Profile: Watanabe Purin
Born in 1971 in Gunma Prefecture, Watanabe became a freelance writer after working as an editor. She has garnered attention for her work in the column "Purin Watanabe's Onna-no-ko Dai-suki (lit. I Like Girls)" for the women's web magazine Karada-kei Coidas and on her own website, Purin no Rezubian Horoki (Purin's Down and Out Lesbian Diary).

★Warning: This interview includes information on scenes in the film. Persons who have not yet seen "Topless" may encounter spoilers.

--While watching "Topless", I felt that lesbians were portrayed very realistically. You came up with the original story and you are also a lesbian. Was some of the content on the film based on your own experiences in life?

Yes, I'd have to say so. It was a combination of my own experiences with the experiences of some of the lesbian women around me - and then, naturally, some is just imagined as well.

--On the official website for the movie, you've included a page on "Conditions affecting lesbians in Japan" (Japanese) and, in it, you write that even while same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships are being recognized in more countries around the world - the fact that they have not yet been validated in Japan today creates an environment where many lesbian women still feel obligated to marry men. Could you tell us more about why you wrote this?

Sure. First of all, I do have to say that there are lesbian women in Japan who are financially independent and accepted by their families as gay. However, on the flipside, there are many women who feel that they have no choice but to marry men for either economic or family-related reasons. In the lesbian community, women who engage in "marriages of convenience" are generally criticized, but I do think that we have to acknowledge that each individual has their own set of circumstances...and we do not live in a society where everyone can thrive exactly as they like. I don't necessarily think such marriages are a good thing in consideration of the man's position, but I don't think we need to attack the women for making those choices either. Just this past May, same-sex marriages were legalized in California. So, to me it seems extremely strange that lesbians still don't have the right to marry in Japan. I believe that once we are all free to marry the person we love regardless of sex, then problems with "marriages of convenience" will disappear.

--In fact, on the Japanese social networking site, Mixi, I've seen communities designed to introduce gay men and women interested in marrying. When I first heard about it I was surprised. Even though it's for real, the media has given no attention to this phenomenon at all. So, in that respect, I felt that there was honest truth and gravity to this film. The fact that Tomomi and Natsuko do not end up together at the conclusion seemed to reflect Japanese reality. Is that what you intended?

Yes, very much so.

--What is one key part of this movie for you?

All of it is key (laughs). I think this film is nothing like what Japanese society thinks lesbians are all about. Personally, even though I said earlier, I am a lesbian and I realized that I was a lesbian while I was in elementary school. However, at that time, the word "lesbian" as it was used in magazines and TV was always set up as a target for disdain and ridicule. As a result, it was impossible for me to affirm who I was and for a long time I felt ashamed of myself as a lesbian. Once I entered university, I met other lesbians who were able to live positively and then I was at last able to accept who I was. So from my experiences, I really just wanted to create a story that depicted lesbians as they are without making them the subject of ridicule or contempt. I first met with Eiji Uchida through some other work I was involved in and when he said he wanted to do a film with a lesbian story, I decided to cooperate on the project. It seems that early on he had been visualizing a story centering on high school girls but, once I got on board, everything totally changed (laughs).

--It looks that way (laughs). What do you think of the completed film?

I think it's something real - something that no one has seen before - and I love it!

translated by rayna