CONTENT:

Scene00:OPENING TALK

Scene01:EVOLUTION / INVENTION

Scene02:LOVE SONG

Talking about AIDS

Scene03:CENSOR ME
PASSPORT CONTROL

Scene04:COMING OUT

Scene05:LOVE/SEX/DEATH/MONEY/LIFE

Scene06:AMAPOLA

Performers:

Furuhashi Teiji

Peter Golightly

Ishibashi Kenjiro (Alex)

Kagita Izumi (Bubu)

Sunayama Noriko

Takamine Tadasu

Tanaka Mayumi

Yabuuchi Misako

Scene 00 : OPENING TALK

(Alex alone on stage dancing on all fours with womanﾕs high heels on his hands.)
Teiji : Alex! What are you doing?
Alex: . . .
(Speaks Japanese. Pronunciation unclear.)
Teiji : He says he's trying to dance the tango. But normally, it takes two to tango, a man and a woman. So it's difficult to dance alone.
(Alex starts dancing again.)
Teiji : Perhaps I should explain what's happening here. I'm trying to do a double translation, because his way of speaking is not . . . um . . .
normal? Whatever "normal" is.
(Alex still dancing.)
Teiji : Sure he speaks Japanese. But because he can't hear very well, he's had to watch other people speak, copy their gestures, create his own way of speaking, and. . . . One moment please.
(Teiji speaks to Alex in Japanese.)
(Alex answers in Japanese.)
Teiji : I just asked him why he has a "Homosexual" sticker stuck on his back. And he said, "That's what I am. There's nothing I can do about it."
Not that there's any need here. Especially not since this is a theater. Probably no one's sure what's real here or not anyway. Or, perhaps you all came here to escape from that kind of reality?
(Enter Peter)
Peter: Teiji, what are you doing?
Teiji : Nothing special.
Peter: Hey, Tei-chan. There's a "Homosexual" sticker stuck on your back !
Teiji : There's one on you too, Peter.
Peter: Well, yeah, you see, there still are so many unlucky people in the world who have never had the chance to see real, living, breathing homosexuals in front of them before. The first gays or lesbians that people meet should not be their own children. So, hello!
Teiji : I guess theater can sometimes accomplish something useful.
Peter: I am sorry to tell you but we are not actors. We are this.
He is "Male", "Japanese", "Deaf", "Homosexual" .
He is "Male", "Japanese", "HIV+", "Homosexual" .
And I'm "Male", "American", "Black", "Homosexual".
And . . . . how are you?

Scene 01 : EVOLUTION / INVENTION

- video and slide-projected text -
(ref.: Erwin Chargaff, "Kritik der Zukunft," Klett-Cotta, 1983.)

 

Too much is made of learning by listening.

 

When all this noise interferes with actual knowing

Pitiful senile mutterings

Hysterical bitchy gripes

Naive boyish fantasies

Raving idiot screams . . .

Why should we lend you our ears ?

 

We demand the wisdom of silence.

 

It may be "What everyone's saying"

But who is spreading the word ?

 

"Conspiracy of silence"

"Conspiracy of science"

 

"Conspiracy of silence"

"Conspiracy of scientia"

 

Silence, manipulated through learning,

all too soon decays.

Each's words, voiced or not, begin to stifle, pollute.

And so to suffocate, to violate ourselves.

 

Nostrils quivering against the stench.

Those with open mouths are soundly thrashed

lest they utter a sound.

 

Those possessed by the desire for knowledge.

Lack curiosity, nothing left they can invent.

Intellect addicts, hooked on their noble habit,

remain incurable.

-slide-projected text, spoken simultaneously by performers-

I dream . . . my nationality will disappear.

I dream . . . my blood will disappear.

I dream . . . my rights will disappear.

I dream . . . my worth will disappear.

I dream . . . my common sense will disappear.

I dream . . . my race will disappear.

I dream . . . my property will disappear.

I dream . . . my style will disappear.

I dream . . . my fear will disappear.

I dream . . . my duty will disappear.

I dream . . . my authority will disappear.

I dream . . . my power will disappear.

Scene 02 : LOVE SONG

Peter: Would you mind if tonight we talked about, sex?
Well, actually, the "love" in "love song" and the "love" in "making love." It is the same word.
However, lately, it's becoming complicated to talk about love or sex, isn't it? For instance, there's this thing called "AIDS." These days, leaving AIDS out of a conversation concerning sex might prove tricky.
Anyway, this part of our performance is called "Love Song."
As the twentieth century comes to an end, what have our modern love songs become? And what will they become in the future?
As I just said, tonight we'd like to talk about sex. So let's begin by talking about love songs. First of all, what are they? (Teiji appears sits on the wall. Simultaneously his video image is projected on the wall.)

Peter: Here is my friend, Teiji. Tei-chan, what do you think "love songs" are?

Teiji : Well, love songs in the past, as far as I know, were mostly from men to women, "Oh, you are so beautiful, please be mine!" or from women to men, "Oh, yes, I love you, I want to be yours!" See?

Peter: Does that mean there have never been love songs between gay men or lesbians?

Teiji : No, some lesbians and gays also try to pattern their lifestyles after images in heterosexual love songs that the media have given us.

Peter: So shouldn't we say that heterosexual men and women are trying to pattern themselves after images in those love songs that were
actually created by the media?

Teiji : I think so, too. Yet even if we want to get closer to those images, love and lifestyles in our age get further and further away from them.

Peter: For instance, lately we hear the word "AIDS," which in turn is followed by so many other words and images. The infectious power of words seems even stronger than the power of the virus. The image of "AIDS" moves on its own.
We already know how to protect ourselves against the virus. But is it possible to protect ourselves against words? Words like "tragedy,"
"victim," "certain death," "plague," "punishment," "incurable," "hopeless" . . . .
How is it for you, Teiji? We all know the negative images from the media. But what's it really like to be a "person living with AIDS"?

Teiji : Well, lately, I often hear the words "Living with AIDS," instead of those negative images you mentioned. But still, for People with AIDS, "Living with AIDS" means going to hospital frequently and taking AZT capsule four times a day . . .
Well, AZT is not so typical any more . . . There are DDI, DDC . . . and D4T? Those are very expensive medicines, yet no one knows if they really work or not. Some people say they're just more big business for science, but we never say that in the hospital. It's taboo.
And my doctor tells me nothing except "AZT four times a day" and "Your T-Cell count is under 30" and "Your white blood cell count is blah blah blah". . . .
It's like a mathematics class for children. That's what "Living with AIDS" is for me.

Peter: But I know your life is not only that.

Teiji : Of course, the rest is not so very different from yours. I eat, I drink, I play, I make love. . . . And sometimes I also make "theater" like this.

Peter: Some people say too much sex is the cause of the infection.

Teiji : Some say HIV-positive people are promiscuous, that's how they get infected. One act of unprotected sex is more dangerous than 100 acts of safe sex. In my case, I got infected from my old boyfriend, who was my first sexual partner, eight years ago. I was so in love with him and I was thinking our sex was the only sex in the world.
No, promiscuity is not the cause. The cause is having old ways of thinking about sex. Like; "safe sex is not real sex," "safe sex is unreliable."
The relationship between sex and love is becoming very complex.

Peter: I suppose we all have our own opinions and experiences. Though I think we can all agree with Teiji that thanks to AIDS the relation between love and sex is becoming more and more complex.
For instance, right now, AIDS is a big problem for gay people. Heterosexual people who have the disease are increasing as well. It's the same all over Asia, Africa, and South America. And in my native USA, heterosexuals also make up a large part of the newer PWAs.
I think some people just want to believe that you can't catch it through "normal sex."
But what do those words mean? Whether in Japanese or English or. . .
What is "normal sex"? And, what is "normal love" either?
Who decides these things anyway? There is something that has been bothering me about this scene.
Here we are, just two gay men discussing love and sex for everyone. I think that this is a rather narrow forum. So, I'd like to widen our horizons even just a little by introducing another friend of ours, a very charming individual; her name is Bubu.

(Bubu's live video image appears on the wall.)

Peter: Hi, Bubu, what do you think "love songs" are, and what do you think they will become in the future?

Bubu: I'd like future love songs to be romantic, but I don't want to impose my fantasies on others. Say, the line that, "men have to be strong." I think we all have these conditions imposed on us.
Though for me, myself, as a woman, I'd like to see love and sex become more romantic. . . . That's why I love, and that's why I work.

Peter: In that case, would you tell us about your work? First, why do you do what you do?

Bubu: The first time I felt as if I were "selling myself" was when I was still married. One time, I was have sex with my husband though I really didn't want to. In the midst of sex, I found myself crying without knowing why.
Later I realized I'd felt unable to say "no," and yet my husband hadn't even noticed. I was shocked at what our relationship had become. After our divorce, I thought about it for a year, and then I became a "sex worker."

Peter: In Japan, as well as in the US, the term "sex worker" is still not very common. . . . How about here? (Asks audience directly) Do you say "sex worker"? Or are there other words you could tell us?

Bubu: In a wider sense, "sex workers" aren't just prostitutes. We include strippers, sex video models, pin-up girls and boys.
Though we should distinguish between "sex work" and "sex slavery." Anyone who works should have the right to say "no." We are responsible for our bodies and for our customers, and should have the same rights as other members of society.

Peter: On the one hand, getting paid for sex sounds wonderful. But on the other, what problems do you have as a sex worker?

Bubu: My biggest problem is finding a smooth way to get my customers to use condoms. The really bad ones secretly remove their condoms while we're having sex.
I've also been forced to have sex without a condom. . . And afterwards they've even joked, "You don't have AIDS do you?"

Peter: While we are talking about condoms. Teiji, what about gay men in Japan? Do they practice safe sex? Do they use condoms?

Teiji : Hmm. . . . I don't know much about Japanese gays. Actually, Peter, I hear that you are the expert.

Peter: Well, I'm no expert, but I can share an experience with you about Japanese gay men. I was told that condoms were unnecessary. When I asked why, I was told, "I know you're safe, because you don't seem like a foreigner." Which I suppose means that some Japanese gay men think that "safe sex" equals sex with someone that feels safe.
It's really not good to be making sweeping statements about groups of people like this.
From my experiences over the last three years since we began this performance, it's hard to say how the Japanese gay community is progressing. Positive observations would include more safe sex/AIDS information in gay magazines and a booming condom market.
One negative phenomenon, however, is that it is still very difficult for gay people with HIV to "come out," even within our own community. People seem to feel that someone who contracted the contagion sexually is somehow "worse" than someone who got it through a blood transfusion. It's a shame.
So, anyway Bubu, do all of your customers dislike being asked to wear condoms?

Bubu: Not really, when I say it's for out mutual protection, most consent. But some still absolutely refuse to wear them. They say, "I've never used one in my life!" or "I'm no faggot!" or "I've never had sex with a foreigner."
I try to convince them that condoms are essential and do not interfere with sexual excitement.

Peter: I guess AIDS is never just a disease. It's as if a person's sexuality could be determined by whether or not he or she has been infected.

Bubu: Using condoms is not the answer to all problems, but it is an accessible place to start.

Peter: You sound more like a sex educator than a sex worker.

Bubu: That's right. I'm a "safer sex professional." Recently I had a call from a man who said he was HIV+ and asked if he could still come and see me. I said, of course, I practice safe sex. And he came, I did the same work I always do.

Peter: A lot of people wouldn't have told you. There are also a lot of people who wouldn't want to know.

Bubu: That's right. Teiji, since you became HIV+, how is your personal life? Have you had lovers?

Teiji : I think I'm not so different from everyone else. I'm still having sex, maybe with more than a hundred people in the last few years. And most of them are HIVﾐ, or they don't know their status.
In their bedroom, I say I have HIV. Sometimes I'm kicked out, but in most cases they go, "OK, anyway we make safe sex, then it doesn't matter whether you have HIV or not." And it's much better not having any suspicions in bed . . . it's not romantic.

Bubu: Tell us more, give me more details. . . .

Teiji : We touch, we hug, we kiss, and we make love like everyone else. Just like those love songs in dreams. Clear desire without any disturbance.

Peter: We didn't get a very clear answer to just what love songs are here at the end of the twentieth century. Or what love songs will become in the future. . . .
Who knows? No one can tell anyway. We'll probably still have them, because we'll always need each other. . . . Wasn't there an American song like that? . . . Oh yes, People. . . .

"PEOPLE"
-Sung by Shirley Bassey-

People
People who need people
Are the luckiest people in the world

We're children needing other children
And yet, letting our grown up pride
Hide all the need inside
Acting more like children than children

Lovers are very special people
They're the luckiest people in the world
With one person
One very special person

A feeling deep in your soul says
You were half, now you're whole
No more hunger and thirst
But first, be a person who needs people
People who need people
Are the luckiest people in the world

Can you see which is the person with AIDS ?

Who cares if we all have safe sex

Talking about AIDS

- computer-generated voice and text -
(ref.: Paul A. Treichler, AIDS, Homophobia, and Biomedical Discourse: An Epidemic of Signification, OCTOBER (no. 43), New York: 1987;
also repeatedly cited in Japanese media.)

An irreversible, untreatable, and invariably fatal infectious disease that threatens to wipe out the whole world.
Science (USA) 1986

A creation of the media, which has sensationalized a minor health problem for its own profit and pleasure.
US Senator Jesse Helms

A creation of the state to legitimize widespread invasion of people's lives and sexual practices.
Gai Pied (France) 1986

A creation of biomedical scientists and the Centers for Disease Control to generate funding for their activities.
Penthouse (HK) 1986

A gay plague, probably emanating from San Francisco.
Science (USA) 1982

The crucible in which the field of immunology will be tested. Gallo's introduction to Leibowitch
A Strange Virus of Unknown Origin (USA) 1985

The most extraordinary medical chronicle of our times.
Nature (USA) 1985

A condemnation to celibacy or death.
from a TV program (USA) 1992

A healthy manifestation of nationalism in response to an external threat.
from a TV program (Japan) 1989

A protagonist for another of mass media's beloved melodramas.
People (USA) 1985

An invitation to platonic love.
Weekly Playboy (Japan) 1994

A provocative means for artists to prematurely attain posthumous fame by shortening their lives.
US News and World Report (USA) 1987

A topic with no bearing on persons to state and family.
The Sun (UK) 1988

A most inappropriate topic for polite conversation.
Weekly Bunshu (Japan) 1994

A wife's way to tether her husband's infidelity.
from a TV program (Japan) 1992

Nothing one should talk about openly in public.
Smile (Japan) 1989

A stratagem for hospitals where cancer has proven unprofitable.
David Black, The Plague Years: A Chronicle of AIDS, the Epidemic of Our Times (USA)

God's wrath toward junkies and homos.
Campus Review (USA) 1987

Nature's revenge on science for invading God's territory.
from a daily newspaper (Thailand) 1990

The greatest misfortune of the century.
Newsweek (USA) 1987

A quintessential fin de sience fashion.
Focus (Japan) 1990

An accidentally leaked American biological weapon.
from a radio program (USSR) 1986

A bacterium mutated by radiation.
from a monthly science fiction magazine (USA) 1988

A disease introduced by aliens to weaken us before the takeover.
from a comic book (Japan) 1991

Nature's way of cleaning house.
Newsweek (USA) 1986

America's Ideal Death Sentence.
Rolling Stone (USA) 1986

An infectious agent that has suppressed our immunity from guilt.
David Black, The Plague Years: A Chronicle of AIDS, the Epidemic of Our Times (USA)

A spiritual force that is creatively disrupting civilization.
a philosopher (France)

A sign that the end of the world is at hand.
from a new cult religion's PR magazine (Japan) 1993

God's punishment of our weaknesses.
from a TV program (Taiwan) 1993

God's test of our strengths.
from a TV program (Philippines) 1990

The price paid for the sixties.
Village Voice (USA) 1988

The price paid for anal intercourse.
Discover (USA) December 1985

Just another venereal disease.
SPA! Special Edition (Japan) April 1993

The most urgent and complex public health problem facing the world today.
from a newspaper (Singapore) 1990

A golden opportunity for science and medicine.
John Rechy, An Exchange on AIDS (USA)

Science fiction.
from a newspaper (PRC) 1989

Stranger than science fiction.
Robert C. Gallo, "The AIDS Virus," Scientific American (USA) January 1987

A terrible and expensive way to die.
John Rechy, An Exchange on AIDS (USA)

An imperialist plot to destroy the Third World.
The Advocate (USA) 1985

A fascist plot to destroy homosexuals.
from a GRIA flier (USA) 1982

A CIA plot to destroy subversives.
Washington Post National Weekly Edition (USA) 1985

A capitalist plot to create new markets for pharmaceutical products.
Langone, in Discover (USA), citing a Kenyan newspaper

A Soviet plot to destroy capitalists.
Brian Becher, "AIDS and the Media," citing National Inquirer (USA) 1983

The result of genetic mutations caused by "mixed marriages."
Commentary (USA) 1987

The result of moral decay.
New York Times Book Review (USA) 1986

The perfect emblem of twentieth-century decadence, of fin-de-siecle decadence, of post modern decadence.
The Advocate (USA) 1983

It has been spread in Japan lately, because the sex lives of Japanese young people are too "Americanized."
Shiokawa - Chairman, 10th International AIDS/STD Conference (Japan) 1994

Scene 03 : CENSOR ME
- slide-projected text -

Don't cry

You're just trying to escape your boring life

Censor me !

PASSPORT CONTROL

Misako:

Hi, Hello.

Japan, from Japan.

Yes, This is my baggage and this is my passport. Japanese passport, you know?

Oh, I have. Here. You see?

What is my purpose? Sightseeing.

I am a tourist and I will stay in my friend's apartment about two weeks.

No, it's not my lover, just a friend. Do you understand?

Pardon?

Yes, I am very happy to visit here.

I heard your country is so beautiful.

Yes, I have money. Of course. Sure. Just a moment.

Here. I hope I can use this here, OK?

Pardon?

Please speak again more slowly. Iﾕm sorry. I can't speak English well.

But, I hope you understand me. OK?

Pardon?

What do I do?

Oh, I am a very safe person. Let me show you one more time.

This is my passport. You can see it. This is me.

But, I don't need this to make friends.

I don't need this to make lovers.

So, I don't need this page.

I've been to America, but nothing happened.

So, I don't need this page.

I've been to France, but nothing happened.

So, I don't need this page.

I've been to Hong Kong, but nothing happened.

So, I don't need this page either.

I'm Japanese, female, single. . . .

But, I donﾕt need this page either.

Then, can I quit ? Asian female?

No? What? What can I show you now? I have nothing to show you any more.

Yes, OK.

This is my eyes. This is my ear. This is my throat.

This is my arm, my heart, my leg. . . .

I have nothing to show you anymore.

OK ! I go home.

Thank you.

- slide-projected text -
(ref.: Jean-Bernard Moraly, "Jean Genet, La vie erite," E.L.A./La Difference, Paris: 1988.)

Each person,
by his own reaction to the arbitrariness of his history
and other arbitrary events
becomes Self as well as Other

- slide-projected text -

US / THEM
THIS SIDE / THE OTHER
SELF / NOT-SELF
MEN / WOMEN
HETEROSEXUAL / HOMOSEXUAL
VICE / VIRTUE
NORMAL / ABNORMAL
OPPRESSION / DESIRE
SAFE / RISK
VICTIM / PERPETRATOR
NATURAL / ALIEN
POLITICAL / PERSONAL
SCIENCE / NOT-SCIENCE
PLATONIC / PROMISCUOUS
FREE / RULE
IMMORAL / MORAL
LOVE / SEX
LOVE / DEATH
DEATH / SEX
SEX / MONEY
LOVE / MONEY
SEX / LIFE
LIFE / MONEY
LIFE / DEATH

- slide-projected text -

All creatures are sad after voting

Bubu: I love my work!
I love to love my customers!

JUDGE

Let me defect !

Bubu: Men !
Don't fuck me with your boring and insensitive sexual morality !

JUDGE

All creatures are sad after fucking

Bubu: My sexuality is not private.
It is public!

JUDGE

No escaping,
no running away,
no speeding off
- not any more

Let me defect to the other side!

Don't cry

You've finally made a step in the right direction

Out of our minds with - love

Homosexuality is just as unpleasant as heterosexuality

Scene 04 : COMING OUT

- video text -
(ref.: Michel Foucault, "De l'amitie comme mode de vie", in Gai Pied Hobdo, No.126, 30 juin 1984..)

We should do our best to become gay; there is no need to insist on seeing ourselves as homosexual human beings.

They must invent yet undefined relations A-to-Z. Relations such as constitute friendship. In other words, the sum of all things pleasing to one another.

It seems to me that the homosexual lifestyle is far more "perplexing" to people than the sexual act itself. . . .

Imagining a sexual act that does not conform to law or nature does not unsettle people. Rather, the problem is that individual human beings start to love each other. This ruptures the void of the institution.

Institutionalized codes cannot allow relations that try to short the institution from within, to introduce "love" into places where there ought to be law and rules and customs.

To question our relation to homosexuality means not merely embracing desires for sexual relations with persons of the same sex, but also longing for a world in which such relations are possible.

The next issue directed at us brings an unavoidable challenge. Which is, what sort of games are there to be played, and how do we go about inventing a game?

- M. Foucault

- Alex speaking in Japanese. Text also appears in slide projection -

I don't know what you're saying

but

I know what you mean

- I do not depend on your love

I invent my own love

Here's my discipline to fit the codes of the world

The violence of signals so plain to my eyes

I don't know what you're saying

but

I know what you mean

- I do not depend on your sex

I invent my own sex

Here's your discipline to fit the codes of the world

The violence of signals so plain to my eyes

I don't know what you're saying

but

I know what you mean

- I do not depend on your death

I invent my own death

Here's my discipline to fit the codes of the world

The violence of signals so plain to my eyes

I don't know what you're saying

but

I know what you mean

- I do not depend on your life

I invent my own life

Here's your discipline to fit the codes of the world

The violence of signals so plain to my eyes

I don't know what you're saying

but

I know what you mean

Here's my discipline to fit the codes of the world

The violence of signals so plain to my eyes

Don't turn us into abstractions you'd like to see

Where's the imagination to cut across borders?

Noise flowing through my body . . .

blood, information, meanings

. . . indecipherables

Noise thrust on me from all your voices up to now

Building up here inside, indecipherable

Now at last, I let them go

Scene 05 : LOVE/SEX/DEATH/MONEY/LIFE
- video text -

LOVE

SEX

DEATH

MONEY

LIFE

- slide-projected text -

I dream . . . my gender will disappear.

I dream . . . my nationality will disappear.

I dream . . . my blood will disappear.

I dream . . . my rights will disappear.

I dream . . . my worth will disappear.

I dream . . . my common sense will disappear.

I dream . . . my race will disappear.

I dream . . . my property will disappear.

I dream . . . my style will disappear.

I dream . . . my fear will disappear.

I dream . . . my duty will disappear.

I dream . . . my authority will disappear.

I dream . . . my power will disappear.

Scene 06 : AMAPOLA

"Amapola"
-Sung by Nana Mouskouri-

Amapola

Amapola, lindisima Amapola
Sera siempre tu alma tuya sola

Yo te quiero amada nina mia
Igual que ama la flor la luz del dia

Amapola, lindisima Amapola
No seras tan ingrata mi a mame

Amapola, Amapola
Como puedes tu vivir tan sola

- slide projected text -

Let us use the word "love"

S/N