras, and a note!

Check out mongooseandson.com/store for more details and thank you for reading!

[sandcanyon]

Meisa Kuroki as Yoshiko Kawashima, Japanese spy that was the original example for the term 男装の麗人 danso no reijin (lit. beauty in male attire).

[sandwichsakurauchi]

Ami, don't deny it, you probably find talking like that to be a possible turn on~

"Don't plashter your kinksh onto me, guy. I'm jusht here to eat my weight in whatever the fuck I want and bashk in the fame. If you get off to my jowl-infushed lishpsh, more power to you... Sh'not like I'm the only one here that doesh it..."

"...O-Oi, why are you looking at me like that, I don't shlur like thaaaARRRRRLPH!!.. Ough... S-Shush powerful belly aura... Ngh..."

"Ehe, Yoshiko-shan, jusht enjoy the ride~ After all, food ish too good to ignore, regardlessh of conshequencesh...~ I'll eat until... u-until I cover my island in fat if it meansh I can keep indulging...~"

"...We vary around here."

[wtheckzukasubs]

'Sunset of the Forbidden City' subs (Shikinjou no Rakujitsu) (1991 Star)

Download the subs from this url: wtheckzukasubs.tumblr.com/shows

This is a show that made me go 'Why am I even doing this?" as much as it made me scream at the top of my lungs "This is why I watch Takarazuka!!!!!" As you can presume, it's got some very problematic scenes along with some beautiful ones.

This show doesn't really make you think the Chinese imperial family is the best in the world. On the contrary, this made me even more sure of how useless this last emperor was. I don't think that statement is just an opinion (at least with what we're shown in the musical). The most problematic part, aside from giving such a beautiful top star like Hyuuga Kaoru an ass of a character for her taidan, to me, it was the part about Japan. It's villain-coded for a lot of the show but then suddenly... Oh poor Emperor Showa. Oh no, how can life be so cruel to him. (He's not even on stage, though we do get a real recording of his voice). I don't know the story behind this production but this part of very awkward and I'm sure it'll cause triggers to some people.

Now the good parts: if you're a BeruBara fan, this was staged in a super similar way, including the dramatic notes. Not a big surprise when it's the same director, but recordings of his other non-berubara projects are so rare, it was great to have all that tackiness in a new context (or maybe not so new since this is almost the Chinese Berubara, including a woman dressed like a man—I wonder if she was inspired in Oscar or in Kawashima Yoshiko).

Also, Hyuuga Kaoru is SOOOOOO PRETTY!!!!! And tall! She's around Makaze's height but for this time it equals being like 2m lol

Plus, this Hoshigumi was just really good. We even get a ShimeAyaka being lovely. And a smol (as she can be) Kozuki Wataru as an extra. Expect the worst story with the best side dishes.

This wasn't timed to the VHS version, as I don't own it. It will only fit the NHK edition (it's the bluish one if you're in doubt of which yours is), though the dialogs should be the same if you want to use it as a script.

Many, many thanks to who donated me this script and of course to everyone else who has helped me get this translation done.

[queerasfact]

Queer Calendar 2023

We put together a calendar of key (mostly queer) dates at the start of the year to help us with scheduling - so I thought I’d share it around! Including pride and visibility days, some queer birthdays and anniversaries, and a few other bits and bobs. Click the links for more info - I dream one day of having a queer story for every day of the year!

This is obviously not an exhaustive list - if I’ve overlooked something important to you, feel free to add it in the reblogs!

January

3 - Bisexual American jazz-age heiress Henrietta Bingham born 1901

8 - Queer Australian bushranger Captain Moonlite born 1845; gay American art collector Ned Warren born 1860

11 - Pennsylvania celebrates Rosetta Tharpe Day in honour of bisexual musician Rosetta Tharpe

12 - Japanese lesbian author Nobuko Yoshiya born 1896

22 - Lunar New Year (Year of the Rabbit)

24 - Roman emperor Hadrian, famous for his relationship with Antinous, born 76CE; gay Prussian King Frederick the Great born 1712

27 - International Holocaust Remembrance Day

February

LGBT+ History Month (UK, Hungary)

Black History Month (USA and Canada)

1 - Feast of St Brigid, a saint especially important to Irish queer women

5 - Operation Soap, a police raid on gay bathhouses in Toronto, Canada, spurs massive protests, 1981

7 - National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (USA)

18 - US Black lesbian writer and activist Audre Lorde born 1934

12 - National Freedom to Marry Day (USA)

19-25 - Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week

March

Women’s History Month

1 - Black Women in Jazz and the Arts Day

8 - International Women’s Day

9 - Bi British writer David Garnett born 1892

12 - Bi Polish-Russian ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky born 1889 or 1890

13 March-15 April - Deaf History Month

14 - American lesbian bookseller and publisher Sylvia Beach born 1887

16 - French lesbian artist Rosa Bonheur born 1822

20 - Bi US musician Rosetta Tharpe born 1915

21 - World Poetry Day

24 - The Wachowski sisters’ cyberpunk trans allegory The Matrix premiers 1999

April

Jazz Appreciation Month

Black Women’s History Month

National Poetry Month (USA)

3 - British lesbian diarist Anne Lister born 1791

8 - Trans British racing driver and fighter pilot Roberta Cowell born 1918

9 -  Bi Australia poet Lesbia Harford born 1891; Easter Sunday

10 - National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day (USA)

14 - Day of Silence

15 - Queer Norwegian photographer and suffragist Marie Høeg born 1866

17 - Costa-Rican-Mexican lesbian singer Chavela Vargas born 1919

21-22 - Eid al-Fitr

25 - Gay English King Edward II born 1284

26 - Lesbian Day of Visibility; bi American blues singer Ma Rainey born 1886

29 - International Dance Day

30 - International Jazz Day

May

1 - Trans British doctor and Buddhist monk Michael Dillon born 1915

7 - International Family Equality Day

7 - Gay Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky born 1840

15 - Australian drag road-trip comedy The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert premiers in 1994

 17 - IDAHOBIT (International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia)

18 - International Museum Day

19 - Agender Pride Day

22 - US lesbian tailor and poet Charity Bryant born 1777

22 - Harvey Milk Day marks the birth of gay US politician Harvey Milk 1930

23 - Premier of Pride, telling the story of the 1980s British activist group Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners

24 - Pansexual and Panromantic Awareness and Visibility Day; Queer Chinese-Japanese spy Kawashima Yoshiko born 1907

26 - queer American astronaut Sally Ride born 1951

29 - Taiwanese lesbian writer Qiu Miaojin born 1969

June

Pride Month

Indigenous History Month (Canada)

3 - Bisexual American-French performer, activist and WWII spy Josephine Baker born 1906

5 - Queer Spanish playwright and poet Federico García Lorca born 1898; bi English economic John Maynard Keynes born 1883

8 - Mechanic and founder of Australia’s first all-female garage, Alice Anderson, born 1897

10 - Bisexual Israeli poet Yona Wallach born 1944

12 - Pulse Night of Remembrance, commemorating the 2012 shooting at the Pulse nightclub, Orlando

14 - Australian activists found the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands in 2004

18 - Sally Ride becomes the first know queer woman in space

24 - The first Sydney Mardi Gras 1978

25 - The rainbow flag first flown as a queer symbol in 1978

28 - Stonewall Riots, 1969

28 June-2 July - Eid al-Adha

30 - Gay German-Israeli activist, WWII resistance member and Holocaust survivor Gad Beck born 1923

July

1 - Gay Dutch WWII resistance fighter Willem Arondeus killed - his last words were “Tell the people homosexuals are no cowards”

2-9 - NAIDOC Week (Australia) celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture

6 - Bi Mexican artist Frida Kahlo born 1907

12 or 13 - Roman emperor Julius Caesar born c.100BCE

14 - International Non-Binary People’s Day

23 - Shelly Bauman, owner of Seattle gay club Shelly’s Leg, born 1947; American lesbian cetenarian Ruth Ellis born 1899; gay American professor, tattooist and sex researcher Sam Steward born 1909

25 - Italian-Australian trans man Harry Crawford born 1875

August

8 - International Cat Day

9 - Queer Finnish artist, author and creator of Moomins Tove Jansson born 1914

9 - International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples

11 - Russian lesbian poet Sofya Parnok born 1885

12 - Queer American blues musician Gladys Bentley born 1907

13 - International Left-Handers Day

22 - Gay WWII Dutch resistance fight Willem Arondeus born 1894

24 - Trans American drag queen and activist Marsha P Johnson born 1945

26 - National Dog Day

30 - Bi British author Mary Shelley 1797

31 - Wear it Purple Day (Australia - queer youth awareness)

September

5 - Frontman of Queen Freddie Mercury born 1946

6 - Trans Scottish doctor and farmer Ewan Forbes born 1912

13 - 1990 documentary on New York’s ball culture Paris is Burning premiers

15-17 - Rosh Hashanah

16-23 - Bisexual Awareness Week

17 - Gay Prussian-American Inspector General of the US Army Baron von Steuben born 1730

23 - Celebrate Bisexuality Day

24 - Gay Australian artist William Dobell born 1889

30 - International Podcast Day

October

Black History Month (Europe)

4 - World Animal Day

5 - National Poetry Day (UK)

5 - Queer French diplomat and spy the Chevalière d’Éon born 1728

8 - International Lesbian Day

9 - Indigenous Peoples’ Day (USA)

11 - National Coming Out Day

16 - Irish writer Oscar Wilde born 1854

18 - International Pronouns Day

22-28 - Asexual Awareness Week

26 - Intersex Awareness Day

31 - American lesbian tailor Sylvia Drake born 1784

November

8 - Intersex Day of Remembrance

12 - Diwali; Queer Mexican nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz born c.1648

13-19 - Transgender Awareness Week

20 - Trans American writer, lawyer, activist and priest Pauli Murray born 1910; Transgender Day of Remembrance

27 - Antinous, lover of the Roman emperor Hadrian, born c.111; German lesbian drama Mädchen in Uniform premiers, 1931

29 - Queer American writer Louisa May Alcott born 1832

December

AIDS Awareness Month

1 - World AIDS Day

2 - International Day for the Abolition of Slavery

3 - International Day of Persons with Disabilities

8 - Pansexual Pride Day; queer Swedish monarch Christina of Sweden born 1626

10 - Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners host Pits and Perverts concern to raise mining for striking Welsh miners, 1984

14 - World Monkey Day

15 - Roman emperor Nero born 37CE

24 - American drag king and bouncer Stormé DeLarverie born 1920

25 - Christmas

29 - Trans American jazz musician Billy Tipton born 1914

[anjellynajolie]

FASCINATED by Anita Mui’s queer presence in HK films, where she has been cast variously as a masculine /cross-dressing woman; a pansexual woman; a woman acting as a man; and a straight-up man. 

Rouge (1987) 

Kawashima Yoshiko (1990)

Fight Back to School III (1993)

Who’s the Man Who’s the Woman (1996)

Emperor Qi-Wu Yuen (2001) 

[yuzukahibiscus]

Musical “Li Kou Ran – Flower and Flower” Hiryuu Tsukasa (Kawashima Yoshiko) Comment and Photoshoot Making Video

(Note: Hiryuu Tsukasa is a former Takarazuka sienne who graduated in September last year in the Flower Troupe Grand Theatre Performance “Years of Pilgrimage”/”Fashionable Empire”. She’s currently rehearsing for her post-Takarazuka stage performance – Li Kou Ran – Flower and Flower *rough translation of title*. She was recently featured in a comment and making video which you can find here.)

I am Hiryuu Tsukasa who plays Kawashima Yoshiko.

Question: Thoughts about the musical

This is my first musical stage after graduating from Takarazuka Revue. This is Nishiuchi Mariya-san's first musical stage performance and she plays Li Kou Ran. I'm honoured and happy to work with her together in this commemorative performance. Also Anju Mira-san plays as Yamaguchi Yoshiko and doing this together with her makes me very, very happy!

Question: About the role you're playing?

Acting as Kawashima Yoshiko is called as a beauty dressed up as a man, I'll do my best to emphase and play her role while thinking "what did she think about life?" "how did she want to live as a person?"

Question: Message to the audience?

The title is Hana to Hana (花と華, Flower and Flower?) and it focuses on Li Kou Ran and Yamaguchi Yoshiko, but I'll blossom like a flower and do my very best as Kawashima Yoshiko in the performance too.

I hope to deliver a performance that the audience will enjoy the time and hoping that they will think "It's great that I've watched this!" and endeavour my efforts. I'll be waiting for you in the theatre!

[littleeyesofpallas]

Kawashima Yoshiko wa Otoko ni naritai[川島芳子は男になりたい]: Kawashima Yoshiko Wants to Become a Man

[namitamaki-international]

📸 Extra pics: Nami’s Yoshiko Kawashima was so hot❤️‍🔥 #音楽劇李香蘭 #玉置成実 #音楽劇 #李香蘭 #namitamaki #tamakinami #jpop #japaneseartist #japanesesinger #instagram #beautiful #girl #jmusic #picoftheday #japanesemusic #japan #japanese #music #artist #singer #love #instalike #followme #instadaily #エンターテイメント #歌手 #アーティスト https://www.instagram.com/p/CnutCJcoj5L/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[dailyhistoryposts]

Yoshiko Kawashima

A complex historical figure, Yoshiko Kawashima (1907-1948) was a Chinese princess-turned spy for the Japanese Empire.

n.b. Most articles on Kawashima use she/her pronouns. This post will use they/them. I don't believe it's any more or less correct than she or he (gender identity is a social construct, and it does not easily translate across decades, cultures, and languages), but will emphasize Kawashima's personal choices.

[Kawashima]

Born Aisin Gioro Xianyu in Beijing to the imperial clan of the Qing dynasty, the Xinhai Revolution of 1912 resulted in Kawashima being adopted by their father's friend, a Japanese mercenary. Kawashima was raised and educated in Japan.

In 1925, they said they "...decided to cease being a woman forever." because "I was born with what the doctors call a tendency toward the third sex, and so I cannot pursue an ordinary woman's goals in life... Since I was young I've been dying to do the things that boys do." As a child, even before transition, Kawashima acted and spoke in a masculine fashion, but after this, they dressed and acted as a man.

Two years later, Kawashima was married to a Mongolian man. They were divorced after three years, and Kawashima moved to Tokyo, where they had a number of both male and female lovers.

Kawashima began working as a spy for imperial Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War. They worked undercover in Manchuria, usually as a man, occasionally as a woman. They led a band of 3,000 cavalrymen as a counterinsurgency force.

Over time, this story became popular in Japan and Kawashima became well-known, enough so that their ability to go undercover was compromised. Kawashima also started to criticize the Japanese military and its policies in Manchukuo, so they were not effective in propaganda.

After the end of the war, Kawashima was arrested, tried, and executed by China for treason.

It's an interesting story. The comment about the 'tendency toward the third sex'--was Kawashima intersex or tomboyish? Were they a gender non-conforming woman, a trans man, or nonbinary? Are any of these post-Stonewall English terms applicable to Kawashima's situation at all? How we talk about queer figures of the past is important, but it is often an unsolvable puzzle. If Kawashima is alive today, with our current language, we cannot say for sure how they would call themself.

[yourdailyqueer]

Yoshiko Kawashima (Aisin Gioro Xianyu) (deceased)

Gender: *Female

Sexuality: Bisexual

DOB: 24 May 1907 

RIP: 25 March 1948

Ethnicity: Chinese - Manchu

Occupation: Princess, spy, soldier

Note 1: Raised in Japan and served as a spy for the Japanese Kwantung Army and puppet state of Manchukuo during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Note 2: *It is unclear what gender they are as some websites use she pronouns while others use they/them.

[spockvarietyhour]

[queerasfact]

On October 10, 1924, Yoshiko Kawashima dressed in a kimono, did their hair in a traditionally feminine style, and took photos posed in a field full of flowers. That evening, they went to a barbershop and had their hair cut short. They described the photo shoot as “my farewell to my life as a woman”.

Check out our podcast to learn more about Yoshiko

[Image: Yoshiko Kawashima, a young Manchurian person, poses in military uniform; source]

[servetolive]

Reading the newly curated Wikipedia article about Puyi, the Last Emperor of China, and I absolutely love this description of his bisexual/genderfluid Japanese soldier cousin Eastern Jewel. I love her.