Ohisashiburi, internet. It’s been too long, but I know from too many all but fruitless searches that it’s hard to know where to begin to find communities and resources as an ace abroad in Japan even if you know the language. I can’t possibly let Ace Awareness Week pass without sharing all the resources and information I’ve come across thanks to hardcore searching and pure luck over my two years in Japan.

*Check back, this page will be updated ^^

I. Community

1. Twitter

If you glean nothing else, just remember TWITTER. The ace community within Japan seems to exist almost exclusively on Twitter. Below you’ll find the main ace/LGBTQIA+ organization/community pages I’ve found.

にじいろ学校

Nijiiro Gakkou

https://www.nijikou.com/

This is THE place to start. Nijiiro gakkou is an LGBTQIA+ organization that mainly focuses on the QIA and they are VERY active in the asexual community. Keep a look out for the オフ会 (offline meetups) they host a few times a year (when pandemics aren’t a thing). They’re typically held in several areas of Japan, so don’t fret if like me you’re far from Tokyo. They’ll probably cost you between 1500 and 4000 yen ($15-$40) to attend, but considering they are often in a private space the organization rented out for the occasion you’re getting more than a meetup.com event for your money. They’ve held a few main types of gatherings:

Ace café meetups

Come for a fairly casual chat/discussion- albeit not as casually as you would probably get at a US meetup- in a small safe space. I can’t speak for all of them but the one I went to was a teeny tiny place ONLY open for the meetup, meaning capacity was limited but there was no danger of strangers overhearing, which seems to be an especially important factor to meetups mainly made up of locals.

“Ace House” meetups

According to descriptions, the Nijiiro rents a space for the day and divides it into two sections. There’s a more formal discussion in the morning where you may be divided up into the group of your choice, i.e. aromantic aces, aces looking for partners, older aces etc. In the afternoon there’s a casual meetup lacking the group divisions focused on socialization and having a good time.

Tokyo Pride

Nijiiro seems to march in Tokyo Pride every year- I joined them through Ace Spec Japan (below) in 2018. In fact, even if you’re not up to date with the organizations, if you know where they are in the parade line up, you can freely sign up to march with them at Pride itself so long as there’s space. In 2018 their theme was asexuality- I’d never seen such a sea of ace flags in my entire life. Though you may not have such luck every year, you’re sure to find no shortage of aces in attendance.

日本SRGM連盟　事務局

Nihon SRGM Renmei Jimukyokyu

(Formerly Kansai Aces)

https://acecommunitywestjapan.amebaownd.com/

This LGBTQIA+ organization with an emphasis on aces/aros follows and is followed by a LOT of aces in presumably the Kansai area. They make a lot of posts about newer identities to Japan (everything from grayromantic to some not widely accepted in the mainstream western community) which can be very helpful if you’ve ever wondered how to properly explain your identity in Japanese (even simply ‘asexual’ I found hard to explain in translation for a long time).

アセクカフェ　雲

Aseku Café Kumo

Yes, seriously, there is an “ace café” newly opened in Kyoto. Most of the time the facility’s a normal café, but three Saturdays a month within certain hours (usually 6-10 PM, it’s best to verify via Twitter) it becomes the Ace Café. Anyone can enter within the hours, no reservation required, with the rule that guests refrain from coming onto anyone, but it’s all about the ace. When I visited, it reminded me of well established ace meetups I knew in the states with the bonus of it being exclusively an ace space (versus in a public café) and it being 50 times easier to break into the conversation. It will probably feel a bit more formal than meetup groups in the US, though there is still certainly the chance for casual conversation, with the bonus that even the socially anxious and introverted would have to try pretty hard to spend the entire meetup unable to get a word in edgewise. If you want to engage with the Japanese ace community and happen to be anywhere near Kyoto, this is by far the easiest way to start- so long as you speak some Japanese, I can’t guarantee any English speakers here…

…or follow me!

Or just look at my following/followers lists- you’ll find the communities I mentioned above and quite a few other ace/LGBTQIA+ related figures.

2. Line

If you have any interest in Japan and you don’t have Line, download it now- it is THE form of (free) communication here even above text messages or phone calls (probably because unlimited plans for either aren’t really a thing here).

Ace Spec Japan

This is so far as I know the only foreign ace community in Japan, and it only exists via its line chat. If you can’t really hold a conversation in Japanese, then look no further- its members are vastly foreigners and it’s based in English. The group (according to its organizers, can confirm) tends to have only about 2 meetups a year during non pandemic times. These vary greatly depending on the whims of its most active members, though they are generally VERY casual and involve playing and sightseeing as several people will probably come from the opposite end of Japan. I’ve been to 2 in 2018 and 1 in 2019- once in Yokohama, Kanagawa, once in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, and once for Tokyo Pride. The group does seem to have a meetup for Tokyo Pride (and march with Nijiiro Gakkou) every year. It’s welcoming and English is spoken, so don’t hesitate to join! I’ve linked directly to instructions, but feel free to contact me if you have any trouble. It’s also a great way to find out if any foreign aces exist in your area and I don’t think it would be difficult to try and organize a meetup of your own- whether or not anyone would show up, though, I couldn’t tell you…

…If you want to connect with individual aces in the area (and speak Japanese):

~Reply to tweets by Nijiiro Gakkou

Occasionally they will make a tweet inviting people to respond. Few people tend to do so as Japanese twitter is a vastly different world from the terrifying wild west, so if you do you’re likely to get noticed. I actually found a close ace aro friend in the same city by replying to a tweet inviting people to say “I’m looking to connect with aces/aros in ______ prefecture.” Seriously. Digital fairy tales do happen- I just can’t vouch that they’ll end in “and they lived happily ever after.”

~Just follow ace organizations/activists/public figures

You’re not going to be the only one staring at organizations’ follower lists- you may just get a few odd follows from your ace comrades if you do so.

~Follow followers of ace organizations/communities

Silently following someone to express interest in connecting seems quite common on Japanese twitter- many a bio will mention they follow people silently out of shyness. Don’t be shy in following someone, and if someone follows you go ahead and follow them back. If you really want to connect, you’re better off sending the first message. I can’t guarantee a digital fairy tale, but the odds are good they’ll respond politely to a casual message.

~Use #アセクシャル, #Aセクシャル

These two seem to be the main asexuality tags, they’re worth a try though I’m not sure how helpful it actually is…

II. Resources:

If you want more information on the ace community in Japan or just how to talk about ace/aro topics in Japanese, start here.

Blogs:

Queenie

https://queenieofaces.wordpress.com/

Queenieoface’s blogs were the first and nearly the only information on aceness in Japan I could get my hands on when I researched back in 2018. She talks about her own personal experiences and more general aceness in Japan in quite a few posts. …And she and her writing are amazing, when I happened to meet her in person at an ace space here in Japan I had to refrain from fangirling.

Youtube:

なかけん

Ace aro activist Nakaken-san has made a few videos about ace, aro and X gender related topics. They’re fairly easy to understand even for a non-native speaker (though perhaps a step above Yuna-San in difficulty level) and are great for better understanding the topics from a Japanese perspective.

LGBTチャンネル

Fabulous fellow ace aro Yuna-san makes videos about a variety of LGBTQIA+ topics, including asexuality of course. They use clear, simple language that I for one had no trouble following. I do have to acknowledge I’m advanced-ish, I can get through an unsubtitled non-historical movie, but between the language used and the Japanese subtitles I think a variety of skill levels could get the gist. Their videos are great for obtaining the language to talk about ace/queer concepts and to better understand the state of the communities and general LGBTQIA+ understanding in Japan.

Books:

「アセクシャルと恋愛 ～日本のエースコミュニティ～: Asexual and Romantic.　Ace community (LGBTQ、SOGI、セクシャルマイノリティ、アセクシャル、アロマンティック、エース、マイノリティ、恋愛、発達障害、人間関係、生きづらさ、コミュニティ、SNS、福祉、心理)」By 月島　ゆな

「アロマンティック（aromantic）～恋愛感情と性的に惹かれる～ アセクシャルと恋愛 ～日本のエースコミュニティ～」By 月島　ゆな

The only books on asexuality and aromanticism in Japan I’ve encountered are these two self-published by Yuna-san as e-books on Amazon Japan (which you can purchase from using a foreign credit card). While I shamefully have yet to purchase them (out of second language exhaustion, they only cost about 100 and 300 yen) and have only read the previews, considering how well done her videos on queer topics are, I don’t doubt they have a wealth of information about ace and aroness in Japan that’s fairly easy to understand. In fact, if you’re anything like me and you find it far easier to read than listen in a second language, I would skip the youtube videos and give these a try.