My friend,

I point out Japan’s misogyny as well as the lack of queer rights and protections. It is very hard to read your review when it fails to acknowledge these points.

At the end of the day, this was written as advice that I wish I would have received coming out. I followed the advice that the cast has given for more than 30+ years and it led me through dark places of self-hate and internalized racism. Is it hard to be open to the fact that their approach just might not work for some? Culture is not to be “fixed”, rather, it is a paradox to be navigated through discussion, questions, and listening.

If you have any objection to the article or country, I highly encourage you to write about it! But it is extremely backward to write a negative review of my personal experience if your goal may have been to call out issues within the Japanese culture.

Additionally, there has been very unfortunate news that has bubbled up regrading Kiko. She did a comedy sketch a few years back pretending to be in a lesbian relationship with her manager to prank a comedian. It’s very painful to watch. Being queer is not a joke. Judging from this evidence, it raises even more questions as to if Kiko is best fit to represent queer Japanese perspectives.