The first time I hear about Rokudenashiko was a Kotaku article back in 2013; the piece talked about the artist who made manko (a Japanese slang word for vagina) the focus of her work. I fell in love with her cute vag diaoramas, called ‘decoman,’ and the idea of her making a vagina boat. I never would have imagined she would end up being investigated by the Tokyo police and eventually jailed on charges of obscenity.

In her book “What is Obscentiy?” Rokudenashiko (whose pen name means something like “good-for-nothing child”) recounts how she became a manko artist, and how that work ended up getting her in trouble with the Japanese legal system. 

For a country known throughout the globe for tentacle-based erotica and naughty animation, Japan has some really befuddling sensibilities when it comes to ideas about decency.  Rokudenashi points out the irony, mentioning the fact that fertility festivals portraying enormous penises are a tradition and that slang terms for dicks are thrown around left and right, while her preferred word “manko” is treated like a curse word (it might be better translated as “c*nt” instead of “pussy”). Not to mention that male masturbation devices made to look like vaginas, some fairly realistic, are totally a thing you can buy, but the same old dudes who you know buy and use such devices are upset that this woman is turning her own body into art that doesn’t exist for the purpose of their pleasure.  Pornography is fairly widely available here, but it is often censored in such a way that you can still tell what’s happening, but only small parts of it are blurred or blacked-out, like the part where things go into other things. 

My spouse is fond of talking about how Japan is superior to our home country of the US.  While I agree with him when it comes to public transit efficiency, neither of our countries is anywhere near perfect when it comes to the law enforcement/correctional system. 

Though Japan has a much smaller percentage of its population incarcerated (something like a 10th of the per capita rates in the US, according to a BBC report), ‘Nashiko shows a system where police intimidate the accused, outright lying to them about their rights.  While in the system, prisoners are tightly controlled, down to the way they arrange their food trays when they return them, and any deviation can be punished.  It isn’t entirely surprising, considering that conformity and unity are highly valued in Japanese society (as part of the concept of “wa” or “harmony”). 

In a country full of people who just want to fit-in, ‘Nashiko isn’t afraid to stand-out on the subject of manko.  She endured being held in police custody two different times, during which she managed to mess with the officer who questioned her by making them repeat the offending word over and over.  At one point, she was almost tempted to give-in and agree that her work was obscene just so she could go home, but then she realized this meant she wouldn’t be able to continue to make her art.  Her passion for normalizing the part of the body that most of us pass through to enter this world, a body part possessed by about half of the world’s population, drove her to maintain her innocence and wait it out in the pokey. 

Rokudenashiko was eventually found guilty for distributing scan data of her manko, which she shared with people who had supported her boat project via crowdfunding, and was forced to pay a fine of 400,000 yen (around $3800, at the current exchange rate).  She was, however, cleared on the charge against her for making the vag boat, even though it was created using the very same scans.

I have tickets to go see her gallery opening next month.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to pick up a cute Manko-chan figure and see some more of her adorable, controversial art.  She’s an artist who has embraced Japan’s “kawaii” (cute) aesthetic in hopes of making vulva as accepted as penises.  If there’s one way to appeal to the public in Japan, it’s cuteness.  Just look at all the organization, companies, and localities that have their own cute mascots. 

Me with two of Yokosuka city’s mascots at the Curry Festival in 2013.

If you’d like to seem more from Rokudenashiko, her website (almost entirely in Japanese) is:

https://6d745.com/

We’re a little over a month into this underway (Navy-speak for deployment of ships).  It’s been a long month. 

I think the fact that the school year wrapped up right around the time my husband’s ship pulled out made things harder.  During the last month and a half of the school year, I was subbing at a special-ed parapro at the middle school on-base.  At first I didn’t know if I would want to stay with it, but the kids won me over (despite some of them being frustratingly apathetic).  I’m hoping to go back to the position as a permanent hire in the fall, but I won’t know anything until August.  Until then, I feel like I’m just killing time…

It’ could definitely be worse.  At least out here the small ships don’t have big long 6 month + deployments.  The trade-off?  They’re constantly in and out.  I have to say goodbye all the time.  In the 9 or 10 months that we’ve been out here, they’ve left about 9 or 10 times. 

I think the most frustrating part is that it’s always an "expect me when you see me" goodbye (because it’s always easy for me to think of my life in sci-fi/fantasy terms.  Not that I think of my husband as Gandolf and myself as Frodo, because that would be odd; obviously he’d have to be Samwise if I’m Frodo, but that’s not the point here).  We usually have a general idea of when he’ll be back, but their schedule is constantly in flux.  There have also been several times when they had to go with less than 24 hrs notice.  Most of these were only a few days long (they’ve had to leave port for typhoon avoidance twice, both of which fucked up 3 day weekends they sailors were supposed to get), but the day after the big Kanto earthquake the hubs got a call circa 930 telling him that liberty was set to expire at 1600 that day, when they’ve had originally been set to leave several days later.  Due to the voluntary departure, I didn’t get to see him again until I returned from the states at the end of April. 

This underway has been harder than the last few because he’s cranking (working in the mess hall).  It’s especially rough on him, because he’s had enough time on the ship that he had finally started to feel like he’d found his place in his work center, and like he was starting to feel competent in his job.  Then, after about 9 months on the ship, they sudden tell him he’ll be in the mess hall for 3 months, washing dishes and really not thinking too much.  The shift in gear from working on complicated radar systems to kitchen bitch duty has been rough.  Also, the hours they work them while underway are completely absurd.  He has to be up by 4 or 5 am, then sometimes doesn’t get done til 11 or 12 pm, meaning he has barely had time to sleep, much less sit down and read/write emails. 

My husband is worth all the frustration, the loneliness, the general bullshit.  He really is.  But, that doesn’t make it suck any less when he isn’t here.  So, for now, I wait, and hope they get back sooner rather than later. 

From Milspouse Fill-in #48 @ Wife of a Sailor, since I’m trying to actually blog with some sort of regularity, and would like to reflect on my existence as a mil spouse.

1.  Does your Significant Other read your blog? Why is this a good or a bad thing? submitted by Mrs. Alana’s Miscellany

Honestly, at this point, I think one of my friends back in the States is the only person reading this blog (my own fault - I never built up much steam posting).  I think I’ve mentioned off-handedly to the husband that I was trying to blog, but he barely has time to read the emails I send him while he’s underway (not too much longer…).  I don’t think it would be a bad thing if he read my blog; it might give him more insight into life on the other side. 

2.  What is one item in your house that holds the most sentimental value and why?submitted by The Albrecht Squad

I still hold dear the cat (I know, most people cherished teddy bears, but my stuffed animal companion is a cat) my maternal grandmother gave her to me when I was about 3 or 4 years old.  Soon after, my g-ma passed away, so my cat has definitely served as a reminder of her.  “Kitty” (because like most 4 year olds, I was really creative at naming) has survived being dragged around, thrown in the dryer, and all sorts of other abuse over the 23+ years since I got her.

3.  When it comes to water fun in the summer do you prefer the beach, the pool, a lake, or the sprinklers? submitted by The Turvo Times

Ideally, it would be a lake.  I grew up a 5 minute drive from a TVA-made lake, where we would swim nearly everyday, from Memorial day to Labor day.  I’ve yet to find any lakes/swimming holes here in Kanagawa, and I’m not too fond of swimming in the ocean (salt water, jellyfish, the small possibility of encountering sharks, paranoia). 

4.  What is the one special thing that you do for yourself to get you through the first week of a deployment/separation?  submitted by A Creed and a Psalm

I buy way too many sweets (daifuku for dinner?  sure!).  I have an insane sweet tooth, especially for Japanese sweets.  If I had a place where I could scream and not startle the neighbors, I’d probably do that too, but no such luck.

5.  What is your biggest guilty pleasure website? submitted by Christine’s Little Blog

Regretsy is pretty damn amazing.  It makes me laugh really loudly (probably to the annoyance of my neighbors) on a regular basis, even though sometimes it makes me feel dickish that I laugh so hard at it.  I also love Cake Wrecks. 

I really have to get better at cleaning out my fridge.  Day before yesterday I picked up some side dish-type food at the grocery (pre-cooked edamame, inari sushi, and steamed kabocha squash).  I only ate half of the serving of kabocha, then went to put it in the fridge.  At this point, I noticed there was another half-eaten container of kabocha.  I should have thrown it out immediately, but I though “oh, I’ll know the difference.  I’ll remember to eat the kabocha on the bottom shelf, whatever." 

I was wrong.

So, yesterday evening I finally decided to eat some dinner-type food (lately the hot weather makes me want to eat a lot less).  I saw kabocha in the fridge, got it out, and ate it cold (I think steamed kabocha is really yummy cold).  It tasted fine, didn’t look furry.  Only when I opened the fridge to get out some kale did I see the other container, which had the current day’s date on it.  I immediately fished the plastic container from the kabocha I’d just eaten out of the trash.  The date on it - 6/29/11 (well, "11/6/29” since date is year, month, day here in Japan). 

I talked to my former Navy corpman friend, who told me not to freak out and make myself vomit.  I would probably be 100% fine.  About half a day later, my stomach has started feeling really wonky, and I almost threw up in my mouth just before I was going to leave the house for power yoga.  Instead of working out like I was planning, I’m sitting on my couch, feeling pretty shitty. 

So, my advice (this is mostly to myself, for later when I start to get lazy about cleaning out the fridge again) - when you see rather expired food, throw it out right then!  I fear I may have ruined kabocha for myself, all because I was too lazy to take a sec and throw the old-ass squash out.