From pretty man to real woman
GENKING, a Japanese celebrity who started his career online, announced a few days ago that he has succeeded in transsexual surgery and is now a "real woman."
Since his announcement of gay in March 2015, GENKING has determined to do the surgery. As early as May 2017, he went to Thailand for a 6-hour operation, after which he was very happy to hear the congratulation from others.
GENKING has now re-registered the information on the household register, changing the name to "SANA" to say goodbye to his past. He also hoped that he can wear a beautiful wedding dress in the future, spend the whole life with his love, and start a new page of his life and career.
TOKYO (AP) — Juro Kara, who helped shape Japan’s postwar avant-garde theater, defiantly yet playfully transforming the essence of Kabuki aesthetics into modern storytelling, has died. He was 84.
The playwright, director and troupe leader died late Saturday from a blood clot in the brain after he collapsed at home and was rushed to a Tokyo hospital on May 1, his theater group Karagumi said in a statement on Sunday.
Kara, whose real name was Yoshihide Otsuru, rose to stardom in the so-called Japanese underground movement of the 1960s known as “un-gura,” characterized by a kitsch rebellious style also found in his contemporaries Shuji Terayama and Tadashi Suzuki.
Kara’s colorful shows, often in makeshift tents evocative of a traveling circus, rejected the established theatrical modes then dominating modernizing Japan that were mostly Western, middle class and well-behaved.
His plays, such as "Koshimaki Osen,” were characterized by a raw energetic physicality, blatantly devoid of any pretense at naturalism.
Kara once compared his approach to “a womb covered in blood.” His theater came to be known as “the red tent." A wandering group would put on his shows wherever the tents went up, most famously in a spot near a shrine in Shinjuku in downtown Tokyo.
Audiences found themselves immersed in otherworldly, dreamlike settings. The flashy posters that artist Tadanori Yokoo often created for Kara’s works exemplified that signature pop surrealist style.
Kara’s group is still active today, performing shows that carry on his legacy. His theater also served as a breeding ground for some of Japan’s top actors, including Kaoru Kobayashi and the late Jinpachi Nezu.
Born in Tokyo, Kara majored in theater at Meiji University in Tokyo, which boasts an extensive archive of Kara’s works.
In 1983, Kara won the prestigious Akutagawa Award for new writers for his novel “Letters from Sagawa.” He also acted in various films, often in bit character roles, including “Demon Pond,” directed by Masahiro Shinoda.
Funeral arrangements weren't set but will be for family and friends, Karagumi said. Kara is survived by his wife Michiko, sons Gitan Otsuru and Sasuke Otsuru, and daughter Minion Otsuru, all actors.
Yuri Kageyama is on X: https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
Juro Kara speaks during a press conference in Osaka, western Japan in March, 2005 after he was appointed as a guest professor at a university. The playwright, director and troupe leader died late Saturday from a blood clot in the brain after he collapsed at home and was rushed to a Tokyo hospital on May 1, his theater group Karagumi said in a statement on Sunday, May 5, 2024. He was 84. (Kyodo News via AP)
Juro Kara speaks during a press conference in Osaka, western Japan in March, 2005 after he was appointed as a guest professor at a university. The playwright, director and troupe leader died late Saturday from a blood clot in the brain after he collapsed at home and was rushed to a Tokyo hospital on May 1, his theater group Karagumi said in a statement on Sunday, May 5, 2024. He was 84. (Kyodo News via AP)
