Queer Belonging Through Books

“We all come to queer books for different reasons,” says Yo Katami, proprietor of Tokyo’s loneliness books. Part bookstore, part independent publishing label, loneliness specializes in explorations of queer identities, gender, solidarity and, well, loneliness from across Asia. 

“Sometimes, we want to better understand the discomfort or uncertainty we carry within ourselves,” he says. “Sometimes, we hope to find people living with the same loneliness or struggles. And sometimes, we want to connect with lives and experiences different from our own.”

In June, loneliness brought pages of Pride through the doors of Ace Hotel Kyoto, curating bookstores and publishers for our Queer Book Fair. Among them, Kyoto’s Megaphone Books, whose mission it is to “deliver small voices loudly.” 

We asked both Yo and Megaphone’s Takumi Wada for recommendations that explore belonging — courageous and complex displays of vulnerability, affirmation, warmth and connection. Says Yo: “Together, these books chart a path: finding yourself in loneliness, finding others and eventually reaching toward someone farther away.”

Yo Katami of loneliness books recommends:

Ano Toki mo “Kō Arubeki” ga Shindokatta by Palettalk
『あの時も「こうあるべき」がしんどかった』　パレットーク著

“Boys should be like this.” “Girls should be like that.” “Love should be between a man and a woman.” “Marriage and family are the natural next step.”

We are surrounded every day by countless ideas of how we are supposed to be.

Through manga and short essays, this book shares the experiences of people who have been hurt by these assumptions and social expectations. Covering not only sexuality and gender, but also work, relationships, family and marriage, it thoughtfully explores the pressures and frustrations many of us have felt at some point in our lives.

The book gently suggests that the source of our struggles may not lie within ourselves alone, but also within the structures of society around us. By giving shape to feelings that often remain unnamed, it offers the reassurance that we are not alone. For those experiencing loneliness or uncertainty, it can feel like a small place to rest.

「男の子はこうあるべき」「女の子はこうあるべき」「恋愛するなら異性と」「結婚して家庭を持つのが当たり前」——私たちは日々、たくさんの「こうあるべき」に囲まれて生きています。

この本は、そうした社会の中の思い込みや決めつけによって傷ついた人たちの経験を、マンガと短い解説を通して紹介していきます。セクシュアリティやジェンダーだけでなく、仕事、恋愛、家族、結婚など、誰もがどこかで感じたことのある息苦しさが丁寧に描かれており、「生きづらさの原因は自分自身ではなく、社会の側にもあるのかもしれない」と気づかせてくれます。自分の中にあるモヤモヤに言葉を与え、「自分だけではなかった」と感じさせてくれるこの本は、孤独の中にいる人がひとまず腰掛けることのできる、小さな居場所のような存在になるかもしれません。

Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park
『大都会の愛し方』　パク・サンヨン著

Once we find a name for our sense of difference, we often begin searching for others who are living with similar experiences.

Set in Seoul, Love in the Big City portrays not only romantic relationships, but also friendship, family, loss, uncertainty and the many complexities of modern life. Its characters are neither idealized nor perfect. They stumble, make mistakes and get hurt, yet continue searching for ways to connect with one another.

The novel reminds us that even when we feel alone in a vast city, our lives are intertwined with countless others. It is a story about finding companionship and connection in unexpected places.

自分の違和感に名前を見つけたあと、人は次に「同じように生きている誰か」を探し始めます。

韓国・ソウルを舞台にしたこの小説には、恋愛だけでなく、友情や家族関係、将来への不安や喪失など、さまざまな人生の風景が描かれています。登場人物たちは決して理想的でも完璧でもありません。不器用に傷つき、失敗しながらも、それぞれの方法で誰かとつながろうとします。大都会の中でひとりぼっちだと思っていた自分が、実は誰かと地続きで生きていること。その素晴らしさや、やるせなさも含めて、誰かの存在がとても愛おしく思えてくる一冊です。

Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park
『大都会の愛し方』　パク・サンヨン著

Even after we find words that affirm our identity, no one lives through a single identity alone.

This collection brings together the work of poet Toshimi Funaki, who spent more than sixty years writing poetry while living at Tama Zenshoen, a sanatorium for people affected by Hansen’s disease. Admitted at the age of fifteen and separated from mainstream society, Funaki continued to write words that were urgent, humorous, compassionate, and deeply human.

His poems speak to the lifelong act of searching for one’s own voice, and to the possibility of connection through language. Across time, distance, and difference, they remind us that words can become bridges between people.

It is a powerful testament to solidarity, and to the enduring possibility of reaching one another.

自分アイデンティティを肯定する言葉を見つけたとしても、人はひとつのアイデンティティだけでは生きていけません。

『どこかの遠い友に』は、ハンセン病療養所・多磨全生園で暮らしながら60年以上にわたって詩を書き続けた詩人・船城稔美さんの作品を集めた詩集です。15歳で療養所に入所し、社会から隔絶された人生を送りながらも、誰かへ向けての切実で、ユーモラスで、力強い言葉を書き続けました。自分の言葉を探し続け、そしてその言葉を橋渡しにして、時が流れても、どこにいても、誰かとつながることができる——いつだってどこかの遠い友を探して。さまざまなアイデンティティの枠を超えて、自分とは違う他者との連帯の可能性を想像させてくれる一冊です。

Takumi Wada of Megaphone Books recommends:

One Year of Staying with the Life That Holds Me by Shonen Aya
『ぼくをくるむ人生から、にげないでみた１年の記録』(少年アヤ/双葉社)

An autobiographical essay by writer Shonen Aya, chronicling the long journey of coming to terms with his sexuality and learning to face his friends, family and partners as his true self.

This book taught me the importance of feeling righteous anger toward a society that often seeks to erase the existence of queer people and their partners, and of raising one’s voice in resistance. It was also one of the books that inspired me to start Megaphone Books.

A deeply personal and powerful work that speaks to identity, visibility and the courage to live authentically.

エッセイストの少年アヤによる自伝的エッセイ。自身のセクシャリティと真正面から向き合い、親友や家族や恋人と本当のじぶんで対峙できるようになるまでの長い道のりを記した一冊。ゲイとして生きる自分自身の存在やパートナーをないものにしようとしてくる社会に対して、真っ当に怒ること、声をあげて抵抗することの大切さを教えてくれた、本屋メガホンを始めるきっかけにもなった大切な一冊です。

Shimizu and Yamauchi: We, the Lovers Who Don’t Exist
Manga by Nao Yamauchi, Text by Esuko Shimizu
『シミズくんとヤマウチくん　われら非実在の恋人たち』(漫画：山内 尚,文：清水 えす子/柏書房)

A comic and essay collection that follows the everyday life of a queer couple.

There have been times in my own life when I felt compelled to hide my partner’s gender or treat our relationship as if it didn’t exist. Because of that, I found great comfort in this book’s honest portrayal of the joys, sorrows, conflicts and acts of resistance that shape queer life and partnership.

With warmth, humor and vulnerability, it offers a deeply human perspective on love, belonging and the many forms that partnership can take. A book that creates space for its readers and reminds us that there is no single way to build a life together.

クィアカップルふたりの生活を描いたコミック+エッセイ集。自分自身、何度もパートナーの性別を偽ったり、非実在のものとして扱ったりしてきたことがあるので、クィアな二人の暮らしの中での喜びや悲しみや葛藤や抵抗を、等身大で受け取れる作品にとても助けられてきました。様々なパートナーシップのあり方を受け止めて居場所になってくれる一冊だと思います。

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