Reminder that Namnam are being kicked out of their space by their landlords & need help to relocate. If you can help keep this community doing what it's doing 👇 chuffed.org/project/1774...

New event! 📆6th June 🕕6pm JST The Namnam space team host "Variety Show: Queer the Whole Time" at TKA4 Koenji, Tokyo! W/ Camp Kona, Kenzo Martini, @katjoplin.bsky.social, Ma, Armaiti the Goddess, miss sporadical, kotono in midnight, pualiwen & DJ WARCLAY!! Details: www.instagram.com/p/DZAO7V0kr3R

This is part of the We Can't Be Erased lesson, which looks at Trans+ communities in Tokyo with @katjoplin.bsky.social  Get the Trans+ history lesson you never had ⬇️

Kat Joplin revisits a landmark 1995 documentary following three “onabe” protagonists navigating Tokyo’s rough nightlife industry @katjoplin.bsky.social 

“Beneath the flashing lights and Marlboro ads of late 20th-century Tokyo, a tiny community carves out a place for itself.” @katjoplin.bsky.social reflects on Japan’s queer scene thirty years on from a defining documentary www.wearequeeraf.com/we-cant-be-e...

@katjoplin.bsky.social revisits a landmark 1995 documentary following three “onabe” protagonists as they navigate their transmasc identities while working Tokyo’s rough nightlife industry

🏳️‍⚧️ Thirty years on from a pivotal documentary about Trans masc communities in Tokyo, @katjoplin.bsky.social looks back to explore the legacy of the Shinjuku Boys 👇

My article on Chloe Douglas and Gordon Higgins's upcoming event, Wi Deh Yah!, is up!! This queer art event will be raising money for Jamaica's reconstruction efforts following hurricane Melissa. #queerjapan #tokyo #jamaica #hurricanemelissa #lgbtq www.japantimes.co.jp/community/20...

2️⃣ Rediscover the trans masculine community of Tokyo - three decades later - with @katjoplin.bsky.social www.wearequeeraf.com/dotheworkbook/

Defenestration Magazine has published my humour piece. 🤭 Rather the opposite of your typical travel article. www.defenestrationmag.net/2026/01/how-...

A snapshot look into my day-to-day life, "My Japan," has been published by Voyapon! The drag, ballroom, and journalism joy of Tokyo voyapon.com/my-japan-dra...

The QueerAF Workbook featuring my articles on Kim Longinotto and Jano Williams's documentary, Shinjuku Boys, and on Tokyo-based trans and Deaf activist Monkey Takano is available for download!! www.wearequeeraf.com/new-free-res... So wonderful as always getting to work with @wearequeeraf.com.

From how gender diversity in families is nothing new (@willofwands.bsky.social) to rediscovering the Shinjuku boys with @katjoplin.bsky.social, the workbook delves into four Trans+ history stories you never had 🏳️‍⚧️

Yayayay Failbetter literature journal just published my speculative fiction!! #sciencefiction #speculativefiction #writing failbetter.com/content/soon...

Really happy with this new Tokyo Review piece. Not only is it an important topic in and of itself, but I think Japanese municipal politics in general deserve much more attention.

More Mystique pics from the Alex Dragicevic shoot #mystique #xmen #cosplay #drag #dragcosplay #tokyodrag

Mystique photoshoot with Alex Dragicevic! #mystique #drag #cosplay #xmen #dragcosplay #tokyodrag

My article on the rise of pet funerals in Japan is live!! Very excitingly, my editor suggested I reach out to Barbara Ambros, a professor of East Asian religion and human-animal relationships, whose work I have read a great deal. Beautiful to research. www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2025/11...

My article about the origins of drag brunch & its introduction to Japan is live on Voyapon! Includes details about the brunches organized by Aika Markova, Miku Divine, and the TenCups team in Tokyo, Labianna Joroe and Brian Rentz. #dragbrunch #drag #queerentertainment voyapon.com/tokyo-drag-b...

New prime minister Sanae Takaichi is ultra right-wing, big on covering up Japan’s history of war crimes, very anti-immigration, and in 2014 took a smiling photo with Kazunari Yamada, leader of Japan's neo-Nazi party. 🫠 Heads up to the folks less plugged in to Japanese politics. #Japan #politics

Ballroom primer Part 2 is up!!! Photos by Rino Emmei and Don Whigan voyapon.com/japan-ballro...

Part 1 of my ballroom primer piece! A history of ballroom in Japan. Features the photos many friends and colleagues I've been privileged to meet in the scene, thanks also to the excellent photographers including (but not limited to) Rino Ninja, J. Elle Harris, Shen Wei Hung, and Christopher Sy.

Interview with Kosmic Sans, a beloved Tokyo drag queen, is now live on the Tulip Wolf Journal! @kosmicsans.bsky.social @tulip-wolf-journal.bsky.social

The first article in a new column I'm writing for Voyapon! A primer for people new to Shinjuku Ni-chōme and Tokyo's other gay neighborhoods, featuring quotations by Don Cortez and bartender Yuna Sun, tons of photos by Michael Judd. Excited to have the piece out! voyapon.com/ni-chome-shi...

New article up!!! Covering responsible dog ownership in Japan! Special thanks to my dog owner interviewees Spencer Walther, Ice Elloso, Reyna Marquez, and Atsushi Fukumori

HOMECOMING ✦ ISSUE 02 ✦ “In that sweaty, glowing night, I learned what it is to be Vietnamese and queer.” An essay about visiting Saigon as a queer Vietnamese-American to attend the Nguyễn Huệ Kiki Ball 3 noonemag.com/products/iss...

Had an in-depth interview with dual-voiced opera diva, Maria Seiren! From her working combining Japanese Noh theater with Western opera, pop, and disco, to her victory in Japan's Got Talent 2023, Seiren has been shaking up the music world and pulling more interest to traditional arts. #opera

@gcnmag.bsky.social was kind enough to run my article on Hong Konger trans man and activist Henry Tse, with supporting interviews by Bella Vongvisitsin and Way Lam. We discussed how the legal gender marker change and reformed ID policies will impact trans lives. #transrights #hongkong

Let's go!!!!! www.gofundme.com/f/rianas-tra...

Pawned summers & Billy Idol. Grooves pressed to vinyl & coconut rum. Tiger eyes & boys who smell like bonfires. A knowing smirk wrapped around a cigarette. beestung #23 is here! www.beestungmag.com

On Saturday, I had the honor of receiving the title Princess of Mizrahi’s Japan chapter. Koppi has always believed in me, inviting me to join in November 2022. I don’t always feel deserving to be in a great ballroom house like Mizrahi, but being embraced by the house has meant the world to me.

“The money shot” 🏔️

Hakone Open Air Museum 🤓

Said farewell to Krista and her family in Nagoya! We spent the last few days hanging out in Tokyo and visiting Mt. Fuji’s scenic locales, Ghibli Park, and a Nagoya Pride drag show. It was wonderful to introduce old, dear friends to the folks who make up my circle in Japan, drag & ballroom 🥹

🏳️‍⚧️ "Aya Kamikawa is the first out transgender politician in Japan, she is making history - right now." For @transhistoryweek.com and @wearequeeraf.com, @katjoplin.bsky.social writes one of seven history articles released this week.

For people wanting to support author Li Kotomi, her friends and followers have also set up this website with up-to-date information on her court battles, as well as information on how to donate! supportlikotomi.studio.site/donation

Very honored to have had the chance to interview Akutagawa Prize-winning author Li Kotomi. One of the world’s rising voices in queer literature. She is fighting back against a TERF backlash, together with her supporters and community, showing to the world the forms LGBTQ resilience can take.

5/ 🗓 May 8th: @katjoplin.bsky.social & @isabel.li www.wearequeeraf.com/transhistory...

My personal essay on grief, cosmetic enhancement, and the Tokyo drag scene is live. Volume 1 of Tulip Wolf Journal; thank you for the publication! #tokyo #dragqueen #personalessay www.tulipwolfjournal.com/post/broken-...

Interview and article with Drag Race season 12 queen Rock M. Sakura came out! Since Rock and her colleague Cash Monet were in Tokyo, we discussed the strong overlap between Japanese pop culture and the queer ex-pat community. #dragrace #tokyo #japan #dragqueen www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2025...

I remember when this book trailer (and then the book itself) came out in my freshman year of uni. The impact it had on me and my desire to be a writer, I can't even begin to say.

A reminder that fiction — books, film, games, what have you — is always political. The willful absence of “politics” in any work is itself a political choice and a political act. Who gets to tell (and sell) stories is political. It might be an undercurrent — covert, not overt. But it’s there.

Casket of Horrors 第18回 Feb 15, 2025 OPEN 19:00 / START 20:00 Peatix Pre-sale: ￥3500 (w/ 1 drink) Door: ￥4500 (w/o drink) HAUS // NATTMARA, Julia Your Make Up is TERRIBLE, Stefani St. Sl*t, Angel Heart, Moche le Cendrillon GUEST // Kosmic Sans, Kaguya, Lethal Pixie, Japam MUSIC // DJ Ohshi

Alex said, "Do you know the Bjork 'Hunter' music video?" And I said, "I got you bro." Video by Alejandro Sierra (IG genkiserb) #dragqueen #costume #alien #photoshoot #inspiredbyhungry #tokyodrag

Video by Alejandro Sierra (IG genkiserb) Headdress by Stefani Versace Mizrahi #dragqueen #costume #alien #photoshoot #inspiredbyhungry #tokyodrag

Photoshoot I did with the great Alejandro Sierra (IG genkiserb)! Headdress by my sister Stefani Versace Mizrahi. #dragqueen #costume #alien #photoshoot #inspiredbyhungry #tokyodrag