Josou Off-Kai (Pre-Serialization) - Ch. 11 - Date without crossdressing 3

[MangaDex]

 

[Neushaartje]

I keep getting perplexed by some of this.
This isn't the first time in a Japanese work that I actually saw characters make comments along the lines that one is required to be female, ere one can actually eat sweets.

I think I read it before in a genderswap story where one of the advantages of swapping from male to female cited, was that one can now eat sweets.
I take it that there is no actual law against it? But isn't it a tradition in Japan that males receive “obligatory chocolate” from females on valentine's day in Japan? only to repay that later? Is that the only time in the year they are permitted to eat sweets?

 

[thepythia]

I love how Cocoa gives off more feminine energy when in boy clothes.

 

[thepythia]

@trapsarebetter
I think it's associated with like the notion of a tea party with sweets. Like sweets stores are for meetings between girls where they sip tea and eat cake. A man being there kinda kills the aesthetic in a way.

 

[Cornonthekopp]

Is cocoa’s secret that he’s some famous bad boy model? Or is that just someone who liked him in high school?

 

[Tersione]

@thepythia For real, though. He just looks like a cute short-haired megane while not crossdressing.

 

[Linnette]

Is he an actress, a model, or something along those? I mean, we got to see that he was able to quickly "act" and kiss Opera in the chapter before. And that pose on the photo made him look like a model.

 

[Neushaartje]

@thepythia I suppose stuff like that isn't too hard to imagine.

I loved that scene in Syakuganno Syana though, where they went to a restaurant — all the males had bowls of rāmen; all the females had sorbets; and Syana had the biggest mother of all bowls of rāmen ever.

 

[blurgh123]

Just confirming, Cocoa/Morinaga is the guy on her lockscreen right?

 

[aloysiusks]

a

 

[z3ta311]

@trapsarebetter
It's more along the line of say... uh... not sure how to explain this quickly but i'll try to list a few points below.

Some shops are specifically catered towards women with especially fancy, 'girly' pastries, so a man walking in there alone could potentially be perceived as a weirdo (for example, coming in there to make passes at girls or be a creep and stare at people, among other things).

But really, nothing is stopping them from being able to eat some desserts anywhere, except for some shop that sells ''women only'' items and such, however, such 'tradition' is already dying down as of 2020.

 

[Midoriha]

>Noooooooo how dare Japan have different stereotypes and customs and social expectations out of people I cannot comprehend it everything should be like in my America because only the US exists in the whole wide world!
Every time.
I swear people just love to pretend to be retarded at this point.

 

[ChokeMeSenpai]

Super cute. Thank you for the chapter!

 

[Neushaartje]

@z3ta311 That's just quite fucked up to be honest — there are obviously some stores with a slanted gender ratio of customers where I live, but I don't think there's a single establishment where one would be either looked at weirdly, or outright refused, because of one's gender.

@Midoriha except I don't live in the U.S.A. and have often criticized U.S.A. gender roles as well and think they're about 80% as bad as the Japanese ones, if not worse in some regards.

 

[RanaRana]

@trapsarebetter
ranma had that.
having a sweet tooth is seen as childish and effeminate.

 

[Narehate]

@Midoriha

How do you read that far into a few people asking questions and discussing a common trend they see in manga civilly? Not everyone who doesn't think everything Japan does is perfect wants Japan to be exactly like the West, not that was ever even implied to begin with.

We can all sit here and discuss whether or not gender roles or societal customs are silly or not or why they exist without wanting to crusade and DESTROY the CULTURE of other countries by IMPOSING OUR VALUES ONTO THEM. I personally think it's kind of silly to think that eating sweets makes you girly or childish, but I guess I'm just being retarded. I just don't understand the big brains of Japan on this one.

 

[dudewithmagic]

Whenever I see microcosms of Japanese culture I am always reminded of how little I know. Like it seems odd to me that their ideas of tea parties seem (at least to me) firmly situated in western "royal" tea parties (ceramic cups, multi layered cakes and the like). I've also heard gender lines there seems to be a lot softer but lack an idea of the scope. That trans women (earlier chapter) expected them to be disgusted or freaked out despite the fact they were cross dressing (which I feel would likely be treated as more taboo in the west). Males are also presented as being unable to enjoy sweets, is that to maintain appearance or are hobbies/preferences that heavily gated.

I've lived in a few western countries (us, aus, uk) and visited Japan before but I still am finding difficult rapping my head around this. If anyone has reading material on this I would be interested, something explaining the situation and definition of sex in eastern countries.

 

[UnluckyGrape]

@dudewithmagic The thing is that Japan can't really be used as a very good understanding of sex in East/Asia; since its less homogenous in terms of sexual understanding. Granted there tends to be an emphasis on pretty > rugged in the Eastern circles of fashion, but the more you delve deeper than skin it becomes more nuanced between the big three of China, Japan, and Korea. For manga wise:

- https://mangadex.org/title/35001/boku-ga-watashi-ni-naru-tame-ni (Autobiographical m->f surgery)
- https://mangadex.org/title/18164/hanayome-wa-motodanshi (Autobiographical m->f surgery with the added lens of marriage)
-https://mangadex.org/title/29840/fukakai-na-boku-no-subete-o (Non-binary themes)

Are what I can remember off the top of my head