Let’s Give Back To Quiddity
July 20, 2021
English is confusing. It doesn’t have the precision Japanese does. Some words have no meaning, like qwerty. Some words have meaning only in Japanese, like orz, letters that look like a dogeza. Some words have no vowels, but the meanings are known around the world, like LGBTQ. People may not know what each letter stands for, but its whatness brings up different feelings for different people.
My grandmother and I were watching TV when a story with two gay men came on. “Kimochi warui,” she said. “I don’t understand why men love men and women love women.” I didn’t see anything wrong, but I know many people see things the way my grandmother had that day, and not just about who people can love. There are other rules, too. Men shouldn’t wear make-up, or dresses, and women need to wear heels. Yumi Ishikawa doesn’t think so. Her #kutoo twitter movement is trying to do away with Japan’s strict shushoku katsudo. She isn’t alone. She’s just the tip of the iceberg. A wave has come.
Support for a more modern gender construct has been growing around the world, as more and more people are gaining a newer understanding of what they are, and not what they should be. Singers and celebrities are coming out, not only as LGBTQ, but also as non-binary, or x-gender in Japanese. Even straight people are more welcome to bending gender rules. BTS, the most popular music group worldwide, wear makeup without shame. However, as these stars are making the issue more acceptable, the ideas and unusual feelings that arise from whatness is often not so clear for many others.
Some are able to find answers in the LGBTQ community. The group is both convenient and useful, giving at-risk people protection and company, things a person who is not sure how to deal with whatness needs. Even if the LGBTQ community is a growing one, with longstanding members like Akihiro Miwa, Kanako Otsuji, and Ai Haruna, it is still a hard one to find. People keep secret who or what they are for years. Whatness is scary. It can take years to understand, years to take the first step. Some people ignore the whatness, unable to find someone to show them the way, and continue living in hiding and confusion.
The confusion also extends to the English language. The common pronouns for a single person is he and she. He and she work for some people, but not for others. The accepted pronoun they, the one commonly used for LGBTQ people, also has problems. Calling a person they is incorrect in our English classrooms. How can they be equal if they don’t have a word that everyone accepts as correct? What someone is called impacts that person. People gain clarity with the pronoun people are identified with. It gives form to the whatness that lies inside. Whatness is unique. Whatness is beautiful. Calling a person correctly is an important step in accepting everything about the person. It is needed when speaking truth to power. LGBTQ people will always have trouble, but I think we can get this problem right.
If English cannot get it done, then what about a Japanese word? Japanese uses many titles and pronouns, many of them genderless. We use 選手(senshu) for athletes, 先生(sensei) for teachers, and even 様(sama) for customers. Japan knows how to do pronouns. Let’s give back to whatness. Japanese can offer a great pronoun for the LGBTQ community on a worldwide level. The Japanese kanji 人(hito) is a perfect fit, a word to help take away the confusion. Hito just means person, which is what remains under the hairstyles, the makeup, and the fashion. Where the word they separates people, the word hito keeps people together. Hito brings something familiar into whatness. Hito is how we can see each other as we really are. Hito will make people remember that the LGBTQ community is human. Just like me.
And just like you.
- S. K.